Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  M 91  ·  NGC 4548
M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton
M91 Galaxy
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M91 Galaxy

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Description

Messier 91 (also known as NGC 4548 or M91 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the Coma Berenices constellation and is part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. M91 is about 63 million light-years away from the earth. It was the last of a group of eight nebulae discovered by Charles Messier in 1781. Originally M91 was a missing Messier object in the catalogue as the result a bookkeeping mistake by Messier. It was not until 1969 that amateur astronomer William C. Williams realized that M91 was NGC 4548, which was documented by William Herschel in 1784. Until recently, this galaxy had been missing. Messier's notes had given the wrong position for this object. An amateur astronomer from Texas finally figured out its true location in 1969. This galaxy is classified as a barred spiral. The center part of the galaxy displays a prominent bar-shape, which can be seen even in small telescopes. M91 is a member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies and it located about 60 million light-years from Earth. It is receding from us at a rate of 400 km/sec. With a magnitude of only 10.2 it is best observed with a large telescope.

Observation Notes : pretty bright, pretty large, elongated 2X1, much brighter middle at 100X.

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  • M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton
    Original
  • M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton
    B
  • M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton
    C
  • M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton
    D
  • Final
    M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton
    E

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M91 Galaxy, AlBroxton

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Allen Broxton
Galaxies