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What is a Deep Sky Object?
What is a Deep Sky Object?
According to SkyHound.com, "it's any object in the sky that isn't a star or in our solar system. Most deep sky objects are faint, diffuse and require a telescope to see. They make for spectacular photographs but often appear as little more than a faint smudge of light to your eye, even as seen through a large telescope." Deep sky objects are usually the spectacular dusty images that we see from telescopes such as The Pillars of Creation.
The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula that is about 650 light-years away. Because it is a planetary nebula, that means that it was once a star like our own Sun. A planetary nebula occurs when a Sun-like star becomes a white dwarf after shedding its outer layers and blowing away much material from the bodies orbiting it. Planetary nebulae were first discovered in the 1700s. A Closer Look contains more detail on this object.
The Saturn Nebula
The Saturn Nebula
This (also) planetary nebula is named after Saturn because of the rings at the sides that it appears to have. The Saturn Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in the late 1700s. The Saturn Nebula is at the celestial coordinates 21:04:10.88, −11°21'48.25", which is closest (within 1 degree) to the star Nu Aquarii, which is visible without a telescope.
Messier 72
Messier 72
Globular clusters form spheres because of a tight gravitational pull while orbiting a galactic center as a joint satellite. Messier 72 is a globular cluster that is one of the farthest Messier objects from Earth. It has a mass of millions of stars, and the cluster is over 9 billion years old. Messier 72 is located between the stars Albali and Theta Capricorni.
Atoms for Peace Galaxy
Atoms for Peace Galaxy
This galaxy is 220 light-years away and has the celestial coordinates 22:20:44.8, -24°40' 42". This elliptical galaxy got its name from its faint resemblance of an incorrect model of an electron orbiting a nucleus. This galaxy has collided with a spiral galaxy in the distant past, and some remnants can be seen rotating the opposite direction of the rest of the galaxy.
The Aquarius Dwarf
The Aquarius Dwarf
The Aquarius Dwarf is an irregular mini galaxy within the local group of our Milky Way galaxy. This galaxy is approximately 3.1 million light-years away and is approaching us a 137,000 meters per second (as indicated by a blueshift). Seen in the picture to the right, this galaxy is an irregular one, which means it does not have a uniform structure like a spiral or ellipse. The celestial coordinates of The Aquarius Dwarf are 20:46:51.8, -12°50'53".
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