Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Ophiuchus (Oph)  ·  Contains:  M 10  ·  NGC 6254
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M10 in Ophiuchus, Pete Bouras
M10 in Ophiuchus
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M10 in Ophiuchus

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M10 in Ophiuchus, Pete Bouras
M10 in Ophiuchus
Powered byPixInsight

M10 in Ophiuchus

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Another Globular! An LRGB image processed in PI. The crop view used 2x drizzle integration. The wide field image used normal integration.

Messier 10 (also designated NGC 6254) is a globular cluster of stars in the equatorial constellation of Ophiuchus. The object was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier on May 29, 1764, who described it as a "nebula without stars".  How would Mr. Messier react if he were shown one of our 'amateur' images of this cluster? 

The tidal radius of M10 is 19.3 arcminutes, which is about two-thirds of the apparent diameter of the Moon. Viewed through medium-sized telescopes it appears about half that size (8–9 arcminutes), as its bright core is only 35 light-years across. It has a core radius of 48 arcseconds and a half-mass radius of 147 arcseconds (2.5 arcminutes).[2] M10 has a spatial diameter of 83 light-years and is estimated to be 14,300 light-years away from Earth.

In terms of the abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium, what astronomers term the metallicity, Messier 10 is "moderately metal–poor". The abundance of iron, measured as [Fe/H] equals –1.45 ± 0.04 dex, is only 3.5% of the abundance found at the surface of the Sun. The cluster shows evidence of being enriched by the elements generated through the s-process in massive stars and Type II supernovae. It shows little evidence of enrichment by Type Ia supernovae.

Because binary stars are, on average, more massive than normal stars, the binaries tend to migrate toward the center of the cluster. The fraction of binary stars in the core region is about 14%. This proportion decreases with increasing radius to about 1.5% in the outlying regions of the cluster. Correspondingly, the core region contains a concentration of interaction-formed blue straggler stars, most of which formed 2–5 billion years ago. The density of stars in the core region is about 3.8 solar masses per cubic parsec. Four variable stars have been discovered in this cluster. (wikipedia)

Thanks for looking 
Clear Skies,
-Pete

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Description: M10 widefield

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M10 in Ophiuchus, Pete Bouras

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