Open cluster Messier 103 (Alphecca_Meridiana)

Open cluster Messier 103

My personal experience: That evening was my second time photographing an open cluster and also first time being successful too. From right you can see a weird blue beam and that is a flare from the star Ruchbach which is close from this open cluster! Apparently there was really bad seeing with almost 90% humidity which shifted bortle class quality by 2 degrees up (from 6 to 8) than usually so i picked this easy target for such night. However it wasn't just humidity but also smoke coming from US down to central europe because my primary mirror got layered with a layer of fine dust after that night.

Scientific information:

M 103 is an exquisite arrowhead-shaped cluster, with a total magnitude of 7.4. It is dominated by the pretty double star Struve 131 (magnitudes 7.3 and 10.5, separated by 13.8") to the northwest, which is not a member. The two brightest cluster members, of about mag 10.5, are a B5 Ib supergiant and a B2 III giant. M 103 also contains one obvious red giant star, of mag 10.8 and spectral type M6 III. M 103 is one of the more remote open clusters in Messier's catalog. It lies at about 8000 - 9200 light years distance, the uncertainty mainly due to the amount of interstellar absorption by interstellar dust; for this cluster lies well within the band of the Milky Way. M 103 has a true diameter of about 15 light years, and is about 25 million years old.

M 103 as a loose and poor cluster, once considered an accidental grouping of physically unrelated stars. However, we now know that it is a physical cluster, from the common proper motion of its member stars. As of 2003, the proven number of cluster members is 172

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Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

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