Galaxies and other objects in the fantastic Lunar Eclipse image

I did say that I would point out a few of the galaxies and other objects visible in this amazing picture of the Lunar eclipse that took place on the 15th of June 2011 and here it is:

·         M17 is the Swan Nebula, which is a star formation region of gas and dust, about 5000 light years away from the earth.

·         M18 is an open star cluster in the constellation of Sagittarius, is approximately 32 million years old, and is 4,900 light years away.

·         M20 is known as the Trifid Nebula, and is also a star forming region, approximately 7600 light years away from the Earth, and is a favourite amongst amateur astronomers to try to spot, due to its bright colouring.

·         M21 is another open cluster of stars, with about 57 small, dim stars to be found within it, due to its young age, as it is only 4.6 million years old.

·         M22 is a globular cluster (meaning that all the stars in it orbit a galactic centre point, like a super massive black hole, or a very massive star), located some 10600 light years away from the earth.

·         M23 is another open cluster, approximately 2,150 light-years away from Earth

·         M25 is an open cluster, with a diameter of 19 light years, and is 2000 light years away from our planet.

·         M8, more commonly known as the Lagoon Nebula, has an area of 5500 light years, and is estimated to be between 4,000-6,000 light years from the Earth.

·         M6, or the Butterfly cluster, is an open cluster in the constellation of Scorpius, compromised of numerous hot blue stars and the K-type orange star BM Scorpii, and is 1600 light years away from the Earth