M71 (NGC 6838), Sagitta. RA 19:53 46, DEC 18:46 2
M71 is a loosly concentrated globular cluster 12,000 light years away, and 27 light years across. Up until the 1970′s M71 was thought to be a tight open cluster, but characteristics have been found which prove it’s a globular. It’s an attractive object and easy to find in the small constellation of Sagitta. Good binoculars will give a good view but to separate M71′s stars a medium sized telescope will be needed. M71 is at magnitude 8.2
Globular cluster M71
M72 (NGC 6981), Aquarius. RA 20:53 4, DEC -12:32
M72 is a globular cluster at quite the distance of 53,000 light years away, it is beyond the Milky Way’s centre, and is travelling towards us at 225 km/sec. It is one of the smaller and fainter globulars in the Messier list, and it’s a challenge to resolve into stars. A pale grainy patch of nebulosity, but but larger scopes may hint at individual stars around the cluster’s edge. M72 is at magnitude 9.3
Globular cluster M72
M73 (NGC 6994), Aquarius. RA 20:58 54, DEC -12:38
M73 is an asterism of four stars, which is four stars that appear together close by but in reality they are not physically linked. Instead they are a chance line up of four stars at different distances. Previously though there has been some debate about whether M73 is either a sparsely populated open cluster or an asterism. It has been found out that the stars are at different distances and moving at different velocities, so definitely an asterism. M73 is at magnitude 9.0
Asterism M73
M74 (NGC 628), Pisces. RA 01:36 42, DEC 15:47 01
M74 is a nice symmetrical face on spiral galaxy showing off the graceful structure of it’s two spiral arms. Two supernova have been seen in M74 (SN 2002 ap, and SN 2003 cd). This galaxy is studied by professional astronomers for it’s density waves which sweep dust and gas clouds into the spiral arms. M74 is at magnitude 10.0 and a big challenge for amateur astronomers due to it being very dim.
Galaxy M74
M75 NGC 6964), Sagittarius. RA 20:06 5, DEC -21:55 16
M75 is a globular cluster 67,500 light years away, it is one of the fainter clusters so a bit hard to resolve. But it’s a rich and compact cluster, M75 is at magnitude 8.6
Globular cluster M75
M76, The Little Dumbbell Nebula (NGC 650), Perseus. RA 01:42 4, DEC 51:34
M76, The Little Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula surrounded by a ring which is expanding into space at 42 km/sec, but we see this ring edge on to our line of sight. It is sometimes called the Butterfly Nebula due to it’s faint wisps of gas that look like wings expanding into space each side of the main part of the nebula. The remaining central star that has shed it’s outer layers is at a very high temperature of around 60,000 K and will cool as a white dwarf over a few billion years. M76 is one of the fainter Messier objects at magnitude 10.1
M76, The Little Dumbbell Nebula, or The Butterfly Nebula
M77 (NHC 1068), Cetus. RA 02:42 7, DEC -00:01
M77 is a large and magnificent spiral galaxy 120,000 light years across, possibly as much as 170,000 light years when measured to the edges of the fainter extentions of it’s disk. M77 is about 60 million light years away, and receding from us at 1,100 km/sec. Vast clouds of gas are moving out of the galaxy’s centre at high speed, and the energy needed to do this is enormous. M77 has a strong radio source at it’s core (Cetus A), a central object with a mass of 10 million Suns is responsible, surrounded by a 5 light years diameter disk in orbit around it. M77 is the dominant member of a small group of galaxies and is at magnitude 8.9
Galaxy M77
M78 (NGC 2068), Orion. RA 05:46 7, DEC 00:03
M78 is a reflection nebula that is part of the huge Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, that contains the famous Orion Nebula (M42). M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula, is 1,600 light years from Earth, and about 5 light years across. It is a cloud of interstellar dust that shines and glows blue from the light of bright young stars that have formed from the same cloud. M78 is a faint patch in binoculars on a good night, but medium sized telescopes will show the nebula as very bright, with two main stars in the north west and south east lighting it up. M78 is at magnitude 8.3
Nebula M78
M79 (NGC 1904), Lepus. RA 05:24 5, DEC -24:33
M79 is a nice looking globular cluster but quite remote at 40,000 light years. It is unusual as it’s not situated around the central galactic bulge as most globulars are, but much further out at 60,000 light years from the galactic centre. It is 118 light years across and receding away from us at 200 km/sec. M79 is in an unusual place in our Galaxy and is thought that it could be a visitor from the neighbouring Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, a dwarf galaxy that is presently in a very close encounter with the Milky Way. M79 is at magnitude 7.7
Globular cluster M79
M80 (NGC 6093), Scorpius. RA 16:17 03, DEC -22:58 30
M80 is a globular cluster 32,600 light years away with a diameter of 95 light years, and a population of several hundred thousand stars. M80 is a very compact and dense cluster, so dense that star collisions must be common. In fact there is a high number of “blue stragglers”, stars which are blue so they appear a lot younger than they are. But globular clusters are well known to have older and redder stars, but what is happening here is that stars are colliding with each other in this extremely close packed system. In these stellar close encounters stars are being stripped of their cooler outer layers, leaving hot blue suns. M80 is seen with a moderate sized telescope as a small but bright ball of stars, a larger telescope will be needed to resolve any stars in this cluster. M80 is at magnitude 7.3
Globular cluster M80
