Open clusters M6 and M7


The bright open clusters Messier 6 (NGC 6405, upper right) and Messier 7 (NGC 6475, lower left) in Scorpius, shown from a 30-minute exposure on Ektachrome 400 taken from Cerro Tololo, Chile (and scanned at fairly high density), using a Canon 50mm lens wide open at f/1.8 . These clusters form an attractive naked-eye triangle with the optical pair of stars Lambda Scorpii. North is at the top in this view, which spans an area about 10 degrees square. These are especially good binocular targets.

This whole region is one of the richest in the sky, lying almost in the direction of the galactic center. Feel free to examine the whole 35mm slide field from which this was taken, including 17 Messier objects.



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Last changes: 4/2001      © 2001