Messier 50 or M 50, also known as NGC 2323, is an

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, an ...

of stars in the constellation

Monoceros Monoceros (Greek: Μονόκερως, "unicorn") is a faint constellation on the celestial equator. Its definition is attributed to the 17th-century Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius. It is bordered by Orion to the west, Gemini to the north, ...

. It was recorded by G. D. Cassini before 1711 and independently discovered by

Charles Messier Charles Messier (; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the ''Messier objects''. Messier's purpose ...

in 1772 while observing

Biela's Comet Biela's Comet or Comet Biela (official designation: 3D/Biela) was a periodic Jupiter-family comet first recorded in 1772 by Montaigne and Messier and finally identified as periodic in 1826 by Wilhelm von Biela. It was subsequently observed to ...

. It is sometimes described as a 'heart-shaped' figure or a blunt arrowhead. M50 is about 2,900 light-years away from

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

and is near to but narrowly not estimated to be gravitationally tied to the Canis Major (CMa) OB1 association. It has a core radius of and spans . The cluster has 508 confirmed and 109 probable members – their combined mass is more than , the mean stellar density would thus be 1.3 stars per cubic parsec. It is around 140 million years old, with two high-mass

white dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

s and two

chemically peculiar star In astrophysics, chemically peculiar stars (CP stars) are stars with distinctly unusual metal abundances, at least in their surface layers. Classification Chemically peculiar stars are common among hot main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) stars. Thes ...

Gallery

References and footnotes

External links

Messier 50 - at Deep Sky Videos

* * {{Ngc25 Messier 050 Orion–Cygnus Arm Messier 050 050 Messier 050 ?

Gallery

See also

References and footnotes

External links