Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Andromeda (And)  ·  Contains:  NGC 206
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NGC 206 Star Cloud in M31, Gary Imm
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NGC 206 Star Cloud in M31

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NGC 206 Star Cloud in M31, Gary Imm
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 206 Star Cloud in M31

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Description

This object, seen through the hazy star-filled arms of the Andromeda galaxy, is the brightest star cloud in that galaxy. This young blue cloud of stars is 2.5 million light years away and spans about 4,000 light years. The distance from the core of M31 to NGC 206 is 35,000 light years.

At first I assumed that the bright blue points of light in the star cloud were bright star clusters. But the more I examine this and other images taken with more powerful telescopes, I believe that these points of light are bright blue individual stars. If this is true, it is incredible to me that backyard astronomers have the capability to capture individual stars in other galaxies.

The foreground bright white stars are Milky Way stars from our own galaxy.

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