🔭 M18 — Black Swan Cluster

Open cluster in Sagittarius

M18, Black Swan Cluster is a open cluster in the constellation Sagittarius, with an apparent magnitude of about 7.5, roughly 4.9 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M18
Common name	Black Swan Cluster
Object type	Open cluster
Constellation	Sagittarius
NGC / IC	NGC 6613
Apparent magnitude	7.5
Distance (approx.)	4.9 thousand light-years

What a open cluster is

A loose, young family of a few dozen to a few thousand stars born together from the same gas cloud and drifting apart over time. The Pleiades are the most famous example.

Other Messier objects in Sagittarius: M8, M17, M20, M21, M22, M23, M24, M25, M28, M54, M55, M69, M70, M75.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.