Messier 7
By Kiminori Ikebe
This is an open cluster near the tail of the Scorpion. It is very large and much larger than M6 nearby. It is easily visible to the unaided eye. There are about 15 bright stars with fainter stars filling in space among them. Brighter stars form a misshapen “X” or “H.” There are two almost identical bright stars at the center, which stand out among bright stars in the cluster.
M7 (NGC 6475) Scorpius open cluster
Difficulty level 1
Date of observation: 2001/05/03
Observing site: Kuju, Japan
Transparency/seeing/sky darkness: 2/1/4
Instruments: 32cm Dobsonian with WF32 at 50x
Width of field: 1.4 degrees
Translated by Eiji Kato
Kiminori, This is a wonderful wide field object. You did a great job capturing it. I like the roundness and differing brightness of the stars as well as the way you brought out that “X” star pattern towards the center.