My first astro pic entry had the pics cut down a little too much: so here they are again with descriptions (it's number 6's fault for encouraging me).
Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius
NGC 6523 (M8, Lagoon Nebula),one of the finest and brightest star-forming regions in the sky, was discovered by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654 who classified it as "nebulosa," i.e. of intermediate brightness; in his catalog as No. II.6. It has a visual brightness of about 6 mag, apparent dimension of 90x40 arc minutes, lies approx 5.2 kly away and contains the open cluster NGC 6530.
Trifid Nebula in Saggitarius
NGC 6514 (M20, Trifid Nebula) is an emission and reflection nebula with an open star cluster in Sagittarius. Charles Messier discovered this object on June 5, 1764, and described it as a cluster of stars of 8th to 9th magnitude, enveloped in nebulosity. This red emission nebula with its young star cluster near its center is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula which is particularly conspicuous to the northern end. The nebula's distance is approx 5,200 light years, is about 28 arc minutes in apparent dimension and has a visual brightness of 9.0 mag. It lies about 2 degrees northwest of M8.
Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo
NGC 4594 (M105, Sombrero Galaxy) was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M104 is numerically the first object of the catalog which was not included in Messier's originally published catalog. However, Charles Messier added it by hand to his personal copy on May 11, 1781, and described it as a "very faint nebula." It was Camille Flammarion who found that its position coincided with Herschel's H I.43, which is the Sombrero Galaxy (NGC 4594), and added it to the official Messier list in 1921. This object is also mentioned by Pierre Méchain as his discovery in his letter of May 6, 1783. William Herschel found this object independently on May 9, 1784. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero Galaxy because of its appearance. According to de Vaucouleurs, we view it from just 6 degrees south of its equatorial plane, which is outlined by a rather thick dark rim of obscuring dust. This dust lane was probably the first discovered, by William Herschel in his great reflector. This galaxy is of type Sa-Sb, with both a big bright core, and as one can see in shorter exposures, also well-defined spiral arms. It also has an unusually pronounced bulge with an extended and richly populated globular cluster system - several hundred can be counted in long exposures from big telescopes. It has a visual brightness of about 8 mag, apparent dimension of 9x4 arc minutes and lies approx 50 mly away.
Just down the road really.
Lagoon Nebula in SagittariusNGC 6523 (M8, Lagoon Nebula),one of the finest and brightest star-forming regions in the sky, was discovered by Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654 who classified it as "nebulosa," i.e. of intermediate brightness; in his catalog as No. II.6. It has a visual brightness of about 6 mag, apparent dimension of 90x40 arc minutes, lies approx 5.2 kly away and contains the open cluster NGC 6530.
Trifid Nebula in SaggitariusNGC 6514 (M20, Trifid Nebula) is an emission and reflection nebula with an open star cluster in Sagittarius. Charles Messier discovered this object on June 5, 1764, and described it as a cluster of stars of 8th to 9th magnitude, enveloped in nebulosity. This red emission nebula with its young star cluster near its center is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula which is particularly conspicuous to the northern end. The nebula's distance is approx 5,200 light years, is about 28 arc minutes in apparent dimension and has a visual brightness of 9.0 mag. It lies about 2 degrees northwest of M8.
Sombrero Galaxy in VirgoNGC 4594 (M105, Sombrero Galaxy) was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M104 is numerically the first object of the catalog which was not included in Messier's originally published catalog. However, Charles Messier added it by hand to his personal copy on May 11, 1781, and described it as a "very faint nebula." It was Camille Flammarion who found that its position coincided with Herschel's H I.43, which is the Sombrero Galaxy (NGC 4594), and added it to the official Messier list in 1921. This object is also mentioned by Pierre Méchain as his discovery in his letter of May 6, 1783. William Herschel found this object independently on May 9, 1784. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero Galaxy because of its appearance. According to de Vaucouleurs, we view it from just 6 degrees south of its equatorial plane, which is outlined by a rather thick dark rim of obscuring dust. This dust lane was probably the first discovered, by William Herschel in his great reflector. This galaxy is of type Sa-Sb, with both a big bright core, and as one can see in shorter exposures, also well-defined spiral arms. It also has an unusually pronounced bulge with an extended and richly populated globular cluster system - several hundred can be counted in long exposures from big telescopes. It has a visual brightness of about 8 mag, apparent dimension of 9x4 arc minutes and lies approx 50 mly away.
Just down the road really.
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