Jun 9, 2025
The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Tobiasz
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The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Tobiasz
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The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Pedro Sánchez
The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Lorand Fenyes
M102 is a curious object in the history of the Messier catalog. Discovered by Méchain in 1781, Messier did not include coordinates of M102 in his final published catalog, leading to confusion as to which object Méchain observed.
In 1783, Méchain retracted his discovery and claimed that M102 was actually an accidental duplication of M101. Since then, astronomers over the centuries tried to figure out which galaxy Méchain found. French astronomer Camille Flammarion identified this galaxy, NGC 5866, as M101 in 1917.
Messier had written down directions to the galaxy as "Nebula between the stars o Boötis and ι Draconis..." Flammarion argued that those directions make no sense unless the Greek letter omicron (o) was in fact a lowercase theta (θ). In that case, the directions make sense and point straight towards NGC 5866.
The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Johnny Qiu
One of the most striking features of this lenticular galaxy is the dust lane which is seen almost exactly edge-on. This large dust lane is unusual for a lenticular galaxy, as most lenticulars only have one near their central regions, not spreading out across the entire disk.
Heber Curtis (1872-1942) remarked on this dust lane in 1918: "Its most striking feature is a narrow, clear-cut dark lane along the middle, marking a slight angle with the major axis."
The Spindle Galaxy, M102 // Johnny Qiu
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Messier 102 - Unknown Galaxy
This Messier object doesn't actually exist! It was "discovered" by Pierre Méchain who later noted that it was a duplicate observation of M101. It was then "confirmed" by Charles Messier, but there evidence that this galaxy might be NGC 5866, which is pictured above. Oh Charles!
Image: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA
NGC 5866 : Hubble Sees Galaxy on Edge