Object: M67 (Larger Image)
Equipment: Astro-Tech 10” Ritchey-Chretien f/7.9 on an Astro-Physics 1100GTO mount; QHY600M, Astrodon filters. Astro-Physics 80x900 guidescope; Lodestar X2 guide camera
Sequence/Exposure/Processing: RGB 2x2 binning 100 second exposures. N.I.N.A., PHD2, Processed with PixInsight and Photoshop.
Location/Date: March, 2021 Gainesville, FL

Comment: M67 is an open star cluster in Cancer and is one of the oldest know open clusters composed of over 500 stars approximately 2,600 light years away and 12 light years diameter. Its age is estimated to be between 3.2 and 5 billion years. It contains more than 100 stars (G class) similar to the Sun, eleven bright K-type giants (yellow to orange), many red giants and nearly 200 white dwarfs. The cluster is unusual in association with it age since it contains "blue straggler" stars, the brightest of which is spectral class B8 which should have left the main sequence.



Photograph of imaging system