Messier 73, the group or asterism of four stars in Aquarius, as photographed
with the Kitt Peak 0.9-meter telescope in July 1997, during the Research
Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). The reddish color of the brightest star
is evident, also the yellow-red color of the westernmost (right) star. This
color gives rise to the suspicion that the stars may be giants and the brightest
members of a very poor cluster, or cluster remnant, a hypothesis which still
needs to be confirmed or falsified by future investigation.
Credit: REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF
The four-star group M73, imaged in the infrared with the 2MASS telescopes. This 2MASS Atlas image uses a false-color mapping of infrared wavelength bands to colors, showing coolest objects red and hottest blue.
Last Modification: September 8, 2001