The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in his "Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles" ("Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters") included in the Connaissance des Temps for 1774 (published in 1771). The original motivation of the catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets. He therefore compiled a list of these objects,[1] in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain.
The first edition covered 45 objects numbered M1 to M45. The total list published by Messier finally contained 103 objects, but the list "got an independent life" by successive additions by other astronomers, motivating the additions by side notes in Messier’s and Mechain’s texts indicating that either of them knew of the objects. The first such addition came from Camille Flammarion in 1921, who added Messier 104 after finding Messier’s side note in his 1781 edition exemplar of the catalogue. M105 to M107 were added by Helen Sawyer Hogg in 1947, M108 and M109 by Owen Gingerich in 1960, and M110 by Kenneth Glyn Jones.[2] M102 was observed by Méchain, who communicated his notes to Messier; later, it was admitted by Méchain himself that this object does not exist, and it was simply a re-observation of M101. Some sources mention the galaxy NGC 5866 as an identification for M102, but its description does not fit with Méchain's notes.
Messier's final catalogue was included in the Connaissance des Temps for 1784 (published in 1781).[3] These objects are still known by their Messier number from this list.
Because Messier lived and did his astronomical work in France in the Northern Hemisphere, the list he compiled contains only objects from the north celestial pole to a celestial latitude of about –35.7°. Many impressive Southern objects, such as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are excluded from the list.
All of the Messier objects are visible with binoculars or small telescopes (under favorable conditions); therefore they are popular viewing objects for amateur astronomers. In early spring, astronomers sometimes gather for "Messier marathons", when all of the objects can be viewed over a single night.[4]
A summary of the astrophysics of each Messier object, as well as all of the objects in the Herschel 400 Catalog, can be found in Concise Catalog of Deep-sky Objects: Astrophysical Information for 500 Galaxies, Clusters and Nebulae by W. H. Finlay, ISBN 1-85233-691-9.
蟹狀星雲(M1,或NGC 1952)位於金牛座ζ星東北面,距地球約6500光年。它是個超新星殘骸,源於一次超新星(天關客星,SN 1054)爆炸。
氣體總質量約為太陽的十分之一,直徑六光年,現正以每秒一千公里速度膨漲。星雲中心有一顆直徑約十公里的脈衝星。這超新星爆發後剩下的中子星是在1969年被發現。其自轉週期為33毫秒(即每秒自轉30次)。
蝴蝶星團(也稱為M6或NGC 6405)是在天蠍座的一個疏散星團。在視覺上,他是相當接近(角距離)在銀河系中心方向的人馬座的梅西爾天體。
在這個星團中明亮的恆星大多是年齡在一億年的B型藍色恆星,但是最亮的成員卻是被稱為天蠍BM的橙色K型巨星。天蠍BM 是半規則變星,光度從在可見的5.5等至7.0等之間變化。在彩色的相片中,這棵橙色的星與星團中其他藍色的星形成明顯的對比。
對這個星團的距離有不同的測量結果,估計這個星團的平均距離是1,600光年,在空間中的直徑大約是12光年。現代的測量顯示他的總光度是4.2等。
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