M53 (NGC 5024) is a globular cluster in the constellation Coma Berenices. At magnitude 7.6 it is too dim for the naked eye.
M53
Messier 53
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Category Archives: Dark Sky
Messier 105
M105 (NGC 3379) is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Leo. At magnitude 9.3 it cannot be seen by naked eye. See location below.
M105
M105 is the elliptical galaxy in the center of the photo and is part of the Leo I or M96 group of galaxies.
Messier 95 & 96
M95 (NGC 3351) & M96 (NGC 3368) are spiral galaxies in the constellation Leo. At magnitudes 9.7 and 9.2, respectfully, they cannot be seen by naked eye. See their location below.
M95 & M96
My first attempt on March 24th was too cloudy. I increased the exposure time and waited for a more clear night and less moon on 04/14/2023.
North (toward Polaris) is up in the photo. The picture was taken with a fully modified Canon Rebel camera (this is my one shot color camera) on a TEC 140 telescope in the Alpenglow-Torrey House Observatory in the dark sky community of Torrey, Utah (Bortle 2-3). The ten best of 14 120-second sub-frames were used and stacked in Deep Sky Stacker = twenty minute photo. Unguided, binned 2X2 (to make smaller files for remote transfer), no calibration frames. Processed in Photoshop (CS5).
Location in the night sky of the photo:
Source: Astrometry.net
Messier 109
M109 (NGC 3992) is a spiral galaxy in Ursa Major (The Big Dipper). At magnitude 9.8 it cannot be seen with the naked eye. M109 is in the center of the photo. In Stellarium M109 is called the “Vacuum Cleaner Galaxy.”
M109 in center
Messier 40
M40 is an optical double star (a chance alignment of two independent stars at different distances from earth) in the constellation Ursa Major and in the center of the photo below. Ursa Major is known as the Big Dipper and is circumpolar for northern observers (it never sets). Many apparent single stars are actually double stars, held together by mutual gravity and called binary systems. Roughly half the sky’s stars are binary.
M40
Messier 67
M67 (NGC 2682) is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. At magnitude 6.1 it generally cannot be seen with the naked eye.
M67
Messier 44
M44 (NGC 2632) is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. This famous cluster is also called Praesepe (Latin for “manger”), or the Beehive Cluster. At magnitude 3.7, it can be readily seen by the naked eye on a dark night. See the location of M44 below.
M44
Messier 48
M48 (NGC 2548) is an open cluster in the constellation Hydra. At magnitude 5.5 it can be seen in dark skies with the naked eye. See location of M48 below.
M48
Messier 93
M93 (NGC 2447) is an open cluster also in Puppis. At magnitude 6.0 it is barely visible to the naked eye in dark skies. See below on where to look.
M93
Messier 47
M47 (NGC 2422) is an open cluster in the constellation Puppis. At magnitude 4.4 it is visual to the naked eye. See where to look below.
M47