Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Image Credit &Copyright: Xinran Li
Explanation: The sixth object inCharles Messier'sfamous catalog of things whichare not comets, Messier 6 is a galactic oropen star cluster.A gathering of 100 stars or so, all around 100 million years young,M6 lies some 1,600 light-yearsaway toward the central Milky Wayin the constellation Scorpius.Also cataloged as NGC 6405, the pretty star cluster'soutline suggests its popular moniker, theButterfly Cluster.Surrounded by diffuse reddish emission from the region's hydrogen gasthe cluster's mostly hot andtherefore blue stars are near the center ofthis colorful cosmic snapshot.But the brightest cluster member is a cool K-type giant star.Designated BM Scorpiiit shines with a yellow-orange hue,seen near the end of one of the butterfly's antennae.This telescopic field of viewspans nearly 2 Full Moons on the sky.That's 25 light-years at the estimated distance of Messier 6.
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