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Designations: M33, Triangulum Galaxy, Pinwheel Galaxy, NGC 598
Visual
Magnitude: 5.7
Size: 71 min X 42 min
Distance: 2.3 million light
years
Discoverer: Messier 1764
Visual Description: In long-exposure
photographs M33, another member of our local group of galaxies, looks like an
enormous spiral with innumerable suns clinging to wildly spinning arms. But with
a diameter of 50,000 light years, you could easily fit three M33's in the disk
of M31. In fact, M33 may be a satelite galaxy of M31, orbiting it just as the
moon does the earth. The Andromeda Galaxy is also about 15 times more massive
than M33, which is about two times smaller and seven times less massive than our
Milky Way. As seen from an imaginary planet in the Pinwheel Galaxy, M31 would be
am impressive sight - an oblique swarm of faintly glittering suns stretching 6
degrees in that hypothetical sky. Regardless of its true size, the Pinwheel is a
great sight from earth. It has long been a naked-eye challenge for amateur
astronomers. While some find it easily visible to the naked eye or in
binoculars, others cannot see it at all. The problem lies in the galaxy's low
surface brightness. Although the total magnitude of M33 is the same as a 6th
magnitude star, the galaxy's light is spread over an area of sky larger than two
full moon diameters, making it appear dim. A dark sky, a steady atmosphere, and
good vision are required to see M33 with or without optical aid. Its ease of
visibility is, as Walter Scott Houston often stated, a barometer for the clarity
of one's observing site. The galaxy is completely washed out in urban skies and
can be disappointingly dim from suburban locations even through large-aperature
telescopes! Try to see it, though, without optical aid, because M33 is one of
the farthest objects visible to the naked eye.
Telescope: TMB
152 APO Refractor
Focal
Length: 961mm (1201 * 0.8x reducer)
Mount: Takahashi NJP 160
Camera:
SBIG
ST10-XME
Exposure:
10 10-minute exposures (Luminance) and 3 10-minute exposures for each color
(red, green, blue) Total = 130 minutes
Other: ST402ME
used as a guide camera
Image Processing: Processed with CCDStack and Photoshop CS2
The Visual description of the M33 Triangulum Galaxy was writen by Steven James O'Meara in the book "The Messier Objects" by Stephen James O'Meara. Page. 115. ISBN number 0-521-55332-6.
Copyright(c) 2007 Doug Sanqunetti. All rights reserved
