Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Aquila (Aql)  ·  Contains:  NGC 6709  ·  PK041+04.1
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NGC 6709, Gary Imm
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NGC 6709

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NGC 6709, Gary Imm
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NGC 6709

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Description

This object is an open star cluster located 3000 light years away in the constellation of Aquila. The cluster consists of about 100 stars and is roughly half the diameter of our full moon.

The cluster has a nice mix of orange and blue stars, although it lies in a dense star field which makes it difficult for the cluster to stand out from the background. This part of the sky is also fairly dusty, as evidenced by the brown/orange tint throughout the background.

This cluster has the creative name of the Flying Unicorn cluster, but I am afraid that its configuration doesn't quite earn that exciting sounding name. The unicorn is facing the top of the image, with the legs extending to the right, so tilt your head to the left (and use a lot of imagination) to see it. I prefer to keep my head straight, forget about the unicorn nonsense, and enjoy it for what it is - a nice, relatively simple but pretty open cluster.

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