Messier 9 (M9) is a globular cluster located in the southern constellation Ophiuchus. It has the designation NGC 6333 in the new General Catalogue. The cluster lies at a distance of 25,800 light years from Earth. With an apparent magnitude of 8.42, it is too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
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Messier 8 (M8), also known as the Lagoon Nebula, is a large, bright emission nebula located in the constellation Sagittarius. The star-forming nebula has an apparent magnitude of 6.0 and lies at a distance of 4,100 light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 6523 in the New General Catalogue.
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Messier 7 (M7), also known as Ptolemy’s Cluster, is a bright open cluster in Scorpius constellation. The cluster lies at an approximate distance of 980 light years from Earth. It has the designation NGC 6475 in the New General Catalogue. With a visual magnitude of 3.3 and an apparent diameter of 80 arc minutes – more than twice the apparent size of the full Moon – Ptolemy’s Cluster is an easy naked-eye target.
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Messier 6 (M6), also known as the Butterfly Cluster, is a bright open cluster located in the southern constellation Scorpius. It lies in the direction of the galactic centre, at an approximate distance of 1,600 light years from Earth.
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Messier 5 (M5) is a bright globular cluster located in the northern constellation Serpens. It lies at a distance of 24,500 light years from Earth, in the galactic halo of the Milky Way. It has the designation NGC 5904 in the New General Catalogue.
With an apparent magnitude of 6.65, Messier 5 can be seen without binoculars, but only under extremely dark skies and it only appears as a faint star near the star 5 Serpentis. Binoculars will reveal the object to not be a star, but a fuzzy patch of light, and small telescopes will show a bright glowing core.
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Messier 4 (M4) is a bright globular cluster located in the southern constellation Scorpius. It lies at an approximate distance of 7,200 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 5.9. The cluster has the designation NGC 6121 in the New General Catalogue.
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Messier 3 (M3) is a globular cluster located in the constellation Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. It is one of the brightest, largest globular clusters in the sky. M3 has an apparent magnitude of 6.2 and is approximately 33,900 light years distant from Earth. It has the designation NGC 5272 in the New General Catalogue.
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