The "Squid Galaxy": M77 in Cetus | Schulman Telescope

The "Squid Galaxy": M77 in Cetus | Schulman Telescope

Located 47 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster), barred spiral galaxy Messier 77 is one of the most remote galaxies of the Messier catalogue. Messier 77 (M77) is also known as NGC 1068 or the Squid Galaxy. 

Messier 77 was discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain in 1780, who originally described it as a nebula. Méchain then communicated his discovery to his counterpart Charles Messier, who subsequently listed the object in his astronomical catalog. Messier and German-British astronomer William Herschel described this galaxy as a star cluster. Today, however, with modern technology, the object is known to be a galaxy.

At approximately 100,000 light-years across, Messier 77 is also one of largest galaxies in the Messier catalogue—so massive that its gravity causes other nearby galaxies to twist and become warped.

Technical Details

Optics: Schulman 32-inch RCOS Telescope

Camera: SBIG STX16803

The 0.81 m (32 in) Schulman Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien reflector built by RC Optical Systems and installed in 2010. It is operated by the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter and is Arizona's largest dedicated public observatory. The Schulman Telescope was designed from inception for remote control over the Internet by amateur and professional astrophotographers worldwide. It is currently the world's largest telescope dedicated for this purpose.

Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona

Caption Acknowledgements: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Wikipedia

Image Date: Nov. 1, 2014

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