Posted on 09/02/2022 2:37:22 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Find the Big Dipper and follow the handle away from the dipper's bowl until you get to the last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you'll come upon this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (left), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. In direct telescopic views, M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye. But this remarkably deep image shows off details of the interacting galaxy's striking colors and galactic tidal debris. The image includes nearly 90 hours of narrowband data that also reveals a vast glowing cloud of reddish ionized hydrogen gas discovered in the M51 system.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Things like this blow my mind.
I looked at one of the enlarged versions on the web site and noticed that the background was peppered with numerous small dots. I assume that some might be dim and distant stars in our own Milky Way. Others might simply be very distant galaxies that only show up as dots in the picture.
My question is: How many of such tiny dots have ever received any attention by mankind? Is there information collected, cataloged, or recorded for every faint dot in the picture?
Humans couldn't do this. But is there a way looking up, for example, the brightness or red shift of any of these dots? Or is it possible that I am the only person to ever pay any attention to the very small faint dot I spotted in that picture?
That’s a pretty nice galaxy. But before I buy anything could I see the Maytag?
The distant points are mainly galaxies. Stars in our galaxy usually are very bright and have “spikes” of light due to optical distortions. There are probably billions of galaxies. I know that there are organized efforts to categorize galaxy types by volunteers. There is training on galaxy types for these volunteers, but I don’t know that there is any attempt to name them.
Only if you say something funny.
I knew there would be a catch. Should have gone to a brick and mortar galaxy store.
Magnificent.
To partially answer your question, there are galaxies in that picture that are recorded in at least three different catalogs;
The NGC-The New General Catalogue
The IC- The index catalogue, and,
The UGC- The Uppsala General catalogue.
I can, on my SkySafari astronomy software, find each galaxy that actually LOOKS like a galaxy, and label them, but I don’t have the now-how to actually show you that image.
For stars themselves, there is the SAO Catalogue, or the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Catalogue.
Yes, professional astronomers actually DO catalog the stars themselves, but I don’t think they have cataloged every single one visible.
I sure wouldn’t want that job, LOL.
Someone pulled the plug. We are all swirling around and around to our doom!!
The moon was amazing here, tonight - the biggest, brightest first quarter I’ve ever seen.
I think you are saying that virtually all of the small dots in this picture
( https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220902.html ) are galaxies? And that not even a dozen are stars in the Milky Way?
Some of those objects must be a long way off.
Is not our God wonderful Who creates such beauty?
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