MESSIER 11 - THE WILD DUCK CLUSTER

Open Cluster in Scutum

 (ra: 18:51.1 / dec -06:16)

August 2010, Home Backyard in Martinez

Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

VISUAL MAGNITUDE: 6.3

SIZE: 14 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 6000 light years

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Messier 11 is one of the richest and more compact open clusters in our Galaxy. It contains over 2900 stars from which 500 are brighter than magnitude 14th. Its age was estimated in 220 million years, but there are some studies that double the mentioned age. Its name derives from the brighter stars forming a triangle which could represent a flying flock of ducks.

It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764. (*)

The night was not very good with half Moon 20 degrees away. I can barely see the cluster from the C8 finder scope.

(*) SEDS

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Celestron SCT 8" working around 6.7

SKY CONDITIONS: Regular. Transparency bad.

CAMERAS: QSI 583 WS -20Cº

FILTERS: Astronomik Type 2, Ha 6nm

EXPOSURES: LRGB (20,20,20,20)

GUIDING: William Optics ZenithStar 66 f6. Starlight Xpress Lodestar Camera. AA 3.71 Control Camera Plug-in

PROCESSING: No darks, nor flats, nor offsets. Images Plus (Sigma Median Combination) CCD Sharp Richardson Lucy Deconvolution Photoshop CS