Messier 18
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Messier 18 or M18, also designated NGC 6613 and sometimes known as the Black Swan Cluster, is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Sagittarius. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 an
Open cluster Messier 18 in Sagittarius
M18 photo from the 2MASS project
Star cluster Messier 18 (upper left) and its surroundings, taken by the OmegaCAM
Galactic Center
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The Galactic Center is the barycenter of the Milky Way and a corresponding point on the rotational axis of the galaxy. Its central massive object is a supermassive black hole of about 4 million solar
Messier 18
…HD 168352, is a B-type giant star with a class of B2 III and a visual magnitude of 8.65. Messier 18 is 1,296 kpc from the Earth and 6,830 kpc from the Galactic Center. It is orbiting the Milky Way core with a period of 186.5 million years and an eccentricity of 0.02. This carries it to as close as 6.5 kpc to, and as…
The Galactic Center, as seen by one of the 2MASS infrared telescopes, is located in the bright upper left portion of the image.
There is a supermassive black hole in the bright white area to the right of the center of this wide (scrollable) image. This composite photograph covers about half of a degree.
The Galactic Center of the Milky Way and a meteor
Composite labeled image