Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  70 UMa  ·  M 40  ·  NGC 4284  ·  NGC 4290  ·  NGC 4335  ·  NGC 4358  ·  NGC 4362  ·  NGC 4364  ·  The star 70UMa  ·  The star 74UMa
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M40 - Winnecke 4, Kurt Zeppetello
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M40 - Winnecke 4

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M40 - Winnecke 4, Kurt Zeppetello
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M40 - Winnecke 4

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Description

What was Messier thinking? M40 or Winnecke 4 is one of the most bazaar objects that Messier included in his famous catalog of what not to confused with a comet. Its an optical double star located in Ursa Major. In actuality Messier was searching for a nebula that had been reported in the area, however, not seeing any nebulae, he included the double star instead. It was subsequently rediscovered by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke in 1863, hence the other name (source: wikipedia). At any rate, I was able to add this to my catalog of Messier objects captured with my Orion ED80.

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M40 - Winnecke 4, Kurt Zeppetello

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