Messier 103
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AI overview
Messier 103 is a collection of stars bound together by gravity located in the constellation Cassiopeia, visible in the night sky. It serves as one of the many deep-sky objects cataloged by astronomers to study how stars form and evolve in groups.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Right ascension
- 01 33.2
- Declination
- +60 ° 42 ′
- Distance
- 9,400 light-years (2.884 ± 0.313 kpc )
- Apparent dimensions v
- 6.0'
- Estimated age
- 12.6 ± 0.2 million years
- Other designations
- NGC 581, Cr 14
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
Messier 103 (also known as M103, or NGC 581) is a small open cluster of many faint stars in Cassiopeia. It was discovered on 27 March 1781 by Pierre Méchain, but later added as Charles Messier's last deep-sky object in his catalogue.
It is located 9,400 light-years from the Sun and is about 15 light years across. It holds two prominent stars, of which the brightest is magnitude 10.5, and in the center of the cluster, another magnitude 10.8 red giant. Another bright foreground object is the double star Struve 131, but is not a member of the cluster. Cluster membership is about 172 stars based on >50% probability of gravitational attachment that binds the cluster together. M103 is between 12.6 to 25 million years in age.