NGC 6603 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, and ...
discovered by
John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...
on July 15, 1830
located in
Sagittarius constellation.
Situated within the brightest part of star cloud
Messier 24 Messier may refer to:
People with the surname
*Charles Messier, French astronomer
*Éric Messier, former NHL defenseman
*George Messier, French inventor
*Jean-Marie Messier, former CEO of Vivendi Universal
*Marc Messier, Canadian actor from Quebec
...
, it is classified by Shapley as type "g". This cluster consists of about 30 stars in a field of about 5 arc minutes in diameter, and is about 9400 light years remote. Thus its linear diameter should be about 14 light years. The hottest stars are about B9 (pointing to an intermediate age of several 100 million years, an estimate of which is not known to the present author), and the brightest of photographic mag 14.
Many sources improperly identify NGC 6603 as Messier 24.
References
External links
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6603
Open clusters
Astronomical objects discovered in 1830
Sagittarius (constellation)
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