M11 - Open Cluster in Scutum
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M11 - Open Cluster in Scutum
Mag 6.3, 14 arcminutes across
RA 18:51 Dec -6 16'
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This from SEDS.ORG: Discovered 1681 by Gottfried Kirch.
Messier 11 (aka M11, NGC 6705) is "One of the richest and most compact
of the galactic (open) clusters," to say it with Robert Burnham, Jr.
M11 contains an estimated 2900 stars, about 500 of which are brighter
than mag 14. An observer at the center of M11 would see several hundred
first magnitude stars! The age of the Wild Duck cluster has
been estimated to about 220 million years, as its brightest and hottest
main sequence stars are of spectral type B8 (according to the Sky Atlas
2000).
It is receding at 22 km/sec.
M11 was discovered by the German astronomer Gottfried Kirch of the
Berlin observatory in 1681. It was apparently first resolved into stars
by William Derham about 1733. Charles Messier included it in his
catalog on May 30, 1764.
M11 is situated near the northern edge of a rich Milky Way star cloud,
the Scutum Cloud.
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Scope: AP155EDF w FocusBoss II
Mount: Paramount MX
Camera: Moravian G4 (16803 ccd) w Astrodon Gen II RGB
7/8/8 x 10 min RGB
Ambient temp +10C; camera temp -10C
Images acquired with TheSkyX and CCD-Commander
All processing in PixInsight
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