Messier Objects – Astronomy Now

NASA unveils 30 “Celestial Gems” from Caldwell Catalogue to mark Hubble’s three decades in space

23 December 2020 Astronomy Now

NASA celebrates the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30th year in space by releasing newly processed images taken from the Caldwell catalogue of amateur-accessible targets not included in Messier’s list.

A familiar face-on spiral hosts stars galore and a supermassive black hole

7 September 2020 Astronomy Now

The spiral galaxy M61, mistaken for a comet by Charles Messier in 1779, is an anchor tenant of the Virgo galaxy cluster, a beehive of rapid star birth.

Ancient stars concentrated in a huge globular cluster

7 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Globular clusters offer stunning starscapes for amateur astronomers, but the Hubble Space Telescope takes it to another level as seen in this jaw-dropping image of Messier 2 some 55,000 light years from Earth.

Originally left out of famous catalogue, M106 blazes in Hubble view

11 March 2019 Astronomy Now

Stunning views of M106, aka NGC 4258, show the nearby galaxy as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope combined with data provided by two amateur astronomers. An additional view from Hubble shows the galaxy’s subtle ultraviolet glow.

The Hubble Space Telescope’s jaw-dropping Messier catalogue

28 June 2018 William Harwood

Amateur astronomers the world over routinely use the Messier catalog as a guide to deep space targets visible in relatively small telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope provides an altogether different experience.

M66, a favorite target for amateurs, as seen by Hubble

20 June 2018 Astronomy Now

M66 is a familiar galaxy to amateur astronomers around the world, the largest member of a trio of interacting galaxies in the constellation Leo. This shot by the Hubble Space Telescope reveals M66 in all its glory, with its asymmetric spiral arms and a displaced core.

VST captures 615-megapixel image of open cluster Messier 18

11 August 2016 Astronomy Now

Messier 18 is the small smattering of bright blue stars upper left of centre in this small-scale version of the original mammoth 30,577 x 20,108 pixel ESO image captured by the OmegaCAM camera attached to the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), located at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.