                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2025 July 19

                                  Messier 6
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li

   Explanation: The sixth object in Charles Messier's famous catalog of
   things which are not comets, Messier 6 is a galactic or open star
   cluster. A gathering of 100 stars or so, all around 100 million years
   young, M6 lies some 1,600 light-years away toward the central Milky Way
   in the constellation Scorpius. Also cataloged as NGC 6405, the pretty
   star cluster's outline suggests its popular moniker, the Butterfly
   Cluster. Surrounded by diffuse reddish emission from the region's
   hydrogen gas the cluster's mostly hot and therefore blue stars are near
   the center of this colorful cosmic snapshot. But the brightest cluster
   member is a cool K-type giant star. Designated BM Scorpii it shines
   with a yellow-orange hue, seen near the end of one of the butterfly's
   antennae. This telescopic field of view spans nearly 2 Full Moons on
   the sky. That's 25 light-years at the estimated distance of Messier 6.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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