M33

Informations

M33 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Triangulum. It is also known as the Triangulum Galaxy. The galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 54 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed with the naked eye. The Triangulum Galaxy is located approximately 3 million light-years from Earth and has a diameter of about 60,000 light-years. It is composed of about 40 billion stars. This faint blue color is due to the presence of many young, hot stars in the galaxy. The galaxy is also home to many star-forming regions, which are areas where new stars are being born. The Triangulum Galaxy is a popular target for amateur astronomers because of its relative proximity to Earth and its large size. It is best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere in the autumn months.

Acquisition details

On the image I took we can see a lot of nebulosity which was a big surprise for me considering I am in a very light polluted area and wasn´t using a narrowband filter. We can clearly see the shape of NGC 604, a giant HII region in the galaxy, featured in the bottom left corner of the image.