M33 -- The Other Spiral Galaxy Next Door
The star clusters and nebulae that amateur astronomers observe usually lie within our own galaxy or its dwarf satellites. But it is also possible to use amateur equipment to observe some of these types of astronomical objects in the other spiral galaxies in the Local Group, the Andromeda Galaxy M31 and the Triangulum (or Pinwheel) Galaxy M33. Furthermore, other larger features that can't be easily observed in the Milky Way, such as star-forming regions, can also be seen in these galaxies using amateur equipment. Although these types of visual observations aren't easy to make, just finding these objects is a fun challenge that can be very gratifying. This month's speaker is one of our fellow club members, Howard Banich, who is very skilled in finding and drawing the detailed features of nearby galaxies. Howard is a very accomplished visual observer and prolific contributing editor for Sky and Telescope magazine. He is also an excellent speaker and it will be fun to hear about his observing adventures on Monday. His description of his talk is below.
M33 is a spiral galaxy just a bit further away than its much brighter and larger neighbor, M31. However, M33 has the advantage of being more face-on to our perspective, so we can see many of the individual objects within it. My talk will be about my visual explorations of M33 through telescopes 80mm to 30-inches in diameter, and will be a more in-depth examination than my Sky & Telescope article about M33 published in the November 2023 issue.
About Howard Banich
I've been an amateur astronomer since I was 11 years old. I've always been a visual observer, although I also make an occasional telescope. I started writing for the RCA newsletter in 1992, and continued for 176 observing articles. Since then, I've been writing occasional articles for Sky & Telescope magazine, and I'm closing in on 40 published pieces now. I retired in 2018 after a long career in athletic footwear, primarily at Nike, Inc and am having a great time having more time for family, astronomy and sleeping in.
