Encyclopedia

Messier number

Messier number

See Messier Catalog.
Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

Messier number

[me′syā ‚nəm·bər]
(astronomy)
A number by which star clusters and nebulae are listed in Messier's catalog; for example, the Andromeda Galaxy is M 31.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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References in periodicals archive
Upper left of M8 is a small but rich Milky Way star cloud that received its own Messier number, M24.
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In June, during the dark-Moon period from about the 5th to 19th, Pluto is seen against some of the richest Milky Way fields in the sky, a star cloud so bright that it gained its own Messier number, M24.
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Its Messier number is M45 and it is roughly 380 light years away.
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Charts more detailed than our all-sky map show seven galaxies bearing Messier numbers in a 5[degrees]-long line.
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Camelopardalis contains NGC 2403, one of the brightest galaxies in the northern celestial hemisphere that don't have Messier numbers. This 8.4-magnitude spiral (at right ascension [7.sup.h] [37.sup.m], declination +65.6[degrees]) is spread across a big 1/4[degrees], so it can be elusive visually, especially through light pollution.
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In fact, IC 342 and Maffei 1 and 2 "would've had Messier numbers if they weren't so obscured," says Ronald J.
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