Back to Galactic Clusters
Up to the Gallery of Astrophotography
Home to astro.nightsky.at
|
Back to Galactic Clusters
|
Up to the Gallery of Astrophotography
|
Home to astro.nightsky.at
|
|
M7 is a large and brilliant cluster of stars located in the Milky Way near the tail of Scorpius. At a declination of -35 degrees, it is very low in the southern sky for Middle-European observers and requires a low southern horizon to observe and photograph. It can easily be detected with the naked eye.
This splendid cluster was known to Ptolemy, who mentioned it about 130 AD; he described it as the "nebula following the sting of Scorpius". M7 consists of about 80 stars brighter than 10th magnitude. They are located in a field with an apparent diameter of about 1.3 degrees which at its distance of 800 - 1,000 light years corresponds to a linear extension of 18 - 20 light years. The cluster is approaching us at a radial velocity of 14 km/s.
M7 is located in a dense field of the Milky Way; the background stars are reddened by interstellar dust. Dust absorption is also responsible for the dark lanes which cross the starry background above and below M7.
Great Sagittarius Starcloud - telelens photograph.
Exposure Data
|
Back to Galactic Clusters
|
Up to the Gallery of Astrophotography
|
Home to astro.nightsky.at
|
