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M71, Gary Imm

M71

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M71, Gary Imm

M71

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Description

This object is a globular cluster located in the small northern constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow). The cluster lies at an approximate distance of 13,000 light years from Earth and contains at least 20,000 stars. It lies toward the center of our Milky Way, which is why the background contains a large number of stars. The cluster is not as dense as most other globular clusters, with no bright core, and in fact M71 was classified as a densely populated open cluster until the 1970s. But today, based on further scientific work, it is classified as a very loosely concentrated globular cluster, which makes more sense to me for two reasons - the large number of stars it contains; and the fact that the star colors in the cluster are more white and red than blue.

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