M71
Arrowhead cluster in Sagitta

10.1″ f/4.5, Mallincam DS432cTEC with 0.5 focal reducer and Astronomik UHC filter
Exposure = 5 sec, Live Stacked frames = 25, Gain = 70 of 250

M71 is a loosely packed globular cluster with a resolvable core, which makes it look very much like an open cluster at first glance. The shape of the core very much resembles that of an arrowhead pointing in a south-westerly direction – to see what this looks like in the eyepiece, compare against what I have previously sketched. There are a couple of neat chains of stars in the field of view; on the right is a small semi-circle of nine stars punctuated by a brighter star; below and to the right of the globular is a “tennis bracelet” string of about 12 stars punctuated on either end by brighter stars. At bottom the brighter magnitude 6.2 star is 9 Sagittae. M71 is a very close and young globular, 13,000 light years away (which probably explains the resolvability of its core) and about 9 to 10 billion years old. In the sky it appears about 6 arcminutes across and in reality it spans 27 light years.

North at 1 o’clock, East at 10 o’clock