Messier Marathon Part 3 (Galaxies, Galaxies, Galaxies)

Most of the next large set of objects are galaxies.

First we get M95 (top), M96 (center) and M105 (bottom left), a nice triplet in Leo. NGC 3371 is the bright companion to M105. A dimmer companion, NGC 3389, is also visible:

The more famous Leo Triplet comes next. This consist of M65  (top), M66 (bottom) and NGC 3628 (left):

Next is M81 (right) and M82 (left) in Ursa Major:

Then M97, the Owl Nebula and M108, right next to a star in the Big Dipper’s bowl:

M109 comes next, close to another star in the bowl of the dipper:

The oddest object of the entire catalog is next. M40 is simply a double star. It’s perplexing why Messier would’ve included this:

M106 follows, another spiral galaxy in Ursa Major:

M94 comes next, a spiral galaxy with very tightly wound arms:

M63, the Sunflower galaxy follows:

M51, the Whirpool Galaxy follows. I took this photo later when there wasn’t much else to do:

Then M101:

And M102, a very tiny galaxy. There’s also an extremely thin galaxy called the Splinter just below it:

Then M53, a globular cluster in Coma Berenices:

And M64, the Black Eye Galaxy:

Next we get M3, a globular cluster:

Next we start looking at the Virgo cluster. This area of the sky has thousands of galaxies. We start with M98 (the thin galaxy near the top), M99 (the spiral down and to the right), M100 (another spiral down and to the left) and M85 (faint and tiny in the bottom left).

Next is M84 and M86, in Markarian’s chain:

Next, we have M87, a very large galaxy (in raw size, not in the sky):

Then we have M88 through M91.  M89 is center left, M90, center top, M91, center right, M88, bottom right:

Then M58 (near the top), M59 and M60 (near the bottom):

M49 is next:

And M61 is the last of the Virgo cluster:

We then look at M104, the Sombrero Galaxy in Corvus:

There is a bit of a wait at this point, because you must wait for Hydra to rise. M68 is a globular cluster:

The last galaxy of the night is M83, the Southern Whirlpool:

At this point, you have quite a while to twiddle your thumbs. Following that, you move on to globular clusters and open clusters, which basically round out the marathon.