#messier

[quiltofstars]

The Omega Nebula, M17 // dsoscope

[miozies]

Finally got back to playing idv. Got into few matches to lose couple of times cause of the ping. It's laggier than I remembered.

[nazdream]

Day 8 (January 26 2026)

in order of appearance: the moon, m46, m47, m48, leo triplet, winnecke 4, m53, m49, m58

[cosmic-perspective]

Messier 13. The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules located 25 million light-years away. 4 hours of integration with calibration frames. Gear shit out overnight otherwise it would have been closer to 8 hours lol.

[cosmicexplorersblog]

Pillars of creation

The Pillars of Creation were first made famous when NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of them in 1995. These pillars appear like rock formations – three towers of gas and dust which are more permeable than they look. The Pillars of Creation are part of the Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16.Some 7,000 light-years from Earth are gigantic cosmic columns of dust and gas. Because new stars are coalescing there, the formation is known as the Pillars of Creation

[kosmikaastronomy]

M4 / Spider Cluster

This bright splattering of light is called M4, short for messier 4, but colloquially (casually) called the Spider Cluster.

The Spider Cluster is a globular cluster, meaning a large grouping of stars, in this case upwards of 100,000.

M4 is unique for a couple of reasons. 1, it's my favorite globular cluster. 2, it's the closest GB to our solar system- only 5,500 light years away! 3, it's home to some of the oldest stars in our universe, with some up to 13 billion years old (which is also super cool because it gives us a better idea of the minimum age of our universe).

M4 makes a great amateur stargazing target as its pretty easy to find in the night sky (if you're in the northern hemisphere that is). Look for Antares, the bright red star in the middle of Scorpio, and look slightly up and to the right. It's usually visible as a bright blob in binoculars and as a cluster in 4 inch telescopes. Due to how close it is it's very bright with an (apparent) magnitude of 5.9.

M4 is most visible in the summer months with June through July being optimal viewing months.

//

photo credits: La Silla Observatory 

citations: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-4/

[zespaceblog]

Messier 83 - Spiral Galaxy

Get your binoculars out, this is one of few galaxies you can see with a decent pair of binoculars, particularly outside of a city. It has a mag of 7.6 and is found in the constellation of Hydra and just 14.7 million light years from Earth, which in galactic terms is very close indeed.

The brightness is also because of the face on angle, allowing astronomers to see the spiral design, the star forming regions (shown in pink/blue above) and how this all interacts with the central supermassive blackhole.

The galaxy has some regions that appear to have significantly more starbirth than other areas, and interaction with NGC 5253 in the recent past may be responsible.