#ngc 5866

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The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Tobiasz

[spacewonder19]

Spindle Galaxy NGC 5866 in Draco

[cosmonautroger]

[spinningblueball]

Edge-On Spiral Galaxy NGC 5866

[fishstickmonkey]

M102, NGC5866

M102 is really the only controversial entry in Messier's catalogue. Some have concluded it was an erroneous duplicate observation of M101, a conclusion which Messier's friend and fellow observer Mechain stated some years after his original discovery. However, a number of cogent arguments suggest that both men actually observed the Spindle Galaxy, NGC5866 in the constellation Draco, and it is this galaxy which is shown here. It is a lenticular galaxy of type S0 (essentially a spiral galaxy without the spiral structure). This picture was created from observations with the T2KA CCD camera at the Kitt Peak National Observatory's 0.9-meter telescope in March of 1995.

credit line: NOAO/AURA/NSF

NOAO

[quiltofstars]

The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Pedro Sánchez

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The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Lorand Fenyes

M102 is a curious object in the history of the Messier catalog. Discovered by Méchain in 1781, Messier did not include coordinates of M102 in his final published catalog, leading to confusion as to which object Méchain observed.

In 1783, Méchain retracted his discovery and claimed that M102 was actually an accidental duplication of M101. Since then, astronomers over the centuries tried to figure out which galaxy Méchain found. French astronomer Camille Flammarion identified this galaxy, NGC 5866, as M101 in 1917.

Messier had written down directions to the galaxy as "Nebula between the stars o Boötis and ι Draconis..." Flammarion argued that those directions make no sense unless the Greek letter omicron (o) was in fact a lowercase theta (θ). In that case, the directions make sense and point straight towards NGC 5866.

[quiltofstars]

The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Johnny Qiu

One of the most striking features of this lenticular galaxy is the dust lane which is seen almost exactly edge-on. This large dust lane is unusual for a lenticular galaxy, as most lenticulars only have one near their central regions, not spreading out across the entire disk.

Heber Curtis (1872-1942) remarked on this dust lane in 1918: "Its most striking feature is a narrow, clear-cut dark lane along the middle, marking a slight angle with the major axis."