Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 106  ·  NGC 4248  ·  NGC 4258
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M106, drblevy13
Powered byPixInsight

M106

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M106, drblevy13
Powered byPixInsight

M106

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

M106 is one of the brighter Messier objects in the sky, and approaches the brightness of Andromeda.  When I was reading about this object, I found it particularly interesting that it has a "water vapor megamaser" which is basically a laser that is operating at microwave frequency instead of visible light.  It is one of the objects that apparently was used to directly measure distances from Earth to various other astronomical objects.

To put in perspective regarding when this was object was first discovered, it was first recorded in 1781, which is the year that General Cornwallis was defeated in Yorktown, Virginia and ultimately lead to America winning its independence (I'm on a history kick right now since we just got back from Colonial Williamsburg vacation!).

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

M106, drblevy13