M 73 (NGC 6994) Open Cluster in Aquarius

Located at: RA 20 hours 58 minutes 56 seconds, Dec -12 degrees 38 minutes 08 seconds

Size: 2.8'; Magnitude: 8.9; Class: IV 1 p (Asterism)

North is up

West to the right

Telescope:

8" f5 Newtonian reflector
Camera:

 ST-8XME, self-guided, binned 1x1, temp -15c, camera control MaxIm DL 4.56
Image:

Lumicon Deep Sky filter, 150 minutes (15 x 10 minute subs), 10/7/2007
Processing:

CCDStack 1.3, Photoshop 7.0
Location:

 Rolling Roof Observatory, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 (+34d 13m 29s -118h 52m 20s)
Notes: From the NGC / IC Project:

Contemporary Visual Observation(s) for NGC 6994

NGC 6994 = M73 = Cr 426
20 58 56 -12 38 07
V = 9.7;  Size 3

17.5": four stars in a "Y" asterism.  On the W side are the two fainter stars 
mag 11.5 and 12 oriented WNW-ESE which form the stem of the "Y".  A mag 10 star 
is on the SE branch and a mag 10.5 star is on the NE branch.  This is an 
unimpressive asterism.

8": four stars mag 10.5, 10.5, 11.0 and 12.0 in a small group, easily resolved 
at 100x.

- by Steve Gottlieb
Historical Research Notes / Correction for NGC 6994
NGC 6994 = M 73 is an asterism of four fairly bright stars.  The Hipparcos 
data suggest that they are at different distances, so this is one of THE 
prototypical asterisms. - Dr. Harold G. Corwin, Jr.