Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Canis Major (CMa)  ·  Contains:  12 CMa  ·  M 41  ·  NGC 2287
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M41 - 2017, Gary Imm
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M41 - 2017

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M41 - 2017, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

M41 - 2017

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Description

M41 is an open cluster located 2200 light years away in the constellation of Canis Major at a declination of -21 degrees.  It is a magnitude 4.5 cluster which spans 40 arc-minutes in our apparent view.  This corresponds to a diameter of 25 light years.

This bright open star cluster is one of my favorites.  The cluster contains over 100 stars, a perfectly spaced mix of hot blue stars and big red giants. I don't see much of a Beehive shape here, but that is my experience for many of these cluster namesakes. The most interesting aspect of it to me is the apparent meandering line of stars which extends from the bottom left corner of the image all the way to the upper right corner. About one-third of the way up along this line is an interesting and beautiful orange/blue star pair.

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M41 - 2017, Gary Imm