The second 31 degree cold clear night in a row, I was tired from the prior all nighter, but I decided to stay up tonight (I called it quits around 03:00, I need to get up early and take our car to the body shop) and possibly Monday night as well.  I decided to stick with the L-Pro tonight so it was reflection Nebula, Galaxies  or Stars, so my first target was M33.  I think the image turned out fairly good.Messier 33 (M33), also known as the Triangulum Galaxy, is a famous spiral galaxy located in the small northern constellation Triangulum. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third largest galaxy in the Local Group, after the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way. It is also the second nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and the smallest spiral galaxy in the Local Group.

M33 is one of the most distant permanent deep sky objects visible to the naked eye. The galaxy lies at a distance between 2.38 and 3.07 million light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 5.72. Its designation in the New General Catalogue is NGC 598.Messier 33 appears face-on when viewed from Earth and has a low surface brightness. It is strongly affected by light pollution and can be a challenge for observers – with or without binoculars or telescopes – in less than perfect conditions.M33 lies 3.5 degrees to the west-northwest of Mothallah, Alpha Trianguli, the second brightest star in Triangulum, and 7 degrees to the southwest of Mirach, Beta Andromedae, the star that is also used to locate the nearby Andromeda Galaxy.The Triangulum Galaxy is best seen in very large binoculars or telescopes at low magnifications. It is a popular target for astrophotographers as its spiral arms and brighter H II regions can be captured with better amateur equipment. Large telescopes will reveal the galaxy’s globular clusters, dust lanes and spiral structure itself.The easiest way to locate M33 is to start with the Great Square of Pegasus (formed by Alpheratz, Scheat, Algenib and Markab) and trace the three bright stars of Andromeda in the direction of Cassiopeia’s W. Mirach is the middle star along the line. A line drawn from Mirach to Mothallah, the star that marks the apex of the triangle in the constellation Triangulum, leads directly to the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is located just over halfway along the line. The best time of year to observe the galaxy is in the months of October, November and December.Messier 33 is believed to be a satellite of the larger Messier 31 based on their proximity, interaction and velocities. The two galaxies are separated by less than 300 kiloparsecs. M33 is slightly more distant from us than Andromeda. A stream of hydrogen gas linking M31 and M33 was discovered in 2004 and confirmed in 2011, indicating a past interaction between our two neighbours between 2 and 8 billion years ago. M33 and M31 will likely undergo a more dramatic encounter in about 2.5 billion years.The future of the Triangulum Galaxy cannot be predicted with any certainty, but it is tied to that of the Andromeda Galaxy. M33 will either be absorbed by Andromeda, be part of Andromeda‘s collision with the Milky Way, collide with the Milky Way itself before Andromeda does, or be ejected out of the Local Group of galaxies. The Triangulum Galaxy is currently approaching the solar system at 179 km/s and the Milky Way Galaxy at 24 km/s.Messier 33 occupies an area of 70.8 by 41.7 arc minutes in size and has a true diameter of about 60,000 light years, slightly more than a half of the Milky Way’s diameter. It appears about 2.5 times larger than the full Moon in the sky. The galaxy contains about 40 billion stars, which is significantly less than the Milky Way (400 billion) and Andromeda Galaxy (1 trillion).The Triangulum Galaxy has a mass between 10 and 40 billion solar masses. There is no evidence of recent interactions with other galaxies.Messier 33 is classified as a type SA(s)cd galaxy, an unbarred spiral galaxy with relatively loosely wound spiral arms emerging directly from the nucleus. It is inclined 54 degrees to our line of sight.The nucleus of the Triangulum Galaxy is an H II region which contains the most luminous X-ray source in the Local Group. The ultraluminous X-ray source in the core of M33 is modulated by 20 percent over a period of 106 days. The galaxy’s core itself does not seem to contain a supermassive black hole. The central black hole has a mass of up to 3,000 solar masses. The area spanning the central 4 arc minutes of M33 contains vast molecular clouds in which new stars are formed.The northern spiral arm of M33 contains four vast H II regions, while the southern arm is more densely populated by hot young stars. On average, there is one supernova explosion every 147 years in the galaxy. 100 supernova remnants have been discovered in M33 so far, most of them in the southern portion of the galaxy.The Triangulum Galaxy contains at least 54 and possibly up to 122 or more globular clusters. The 54 confirmed globulars are believed to be several billion years younger than those found in the Milky Way.The largest stellar mass black hole ever found was discovered in M33 in 2007. Named M33 X-7, the black hole has a mass 15.7 times that of the Sun. It orbits and eclipses a companion star every 3.5 days.The nearby Pisces Dwarf (LGS 3), which lies 20 degrees from Messier 31 and 11 degrees from Messier 33, could be a satellite of either of the two larger galaxies. The Pisces Dwarf is an irregular dwarf galaxy located in Pisces constellation and one of the members of the Local Group of galaxies.Messier 33 is sometimes known as the Triangulum Pinwheel or Pinwheel Galaxy, a name commonly used for Messier 101, another famous face-on spiral galaxy, located in the constellation Ursa Major. M33 got its name from the area of the sky it occupies, the constellation Triangulum. Triangulum is Latin for “triangle” and refers to the asterism formed by the constellation’s three brightest stars, Ras al Muthallah (Mothallah) or Alpha Trianguli, Deltotum or Beta Trianguli, and Gamma Trianguli. The three stars form a long, narrow triangle, with Alpha Trianguli marking the apex and Beta and Gamma Trianguli at the base.

@information from Messier-Objects.com