TheSkySearchers

NOVEMBER 2019 MONTHLY CHALLENGE!

Thank you once again for all the great suggestions that were put forward! See the topic here: https://www.theskysearchers.com/viewtop ... =84&t=3703
I tallied the votes between objects M1, M33, and M74. M33 will get the nod for having the most votes.

MESSIER 33 (NGC 598), Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum, Magnitude +5.8

Messier 33 was likely discovered by Giovanni Hodierna before 1654. It was rediscovered in 1764 my Charles Messier who catalogued it as M33. The galaxy is within the confines of the smaller Triangulum constellation and is also nicknamed the Pinwheel Galaxy.

M33 can be a bit challenging for the uninitiated. Being oriented more toward a face-on orientation, despite its brighter magnitude, the light emanating from this galaxy is spread out over a large angular size, thus lending a fairly low surface brightness. If this is your first time observing this galaxy, use the lowest power eyepiece you can muster and once you are in the area, watch for a roughly oval brightening against the darker background of space. It will not be sharply defined. A night of good transparency is helpful and best to wait until the Moon is finished casting her aspersions everywhere. M33 is also an excellent binocular target!

For those of you with excellent transparency and enough aperture, have a look for NGC 604 (M33's brightest HII region) located in the northeastern part of the galaxy.

So let's get out there and have some fun with this target, post back your visual observations or sketches and photos of Messier 33!
Have fun and wishing you clear nights!

A good choice. M33 is one of those objects that can be "easy" or "impossible"---mostly due to observing conditions (light pollution, or sky transparency). In Minneapolis, where I grew up in the 1970s, I could only glimpse it on the BEST fall nights with 10x50 binoculars (I doubt you could do that today from the same spot).

From rural, northeastern Minnesota where I now live, it's a naked eye object on nights of average or better transparency.

I'm convinced that pretty much ANY observer who can find M31 could also easily see M33 with binoculars in the right conditions.

M33 is a great object. I use it as my transparency yardstick. I break it into two levels one is it visible and two does it have structure. If it has structure, then I know the transparency is pretty good for the night or at least in that window plus or minus 1 hour. Of course this all assumes there is no moon in the sky.

Cheers,
JT

Hi Bryan. M33 is a superb choice. It is always a treat to view when the skies co-operate. I don't do DSO imaging, but I want to thank and wish all of those who submit their entries the best of luck in this contest.