M41 (NGC 2287)
An open open cluster (Trumpler class
I, 3, r) that lies in the constellation Canis Major,
about 4° due south of Sirius. M41 is
approximately 200 million years old. It contains about 100 stars, including
several bright red giants, the brightest of which is of spectral type K3
and mag 6.9, and situated near the cluster's center. The bright star in
the southeast corner (lower left) of the accompanying image is a foreground
blue giant, not part of the cluster.
| M41. Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF
M41 was discovered by Giovanni Hodierna
before 1654, although it has been suggested (by J. E. Gore) that it was
known to Aristotle about 325 BC.
||2,300 light-years (700 pc)
||R.A. 06h 46.0m,
Dec. -20° 46'
||C 0644-206, OCl 597.0
AND STAR CLUSTERS