“The human mind is capable of excitement without the application of gross and violent stimulants; and he must have a very faint perception of its beauty and dignity who does not know this.” -William Wordsworth
Galaxies may be the most common type of object identified in the Messier catalogue, and considering that there are at least hundreds of billions of them in the Universe, you might think that Milky Way-type galaxies are everywhere. But it's not Milky Way-types that make up most of the Universe, it's this guy.
Image credit: Jim M., via http://justvisitinghappyvalley.blogspot.com/2013/10/tripod-astrophotogr….
No, not the spiral you see; that's just Andromeda. I'm talking about the dwarf spheroidal galaxy with the little arrow pointing at it: the satellite galaxy of Andromeda, Messier 110! It's the very last object in the entire catalogue, added only in 1967 despite being discovered by Messier back in 1773, but it's got a remarkable story all its own.
Image credit: Wolfgang Paech via http://www.astrotech-hannover.de/leistung/mosaik.htm.
Don't miss the final galaxy in the Messier catalogue, today's highlight for Messier Monday!
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There are a couple of darkish "smudges" not too far from the nucleus. As I see them on more than one image, I assume they must be in the sky and not artifacts on the photographic plate. Is this some of the gas/dust still present in M110?