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| physical object > natural object > celestial body > Messier object |
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| Messier object | ||||
| subject | fact | |||
| Messier object | has apparent dimension |  |
| has apparent magnitude | | |
| is a part of celestial sphere | | |
| has Messier number | | |
| has distance from Earth | | |
| has catalog Messier catalog | | |
| has purpose originally to catalog all objects which could be confused with a comet | | |
| has definition an object assigned a number by Charles Messier | | |
| is a kind of celestial body | | |
| celestial body | has spectra | |
| physical object | has location or center of gravity | |
| has angular momentum | | |
| has mass | | |
| has velocity | | |
| has momentum | | |
| has temperature | | |
| has volume | | |
| has extent | | |
| has material | |
Kinds of Messier object :
(13 facts) (M 31) - Major spiral galaxy, 2.2 million light-years from Earth. Gravitationally bound to the Milky Way with which it shares membership in the Local Group, it is currently approaching us, rather than receding as is the case for most galaxies., A spiral galaxy (kS5 in Morgan's classification) in the Local Group, about 650-700 kpc distant (MV = -21), visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch in the constellation of Andromeda. Total mass about 3.1 × 1011 Msun ; i = 77°, heliocentric velocity - 180 km s-1. Its nucleus exhibits noncircular gas motions. It is similar to but slightly larger than our Galaxy., The largest galaxy in the Local Group. Also known as the Great Spiral and M31. It is about one and a half times the size of our own galaxy, and contains at least 300 globular clusters. Two smaller, elliptical galaxies (M32 and NGC 205) lie close to it., The largest member of the local group. It is a giant spiral galaxy that lies 2.4 million light-years away. (13 facts) (M 1, Taurus A, 2U 0531+22) - A supernova remnant., A chaotic, expanding mass of gas in Taurus, the remnant of a Type I supernova whose light reached Earth in 1054. It is an intense radio source, and its visible light is strongly polarized. It is also a source of X-rays and gamma-rays. Its total mass is about 1 Msun, but the total energy radiated by the Crab is 1037-1038 ergs s-1. It is periodically occulted by the Moon, and every June its radio spectrum is occulted by the solar corona. (9 facts) (M 8, NGC 6523) - An emission nebula in Sagittarius 2 kpc distant. (10 facts) (NGC 6254) (9 facts) (NGC 4321) (10 facts) (NGC 6171) (10 facts) (NGC 6218) (10 facts) (NGC 6205) (10 facts) (NGC 6402) (10 facts) (NGC 7078) (10 facts) (NGC 6273) (11 facts) (NGC 7089) (10 facts) (NGC 6656) (10 facts) (NGC 6626) (10 facts) (NGC 5272) (10 facts) (NGC 7099) (10 facts) (NGC 6121) (10 facts) (NGC 5904) (10 facts) (NGC 5024) (10 facts) (NGC 6715) (10 facts) (NGC 6809) (10 facts) (NGC 6779) (10 facts) (NGC 6266) (10 facts) (NGC 4590) (10 facts) (NGC 6637) (10 facts) (NGC 6681) (10 facts) (NGC 6838) (10 facts) (NGC 6981) (13 facts) (NGC 6864) (10 facts) (NGC 1904) (11 facts) (NGC 6093) (10 facts) (NGC 3031) - A giant spiral galaxy 11 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It rules the M81 group, the second nearest galaxy group to the Local Group. (10 facts) (NGC 6333) (10 facts) (NGC 6341) (11 facts) (Swan Nebula, M 17, NGC 6618) - A bright H II region. It is a double radio source. (13 facts) (M 42) - A large cloud of gas and dust giving birth to young stars in the constellation Orion and visible to the naked eye. It is an HII region 1500 light-years away., An HII region about 500 pc distant, barely visible to the naked eye in the center of Orion's sword. It is undoubtedly a region where stars are being born; young O stars and many T Tauri variables are associated with it, and its members are extreme Population I. Probably no more than 20000 years old. It is also an X-ray source (3U 0527-05 and M42, NGC 1976)., The Orion Nebula, a star-forming region in the constellation Orion. (15 facts) (M 33, NGC 598, Triangulum galaxy) - The third largest member of the Local Group, after Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way. It is a spiral galaxy that lies 2.6 million light-years away., A spiral galaxy that lies 2.6 million light-years away and is the third largest member of the Local Group, after Andromeda galaxy and the Milky Way., A Sc II-III spiral galaxy, a satellite of the Andromeda galaxy, about 700 kpc distant. Mv = - 18.9. (11 facts) (M 57) - A famous planetary nebula (M57, NGC 6720) in the constellation Lyra. (10 facts) (M 20, NGC 6514) - An emission nebula in Sagittarius. (10 facts) (M 51, NGC 5194)
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