Galaxies are perhaps one of the most attractive deep-sky objects to observe and photograph. They represent massive collections of dust, gas
and countless billions of stars and are best described as islands of space matter across the universe. They are characterized as being either
spiral or elliptical in nature and usually have a bright central core. Equally stunning to observe (with large-aperture telescopes) and image
are galaxy clusters which represent collections of gravitationally-bound groups of galaxies whose members number from tens to thousands and
which are classified on the basis of their richness (ie. number of galaxy members), shape (spherical, flat or irregular) and content (spiral
or elliptical). Charles Messier's list of deep-sky celestial gems includes approximately forty bright and large galaxies.
Note: NGC 891 in Andromeda is one of the most stunning examples of an edge-on galaxy. At a distance of only 30
million light years away, it is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies and was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel (some attribute the
discovery to his sister Caroline Herschel a year earlier). This galaxy is believed to resemble our own galaxy when viewed edge-on with a clear
dust lane bisecting a possible large central bar. NGC 891 has hosted one supernova ("1986J", mag 14). Similar to the stunning open cluster
NGC 457 in Cassiopeia, NGC 891 is another example of a stunning deep-sky object which
seems to have escaped Charles Messier and which is considered amongst the top 110 finest NGC objects to observe (see
here).
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