Messier Objects

Messier Objects





                                                                     The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets, so he compiled a list of them, in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain, to avoid wasting time on them.
                                                                      The Messier Catalog became well known for a much higher purpose, as a collection of the most beautiful objects in the sky including nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies. It was one of the first major milestones in the history of the discovery of Deep Sky objects, as it was the first more comprehensive and more reliable list: Only four or five objects were initially missing because of data reduction errors, which could be figured out later though. Today's versions of the catalog usually include also later additions of objects observed by Charles Messier and his collegial friend, Pierre Méchain, but not included in his original list. The study of these objects by astronomers has led, and continues to lead, to important, incredible discoveries such as the life cycles of stars, the reality of galaxies as separate 'island universes,' and the possible age of the universe. 

List of Some Messier Objects



         M1 The Crab Nebula :
                           

                        Description: supernova remnant
                        Constellation: Taurus

       M2  :

                      
                       Description: globular cluster
                       Constellation: Aquarius


      M3   :

                       
                     Description: globular cluster
                     Constellation: Canes Venatici

     M4    :

                  
                   Description: globular cluster
                  Constellation: Scorpius

    M5       :

             
                  Description: globular cluster
                  Constellation: Serpens

   M6 The Butterfly Cluster :

        
                   Description: open cluster
                   Constellation: Scorpius

   M7 Ptolemy's Cluster  :


                Description: open cluster
               Constellation: Scorpius

  M8 The Lagoon Nebula :

                 
                 Description: diffuse nebula
                Constellation: Sagittarius

  M9 :

             
                   Description: globular cluster
                   Constellation: Ophiuchus

  M10  :

                 
                 Description: globular cluster
                Constellation: Ophiuchus

Posted by Unknown | at 03:19

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