M41
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M41 |
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Deep Sky Object Chart
| Stars in Canis Major
| M46/M47
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M41 is an attractive star cluster located just 4 degrees
south of Sirius in the sky, although at a distance of
2350 light years, M41 is actually 300 times farther
away. Visible to the unaided eye under good conditions,
M41 may be one of the few non-stellar objects noticed by
the ancients, as it seems to be on a list of "nebulae"
or cloudy spots compiled by Aristotle in 325 BC.
Binoculars will have little trouble spotting the cluster
as a glowing spot, and telescopes reveal 30 brighter and
up to 100 fainter stars scattered across a field about
the same apparent width as the moon. Of particular note
are several orange giant stars, whose presence in the
cluster not only adds attractive color contrast to blue
and white members, but also marks the group as an older
association where stars have had the time to reach the
elderly red giant phase.
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