September 2020 Monthly Challenge.

[KingClinton]

A big thank you to all of you that put forward suggestions for the September 2020 monthly challenge!

If you wish to suggest a target for the October challenge you can do so here: viewtopic.php?f=84&p=111310#p111310

SEPTEMBER 2020 MONTHLY CHALLENGE!


The target suggestions for the September challenge were once again put through a online random draw generator and we have our winners!

For the Northern Hemisphere we have Messier 33.
For the Southern Hemisphere we have Messier 2.



NORTHERN HEMISPHERE.

Messier 33, NGC 598, Spiral galaxy in Triangulum, Magnitude +5.79

Messier 33 has a rich observational history, the following info is taken from wikipedia, see link below.

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.

The galaxy was independently discovered by Charles Messier on the night of August 25–26, 1764. It was published in his Catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters (1771) as object number 33; hence the name M33. When William Herschel compiled his extensive catalogue of nebulae, he was careful not to include most of the objects identified by Messier.[19] However, M33 was an exception and he catalogued this object on September 11, 1784, as H V-17.

Herschel also catalogued the Triangulum Galaxy's brightest and largest H II region (diffuse emission nebula containing ionized hydrogen) as H III.150 separately from the galaxy itself; the nebula eventually obtained NGC number 604. As seen from Earth, NGC 604 is located northeast of the galaxy's central core. It is one of the largest H II regions known, with a diameter of nearly 1500 light-years and a spectrum similar to that of the Orion Nebula. Herschel also noted three other smaller H II regions (NGC 588, 592, and 595).

It was among the first "spiral nebulae" identified as such by Lord Rosse in 1850. In 1922–23, John Charles Duncan and Max Wolf discovered variable stars in the nebulae. Edwin Hubble showed in 1926 that 35 of these stars were classical Cepheids, thereby allowing him to estimate their distances. The results were consistent with the concept of spiral nebulae being independent galactic systems of gas and dust, rather than just nebulae in the Milky Way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangulum_Galaxy


Here is a Stellarium screenshot with the location for Messier 33.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

Messier 2, NGC 7089, Globular cluster in Aquarius, Magnitude +6.46


While out comet observing with Jacques Cassini, French astronomer Jean Dominique Maraldi discover the globular cluster in 1746. Charles Messier later discover the cluster in 1760 and listed it as number 2 in his catalog. In 1783 William Herschel was the first to resolve stars in this cluster, the brightest are 13th magnitude.
Messier 2 is about 55 000 light years from Earth. It is 13 billion years old and one of the oldest associated with the Milky Way.
M2 contains about 150,000 stars, including 21 known variable stars. Its brightest stars are red and yellow giant stars.

Below is a Stellarium screenshot with the location of Messier 2.

We look forward to seeing your images, visual reports or sketches.
Have fun and thanks for taking the time to find and report back on these targets. And thank you for the great suggestions!