2023-09-04 11:51:00
Messier 89 – ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, S. FABER ET AL.
MADRID, 4 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
This huge ball of stars, with around 100 billion in total, is an elliptical galaxy located about 55 million light years awaycaptured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Known as Messier 89, this galaxy appears to be perfectly spherical; which is unusual for elliptical galaxies which tend to be elongated ellipsoids. However, the apparently spherical nature of Messier 89 could be a trick of perspective and the result of its orientation relative to Earth, reports NASA.
Astronomer Charles Messier discovered Messier 89 in 1781. Messier began cataloging astronomical objects after mistaking a faint object in the sky for Halley’s Comet. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the object was actually the Crab Nebula.
To prevent other astronomers from making the same mistake, he decided to catalog all the bright deep-sky objects that could be mistaken for comets. His methodical observations of the night sky resulted in the first complete catalog of astronomical objects. Messier 89 holds the record for being the last giant elliptical galaxy found and the most perfectly spherical galaxy in its catalog of 110 objects.
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