M23 = NGC6494 ( 17h 56.8m -19°01´, 5.5 mag. )


This large, bright open cluster in Sagittarius was discovered by Messier on June 20, 1764. It measures about 15 ly across and it is located 2,100 ly away. It is easy to find in binoculars about 5°30' NNW of Lagoon Nebula (M8 - see finder chart below).

The above image was taken on June 13, 1999 from Sooke, BC. Cookbook 245 LDC CCD camera was used on Ultima 8 f3.0 telescope autoguided with Cookbook 211 LDC CCD camera on piggybacked 500mm f8 telephoto lens. It is composed of white exposures (6 x 2 min.) as well as cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered integrations (3 x 2min.) combined with AIP4WIN software and adjusted in Lab color space using Corel PhotoPaint 8.

North is to the right.


Map created in Guide 7.0 - 7°45' x 7°45'. North is up.


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© Jan Wisniewski