M50 is an open cluster located in constellation Monoceros, visually not far from the brightest star Sirius. It was catalogued by Charles Messier in 1772 and it’s approximately 3000 light-years away from Earth. The latest research was conducted in 2012 and confirmed that the cluster contains 508 stars – you can try to count them.
Technical details
| Telescope: | Newton 254/1000 mm |
| Aperture: | 254 mm |
| Focal length: | 1000 mm |
| Mount | Gemini G53f |
| Autoguiding | ZWO 174MM, TS 60/240 mm |
| Camera: | ZWO ASI071MC Pro |
| Corrector: | GPU |
| Filters: | UV IR cut |
| Exposure: | 25xRGB |
| Date: | 2018-03-21 |