M 102
Galaxy M102
missing‘,
or doubty, Messier object. This means that two opinions on the identity of
this object are common:
- M102 may be a duplication of the
in Ursa Major,
due to an error of either the catalog author Messier,
or its `discoverer’ Mechain.
- M102 may be the
in Draco,
also sometimes called the Spindle Galaxy,
as Messier’s catalog description indicates, together with the position
he added later by hand.
The authors of this page think that there is enough evidence that both
Mechain and Messier have probably observed NGC 5866 in context of this
catalog entry. Therefore, it should be considered to take this last
missing object back into the catalog.
Please note our discussion of
Last Modification: 7 Apr 1999, 12:32 MET