Celestial Objects
Messier 108
Galaxies
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Messier 108, also known as M108 or NGC 3556, is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major, discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781 but not formally added to Charles Messier's catalogue until 1953, when the American astronomer Owen Gingerich included it among Mechain's observations. It lies roughly 46 million light-years from Earth and is seen nearly edge-on from Earth, giving it an elongated, mottled appearance without a clearly defined central bulge.
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