I prefer observing M33 to its big brother, the Andromeda galaxy. Unlike M31, the Pinwheel actually fits within my telescope's widest field of view. M33 shows up to three spiral arms and several HII regions under dark, transparent skies. In short, M33 looks like a galaxy. Your star hop to this delicate spiral begins at Metallah, the brightest star in Triangulum. The Pinwheel Galaxy resides four degrees west and one degree north of this 3.4 magnitude star. The galaxy should be visible as a moon-sized fuzz patch in your finder scope. It's even visible to the naked eye under dark skies.
| Autumn Sky Tour: M33-The Pinwheel Galaxy (Triangulum) RA: 01h 33.9m / DEC: +30° 39'.6 |
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The Pinwheel appears roughly 48'x20' at 36X (TeleVue 32-mm Plossl) in my 10-inch Newtonian. The galaxy's core is 9'x4' in size and brightens toward the center. Two spiral arms are frozen in mid-rotation, arching counter-clockwise to the north and east. A third arm curves clockwise to the southwest. NGC 604 is the brightest of the star formation (HII) regions within this barred spiral and sits roughly 11' northeast of the core. NGC 588, another HII region, is located about 14' to the west. About 50 stars are shown, the brightest being 8.1 magnitude HD 9483 which is stationed 17' due south of the Pinwheel's center. M33 is truly one of the gems of the northern sky.