Jan 21
M103 // Reggie Jones
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M103 // Reggie Jones
M103 // Wei-Hao Wang
M103 // astropical
M103 // Gary Imm
The last open cluster in Messier's catalog, M103 is one of the smallest and most remote open clusters known. It contains only about 40 member stars and is about 9,000 light years away. One of the brightest members is a red giant star that stands out easily against the main population of blue-white stars.
Along with M101 and M102, M103 was a last minute addition to the catalog by Messier himself. Méchain discovered these and Messier did not get a chance to observe them himself before publication. The remaining Messier objects were added to the catalog in the 20th century motivated by notes that Messier and Méchain made indicating that at least one of them knew about these final objects.
M103 // Tom's AmateurAstroPhoto's
M103 // Peter Oberč
M103 // Alex Woronow
M103 // Mahmange