The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC 598, and is sometimes informally referred to as the Pinwheel Galaxy, a nickname it shares withMessier 101. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, theAndromeda Galaxy and about 44 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye.

The Triangulum Galaxy was probably discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654. In his work De systemate orbis cometici; deque admirandis coeli caracteribus (“About the systematics of the cometary orbit, and about the admirable objects of the sky”), he listed it as a cloud-like nebulosity or obscuration and gave the cryptic description, “near the Triangle hinc inde“. This is in reference to the constellation of Triangulum as a pair of triangles. The magnitude of the object matches M33, so it is most likely a reference to the Triangulum galaxy.

Imaging telescopes or lenses: Takahashi TSA-120
Imaging cameras: QSI 683WSG
Mounts: Takahashi EM200 Temma 2
Guiding telescopes or lenses: Borg Mini 50mm Guidescope
Guiding cameras: Orion Starshoot autoguider
Software: Stark-Labs Nebulosity
Resolution: 3197×2241
Dates: Oct. 15, 2014
Frames: 22×600”
Integration: 3.7 hours
Avg. Moon age: 21.41 days
Avg. Moon phase: 57.78%
RA center: 23.482 degrees
DEC center: 30.690 degrees
Pixel scale: 1.244 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: 89.378 degrees
Field radius: 0.675 degrees

Аuthor: Renae Gage, 23.10.2014

Astrophotography of the day of SPONLI