M 102

Galaxy M102

[m102.gif]

Evidently, M102 is the last possibly missing, or doubty, Messier object. This means that two opinions on the identity of this object are common:

  1. M102 may be a duplication of the Spiral Galaxy M101 (NGC 5457) in , due to an error of either the catalog author Messier, or its `discoverer' Mechain.
  2. M102 may be the NGC 5866 in Draco, also sometimes called the Spindle Galaxy, as Messier's catalog description indicates, together with the position he added later by hand..

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