Messier 71

Ever since it was discovered in 1746 by the Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Chéseaux, the nature of M71 has been the subject of some questioning. Over the centuries, it has been classified as both an abnormally dense open star cluster and as an unusually loose globular cluster.

Because M71 does not seem to have a high concentration of stars at its center, and because the elemental composition of the stars it contains suggests that they are younger than most globular clusters, M71 was initially believed to be an open cluster. In the 1970s, astronomers examined the relationship between the brightnesses and temperatures of the stars in the cluster. They found a characteristic trend among the stellar population that is unique to globular clusters, so M71 was reclassified as a young, loosely concentrated globular cluster — one of the smallest of its kind.

This Hubble image of M71 is a composite of observations at visible and infrared wavelengths of light. M71 is located roughly 13,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagitta. It has an apparent magnitude of 6.1 and appears as a faint patch of light with a pair of binoculars. The cluster is best observed during September.

Image credit: Image courtesy of Stellarium

Previous Object: Messier 70/\ Messier 72

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