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The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy (M109, upper right) and Phecda (γ Ursae Majoris, lower left) // Ezequiel
The star Phecda (γ Ursae Majoris) is a blue-white giant star about 83 light years from Earth. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase fakhth al-dubb meaning "thigh of the bear."
Meanwhile, the Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy is about 70 million light years away, and I have no idea where it got its name.
The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy (M109) and the star Phecda (γ Ursae Majoris) // Space_Man_Spiff
Phecda (γ Ursae Majoris) is a binary star about 83 light years away. It is most famous for being the lower left star in the bowl of the Big Dipper. The star itself is a blue-white giant about 2.5 times the mass of the Sun. The name comes from the Arabic phrase fakhth al-dubb meaning "thigh of the bear".
The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy, M109 // Ian Gorin
M109 was probably discovered by Messier in 1781 while looking in the area for objects discovered by Méchain. He did not note its position, and so it failed to make it into his catalog. William Herschel (1738-1822) independently discovered it in 1789.
It was added to Messier's catalog in 1953 by Owen Gingerich (1930-2023) who identified it as the 109th entry based on Messier's notes. However, in 2006, Henk Bril (b. 1962) presented evidence that this galaxy may not be the true 109th entry. Instead, a nearby galaxy of the same galaxy group, NGC 3953, might be what Messier saw. Regardless, this galaxy is generally accepted as M109.
Although, I have no idea why we call it the Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy.
M109 // Walter Leonhard Schramböck
The Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy, M109 // Christoph Lichtblau
Containing about 1 trillion stars, the Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy is the brightest member of the M109 Group. This is the most distant object in Messier's catalog at 67.2 million light years away.
M109 // Elmiko
Beautiful barred spiral galaxy M109, 109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters, is found just below the Big Dipper's bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In telescopic views, its striking central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the Greek letter "theta", θ, a common mathematical symbol representing an angle. Of course M109 spans a very small angle in planet Earth's sky, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees.
Messier 109 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
M109 was discovered in 1781 by Pierre Méchain, and was then catalogued in 1783 by Charles Messier. It is known as a barred spiral due to the apparent bar structure in its centre. M109, like most spiral galaxies, is suspected to harbour a super-massive black hole in its centre. A supernova was observed in M109 about 60 years ago in 1956. This observation determined that M109 is the furthest object in the entire Messier Catalogue!
Top: Wide-Field - Bob Franke/Focal Pointe Observatory
Bottom: Close-up - Daniel Duggan/Faulkes Telescope North
