M is for mystery

[Cloudwatcher]

Last night I was catching up on Astronomy Pictures of the Day and that for the 9th June showing M3 caught my intrest.

Perhaps you DSO guys would like to check this out as, to me, the image looks more like the M13 images posted on the forum.

I grabbed Andrew's excellent sketch ( I've done some of that,pencil on paper then inverted in PS,good fun)

and image post to compare with the M3 image and if this were a finger print I'd think we would have a possible match.

CW

[Andrew]

It looks pretty much like M3 to me.

It's tricky because different images pick out stars of varying magnitude, hence the shape of the cluster changes. However, I think the best guide here is the distinct triangle of bright stars surrounding the cluster (one white, one blue, one orange). Compare these with the photo here:

http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie/ccd_photos/M3_LRGB.jpg

You can also see the distinct arc of stars looping out to the orange star in this triangle.

Looks like a match to me with M3.

[barkis]

Sorry CW, M3 is definitely M3.

Your tec. skills won't diminish as a result. Honest.

Ron.

[Cloudwatcher]

Thanks chaps. As you can tell I'm not a deep sky kind of guy. I can't tell M2 from M22 or M3 from M13.

Same with motorways, they all look the same to me! Thank heavens for GoTo!

CW