Messier 41

Messier 41 (also known as NGC 2287 ) is a 4.5 likes bright cluster with an angular extent of 38 ' in the constellation Canis Major. He is for us about 4 ° below the Sirius ( the brightest star in the sky).

The Messier 41 (M 41) is among the more distant star clusters in the winter sky one of the brightest and has therefore been described despite its southern declination ( -20.7 ° ) already in 1654 exactly. You may already know him by Aristotle 325 BC

The about 100 stars are about 2300 light years away and are spread over ~ 25 light-years. The brightest among them ( 6.9 mag) is a red giant with 700 -fold solar luminosity. The heliocentric radial relative velocity of the cluster is about 23 km / s It is approximately 200 million years old.