This is Messier 73 (NGC 6994) in Aquarius, red-light exposure with a Tektronix 2048x2048 CCD at the 2.1-meter telescope of Kitt Peak National Observatory by Bill Keel and Lisa Frattare. North is at the top and east to the left, for direct comparison with a chart or eyepiece view. The image has been block-averaged by a factor of two for this presentation (and another factor of two as shown above), which uses a logarithmic intensity transformation to preserve information across a wide dynamic range. The field is 9.1 arcminutes square.
This is a bogus Messier object, being an asterism - a group of unrelated stars - rather than even a sparse genuine cluster. Lisa egged me on to do it for completeness. On the bright side, we only wasted 15 seconds of telescope time on it...
Last changes: 7/2003 © 2003