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M73 cluster........?

Discussion in 'General Astronomy Chat' started by kevan hubbard, Dec 16, 2018.

M73 cluster........?

Started by kevan hubbard on Dec 16, 2018 at 10:35 AM

4 Replies 887 Views 2 Likes

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  1. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Dec 16, 2018
    #1
    I see that there is now some debate about faint m73.previously the consensus was that messier made a mistake and m73 wasn't a real cluster just an asterism of 4 faint stars.the asterism idea plus it's faintness, about 9th magnitude,put people off looking for m73.however there now seems to be some evidence that the stars are related thus forming a true cluster,a sparse one as I think that I read only 3 where related.i must confess that I have never seen m73 myself although I did try looking for it a few years ago.
     
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  2. Seer

    Seer Well-Known Member

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    Seer, Dec 16, 2018
    #2
    I just looked M73 up in my Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas. In its list of Messier objects it says "(clump of four stars)". On pages 66 & 77 they show it indicated with an X denoting a Special object instead of any kind of cluster.
     
  3. Gabby76

    Gabby76 Well-Known Member

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    Gabby76, Dec 16, 2018
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    I have always considered it a asterism even though it has been considered as both that and a cluster.
    With it being reasonably dim and small it can be easily past by accidentally.
     
  4. Seer

    Seer Well-Known Member

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    Seer, Dec 17, 2018
    #4
    I am wondering if it is something that I would even be able to see?
     
  5. kevan hubbard

    kevan hubbard Well-Known Member

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    kevan hubbard, Dec 22, 2018
    #5
    It's one of the strange messier objects.the Galaxy m101, which I have seen,is another.m101 isn't actually at the coordinates messier supplied but near them so people assumed that he made a mistake and was referring to m101.why also did he include stuff like M's 44,45,42 as no one could mistake these for comets?
     

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