Misplaced Pages

Messier 41
Open cluster Messier 41 in Canis Major
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Right ascension	06 46.0
Declination	−20° 46′
Distance	2,360 ly (725 pc)
Apparent magnitude (V)	4.5
Apparent dimensions (V)	38 arcmin
Physical characteristics
Radius	12.5 ly
Estimated age	200 million yrs
Other designations	M41, NGC 2287
Associations
Constellation	Canis Major
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

Messier 41 (also known as M41 or NGC 2287) is an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major. It is sometimes referred to as the Little Beehive Cluster. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and was perhaps known to Aristotle about 325 BC. It lies about four degrees almost exactly south of Sirius, with which it forms a roughly equilateral triangle with Nu Canis Majoris to the west—all three figure in the same field in binoculars.

The cluster covers an area about the size of the full Moon. It contains about 100 stars, including several red giants the brightest of which has spectral type K3, apparent magnitude 6.3 and is near the center, and some white dwarfs. The cluster is estimated to be moving away from us at 23.3 km/s. The diameter of the cluster is 25–26 light-years (7.7–8.0 pc). It is estimated to be 190 million years old, and cluster properties and dynamics suggest a total life expectancy of 500 million years for this cluster, before it will have disintegrated.

Walter Scott Houston describes the appearance of the cluster in small telescopes:

Many visual observers speak of seeing curved lines of stars in M41. Although they seem inconspicuous on photographs, the curves stand out strongly in my 10-inch , and the bright red star near the center of the cluster is prominent.

The bright red/orange star near the center is HIP 32406, a giant star of spectral type K2, about 1500 ly away of magnitude 6.9.

Gallery

• Center 2MASS/NASA
• M41 in an 8" telescope
• Sirius and M41 (lower right), M50 (upper left), and NGC 2360 (lower left)
• M41 finder chart
• Open cluster M41 taken from a 12-inch Dobson telescope in Viña del Mar

See also

• List of Messier objects
• New General Catalogue
• Messier object
• List of open clusters

References

1. ^ "M 41". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
2. ^ Harris, G. (October 1993). "NGC 2287 - an important intermediate-age open cluster". The Astronomical Journal. 106 (4): 1533–1546. doi:10.1086/116748. ISSN 0004-6256.
3. "Messier Object 41". SEDS. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
4. The Dog Star and the Little Beehive Cluster
5. M41 possibly recorded by Aristotle
6. ^ Kambic, Bojan (2009). Viewing the Constellations with Binoculars: 250+ Wonderful Sky Objects to See and Explore. New York, New York: Springer. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-387-85355-0.
7. Koester, D. Reimers, D. (1981), "Spectroscopic identification of white dwarfs in Galactic Clusters I. NGC2287 and NGC3532", Astronomy & Astrophysics, 99, L8-11
8. De Laet, Rony (2011). The Casual Sky Observer's Guide: Stargazing with Binoculars and Small Telescopes. New York, New York: Springer. pp. 95–97. ISBN 978-1-4614-0595-5.
9. Dobbie, P, Day-Jones, A, Williams, K, Casewell, S, Burleigh, M, Lodieu, N, Parker, Q, Baxter, R, (2012), "Further investigation of white dwarfs in the open clusters NGC2287 and NGC3532", Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 423, 2815–2828
10. Stoyan, Ronald (2008). Atlas of the Messier Objects: Highlights of the Deep Sky. Cambridge University Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780521895545.
11. Houston, Walter Scott (2005). Deep-Sky Wonders. Sky Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1-931559-23-2.

External links

• Messier 41 on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images
• Messier 41, SEDS Messier pages
• NightSkyInfo.com – M41
• M41 Hires LRGB CCD Image

• Astronomy
• Stars
• Outer space

v t e Messier objects
List	M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12 M13 M14 M15 M16 M17 M18 M19 M20 M21 M22 M23 M24 M25 M26 M27 M28 M29 M30 M31 M32 M33 M34 M35 M36 M37 M38 M39 M40 M41 M42 M43 M44 M45 M46 M47 M48 M49 M50 M51 M52 M53 M54 M55 M56 M57 M58 M59 M60 M61 M62 M63 M64 M65 M66 M67 M68 M69 M70 M71 M72 M73 M74 M75 M76 M77 M78 M79 M80 M81 M82 M83 M84 M85 M86 M87 M88 M89 M90 M91 M92 M93 M94 M95 M96 M97 M98 M99 M100 M101 M102 M103 Added M104 M105 M106 M107 M108 M109 M110
See also	Caldwell catalogue Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars Herschel 400 Catalogue Index Catalogue New General Catalogue Revised New General Catalogue
Category Commons Portal

v t e Constellation of Canis Major
Canis Major in Chinese astronomy List of stars in Canis Major
Stars	Bayer α (Sirius) β (Mirzam) γ (Muliphein) δ (Wezen) ε (Adhara) ζ (Furud) η (Aludra) θ ι κ λ μ ν ν ν ξ ξ ο ο π σ (Unurgunite) τ ω Flamsteed 10 11 12 15 17 26 27 29 Variable R W Z UW VY CX EZ FN FS FY LS NR V352 HR 2225 2318 2437 2447 2450 2758 2764 2766 2812 HD 43162 43197 (Amadioha) 45184 45364 47186 54879 Other RX J0720.4−3125 WASP-64 (Atakoraka) WISE 0713−2917 WR 7
Exoplanets ν Canis Majoris b HD 47536 b c HD 47186 b c HD 45364 b c HD 43197 b
Star clusters	NGC NGC 2204 NGC 2354 NGC 2360 NGC 2362 NGC 2374 Other Gaia 1 Messier 41
Nebulae NGC 2359 NGC 2361 Sh2-297
Galaxies	NGC 2207 2217 2227 2280 2283 2293 Other Canis Major Overdensity IC 2163
Astronomical events SN 1999ec SN 2003H
Category

• Open clusters
• Canis Major
• Messier objects
• NGC objects
• Orion–Cygnus Arm
• Astronomical objects known since antiquity