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Home , 47 Tucanae, Andromeda Galaxy, New General Catalogue

TEACHER SCIENCE RESOURCE CONTENT/ CURRICULUM LINK OBSERVING; DEEP SPACE; NOMENCLATURE; STARDOME OBSERVATORY & PLANETARIUM ; FACTS, RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES ON... Deep Sky Objects How are they named? Up until the twentieth century many of the faint objects in the night sky were grouped together as nebulae (fuzzy; cloudy-looking objects). We now know these to be galaxies, clusters, star-forming regions, globular clusters, remnants, etc. These nebulous objects, which could be mistaken for , confused hunters in the eighteenth century. To help them , a French astronomer, catalogued a list of objects in 1774 that were definitely not comets. By 1781 his list of The well-known 75 had grown, with additions Matariki from other astronomers, to (‘’, ‘Subaru’) include 40 galaxies, 57 star is listed in the clusters, 12 nebulae, and one The ‘Horsehead’ is a dark dust nebula silhouetted against bright Messier Catalogue (M40). glowing gas in the belt of the of . as ‘M45’. The Messier Catalogue is still used by enthusiasts today. complementing the Messier However, some deep sky objects are Catalogue. It is known as the Patrick Moore missing from his list, particularly those seen from Caldwell Catalogue, and it helped raise funds the Southern Hemisphere, because Messier did his includes a wide range of observations in France. Most notable is the largest to build Stardome’s different objects across the planetarium! of the , Omega whole sky, including the Centauri, which is never observable from France. Southern Hemisphere. is, nevertheless, listed in the Dark nebulae are also listed as as NGC 5139. The NGC deep sky objects. These are clouds catalogue contains 7,840 objects. It is one of the of dust that obscure background stars. Best known largest deep-sky object catalogues, compiled by is probably the ‘Coal Sack’ adjacent to the Southern John Louis Emile Dreyer in 1888. Cross. Another large dark nebula is the striking In 1995 Patrick Moore compiled a list of deep ‘Horsehead Nebula’ in the Belt of Orion. sky objects especially for amateur astronomers, Check out these other resources... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-sky_object http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Messier_objects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_catalogue

What different types of Who was Why did Patrick objects does the Caldwell What are Patrick Mooremegaparsecs name and his Catalogue include? what kinds of objects Moore? listwould the we Caldwell use these DISCUSSION POINTS unitsCatalogue? of distance for? STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246 ACTIVITY

STARDOME OBSERVATORY & PLANETARIUM Deep Sky Objects How are they named? TELESCOPIC DEEP SKY OBJECTS DEEP SKY OBJECTS A nebula should refer to clouds of gas and dust, Discover what types of objects these are; then find but groups of stars can appear nebulous until a them in the night sky: telescope can separate the individual stars. • Milky Way Small telescopes can resolve individual stars • up to hundreds of thousands of light-years away, but large instruments are needed to see • Omega Centauri individual stars in galaxies millions of light-years • M31 distant. Stars in galaxies hundreds of millions or • billions of light-years away cannot be resolved • with current technology. An exception is the short appearance of an exploding massive star: • Orion’s Sword a supernova can outshine its home galaxy. At 2.5 million light-years distant, the • How many of the 35 galaxies in the Caldwell galaxy is the furthest object visible with the naked eye. Catalogue can you find with or a If you’re struggling to spot these, don’t forget that telescope? there are many useful apps to download on your device which help you explore the night sky. Our and Stellarium. favourites are Starry Night

M31, the (now with h-alpha). Credit: Adam Evans, Wikipedia Commons and send it to us. take a photo of your activity we'd love to see it! [email protected] STARDOME.ORG.NZ 09 624 1246