The Full Moon
The Moon is the only known natural satellite of our planet. With its distance of less than 400.000 km from the Earth, it is also the first step when climbing the cosmic ladder and...
Monthly Archive: August 2012
M 13 – Her
M13 (more data), sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules or the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of about 300,000 stars in the constellation of Hercules. It is one of th...
M 97 – UMa
Among the stars of Ursa Major, an “Owl” is lurking. This is the wonderful Messier 97 planetary nebula, also nicknamed after the mentioned bird for its typical shape by Lord Rosse. It was discovered...
M 27 – Vul
The wonderful planetary nebula Messier 27, well known as the “Dumb-Bell” nebula, was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. Its distance is estimated in about 1200 light years and represents the final stages in...
NGC 6888 – Cyg
NGC 6888, also know as “Crescent Nebula”. It looks like a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star.It was discovered by W. Herschel in 1792. This...
NGC 6960 – Cyg
NGC 6960 is part of the famous “Veil Nebula”, the remnant of a supernova exploded about 10.000 years ago. Its distance is estimated in about 1500 light years and it is apparently in...
M 1 – Tau
Messier 1 (NGC 1952) is perhaps the most famous supernova remnant, after the supernova of 1054 in Taurus. It was first observed by John Bevis in 1731. Its distance is estimated in 6500...
NGC 891 – And
Floating in space at about 30 millions of light years from us, NGC 891 is superb edge-on spiral galaxy, discovered in 1784 by W. Herschel. Dust across the disk is clearly apparent in...
The Stephan’s Quintet – Peg
The famous Stephan’s Quintet was the first compact group of galaxies ever discovered and was spotted by Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan in 1877. It is probably the most studied group of its kind and...
NGC 7331 – Peg
Located at about 40 millions of light years, NGC 7331 is a beautiful, almost edge-on spiral galaxy, in Pegasus. It is the largest member of the so-called Deer Lick Group. It was discovered in...
M 66 – Leo
The wonderful galaxy M66, in Leo, discovered by C. Messier on March 1, 1780 and located at about 35 millions of light years. It is part of the so-called “Leo’s Triplet” (with NGC...
M 81 – UMa
This is the wonderful spiral galaxy M81, in Ursa Major. It was discovered on 31 Dec. 1774 by J.E. Bode. Its distance in estimated in 12 millions of light years. Here, it was imaged...
NGC 4565 – Com
Perhaps one of the most famous galaxies in the sky, NGC 4565 is a superb, edge-on spiral galaxy, in Coma Berenices. It was discovered in 1785 by W. Herschel. Its distance in estimated in...
M 51 and NGC 5195 – CVn
M51, a stunning face-on spiral galaxy, was discovered in 1774 by C. Messier , while its companion, NGC 5195, was discovered by P. Méchain in 1785. Its distance in estimated in about 30 millions...
