Welcome back to Monday! Today, we look at the barred spiral galaxy known as Messier 95, in honor of our dear friend, Tammy Plotner.
Charles Messier, a French astronomer, noticed a number of unimportant objects in the night sky during the 18th century. He began to catalog them so that other people wouldn't make the same mistake. One of the most influential catalogs of Deep Space objects is the list known as the Messier Catalog.
The object is called Messier 95. The barred spiral galaxy is 33 million light-years away. The M96 Group consists of several large and small objects, including this one, which is over 80,000 light-years in diameter. There are between 8 and 24 galaxies in this group.
The history of observation.
The Hubble Space Telescope surveyed M95 to measure the Hubble constant. As part of the campaign to determine how fast the Universe is expanding, the HST was used to find variable stars in M95 and other galaxies. In a 2003 paper, Joseph Jensen indicated that.
We measured fluctuations in 65 galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope to calibrate the IR surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distance scale and probe the properties of unresolved stellar populations. The sample includes elliptical and S0 galaxies and spiral bulges in a variety of environments. The F160W is used to derive the absolute fluctuation magnitudes from previously measured I-band SBF and Cepheid variable star distances. If the galaxy color is known to be 0.035 mag or better, F160W SBFs can be used to measure distances to early-type galaxies. The properties of stellar populations can be revealed by near-IR fluctuations.
The view from mid-northern latitudes is represented by the star chart. NASA/Stellarium.
The correlation of F160W fluctuation magnitudes and optical colors to stellar population model predictions suggests that bluer elliptical and S0 galaxies have younger populations than redder ones and may also be more metal-rich. There are no galaxies in this sample that have the same magnitudes as old, metal-poor ones.
The bright core of M95 is one of the most beautiful aspects. What could be going on inside? In a 1997 study, Luis Colina noted:
A high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope image of a barred spiral shows a nuclear structure for the first time.
The UV F218W image of the non-AGN barred galaxy NGC 3351 shows a ring of stars with a faint core. The star formation is arranged in clumps in the ring. Each clump has a few compact UV-bright clusters embedded in a more diffuse component. The IUE spectrum shows the presence of Si IV 1400 A and C IV 1550 A absorption lines, typical features of young, 4–5 Myr old, massive star clusters. The presence of ring and spiral star-forming structures in the nuclear regions of these two barred spirals supports the bar-induced gas-fueling scenario by which bars accumulate gas in the nuclear regions of galaxies, produce nuclear star-forming rings, and eventually generate or feed.
The M95 barred spiral galaxy was obtained by Hubble. Credit: NASA
The most recent supernova was observed in 2012 A type II supernova was visible on one of the galaxy's spiral arms and was quickly confirmed to be the result of a star collapsing at the end of its life cycle. Astronomers had the first chance to see the UV plateau of a Type II supernova after observing this explosion. Bayless wrote in a paper in 2013).
The Swift UV Optical Telescope has uncovered for the first time a long-lived, UV plateau in a Type II-P supernova. The first chance to see this UV plateau has been afforded by the proximity of this flattening in slope. The Swift UV and u-band light curves initially declined, but 27 days after the explosion, they flattened out. The same thermal process that causes the optical plateau, heating from radioactive decay, or a combination of both processes could be the source of the UV plateau.
Morgan Fraser presented reexamined near-infrared data of SN 2012aw and concluded that it was the result of a collapsing red supergiant of between 11 to 15 Solar masses.
The point source of the nearby core-collapse supernova SN 2012aw has been confirmed by new near-IR images. The J and Ks magnitudes of the source are consistent with what the literature says. We recover a marginal detection of the progenitor in the H-band. The explosion of a red supergiant appears to have resulted in the creation of the progenitor.
The SINGS Legacy Project acquired the image of M95 in the IR. The SINGS Team is made up of R. Kennicutt and the University of Arizona.
The history of observation.
Pierre Mechain discovered the stars in 1781 and cataloged them four days later. The light in the Lion is very faint. Sir William Herschel wrote about it on March 11th, 1784, saying that it was a fine, bright nebula, much brighter in the middle than at the extremes. The middle seems to be of the magnitude of 3 or 4 stars joined together, but not exactly round, so I should call it cometic.
It was nearly 100 years later when M95 was described as:
There is a white cloud on the lion's ribs with two small stars in the field. Its place is almost due east of Regulus, where it forms the southern part of a triangle nearly equilateral with Delta Leonis. The great nebula of Andromeda is round and bright, and perhaps better defined on the southern limb than on the northern limb.
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Mechain discovered it in 1781, and it was registered by Messier as a feeble nebula. A round but not equally well defined nebula, large, and of a pale white colour follows the eastwards of this object. It was discovered by Mechain in 1781 and is the intersecting point of a triangle formed by five stars.
M 96 group. Credit: Wikisky
Locating Messier 95.
M95 is the southernmost in the widefield eyepiece pairs of the galaxies. M95 and M96 can be found in the belly of the constellation of Leo with good sky conditions. Alpha is the most southern star in the backward question mark asterism. The shallow triangle asterism that marks the hips of Leo is visible from a fist-width west. The westernmost stars are Theta. There is a faint star in an almost central position.
If the skies are clear, you will be able to see another star just south of your last marker. M95 and M96 are close to each other. The pair can only be seen with larger binoculars and a small telescope. A larger opening will bring out more details. The fainter galaxies cannot tolerate background glow and need a dark sky location to do so.
Here are the quick facts to help you get started.
The object is called Messier 95.
M95 is an alternative designation.
The object is called a 888-405-7720 888-405-7720
It is the constellation of the sun and the moon.
Right Ascension: 10 is 44.0
Declination is +11
38000 is the distance.
The visual brightness is 9.7.
The Apparent Dimension was 4.33.3.
