Messier 26
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Messier 26, also known as NGC 6694, is an open cluster of stars in the southern constellation of Scutum. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764.Template:Efn This 8th magnitude cluster is a challenge to find in ideal skies with typical binoculars, where it can be, with any modern minimum Template:Convert aperture device. It is south-southwest of the open cluster Messier 11 and is Template:Val across.[1] About 25 stars are visible in a telescope with a Template:Convert aperture.[2]
M26 spans a linear size of 22[3] light years across with a tidal radius of Template:Convert,[4] and is at a distance of 5,160[5] light years from the Earth. The brightest star is of magnitude 11[2] and the age of this cluster has been calculated to be 85.3[6] million years. It includes one known spectroscopic binary system.[7]
An interesting feature of M26 is a region of low star density near the nucleus. A hypothesis was that it was caused by an obscuring cloud of interstellar matter between us and the cluster, but a paper by James Cuffey suggested that this is not possible and that it really is a "shell of low stellar space density".[8] In 2015, Michael Merrifield of the University of Nottingham said that there is, as yet, no clear explanation for the phenomenon.[9]
Gallery
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Map showing the location of M26 (Roberto Mura)
See also
Footnotes and references
Footnotes
References
External links
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