| I
recently came across this splendid open cluster in my finder
while star hopping to Abell 31. I didn't at first
recognize it's tight, round glow. It's fun to
come across some of the more well-visited objects by
accident. I must admit that I hadn't passed M67's way
in some time and I was delighted to see it. In my
18-inch it appears beautifully round with a regular shape
born of similar stars. Burnham's describes M67
only as a "rich galactic cluster," and I'd
have to agree. Walter Scott Houston claimed that,
"When conditions are right, M67 can be seen with the
naked eye in the barren sky of Cancer within about 8o
of M44." Scotty also estimated the integrated
visual magnitude to be 5.9, which is probably more realistic
than the fainter value often quoted.
M67 nearly fills
my field of view at 270x, and I was quite struck by
the sharp, regular edge to the cluster. The
impressions was as if looking through a round porthole at
distant stars. Myriad interesting star patterns
abound.
At over 5
billion years, M67 is one of the oldest open clusters
and it is uniquely high above the galactic plane.
Carefully studied, this open cluster represents a
cornerstone in our understand of how stars and star clusters
evolve.
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