Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Canes Venatici (CVn)  ·  Contains:  M 3  ·  NGC 5272
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M3, Doug Summers
M3
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M3

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M3, Doug Summers
M3
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M3

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Description

At a distance of 34K light-years, and with about a half million stars, M3 sits at a favorable altitude above the galactic disk to be a very nice target.   The core of the cluster is only 11 light years across, and the whole extent is less than 200 light years.   That's a lot of stars in a very small space!   M3 is the first object actually discovered by Messier himself.   The cluster is approaching us at a rate of ~150km/second.     Home to an unusually large number of variable stars, and with higher than normal metalicity, M3 contains both older redder stars, but also many blue stragglers.  

What I like about M3 is the colored field stars, and the presence of several galaxies (a few even showing intermixed with the cluster stars).

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M3, Doug Summers