The Wild Duck Cluster in Scutum, known also Messier 11 and NGC 6705, is a deep-sky showpiece of the summer sky as one of the most spectacular open clusters in the heavens. Indeed, first timers gazing at it through the eyepiece could be forgiven for thinking they’re looking at a globular cluster, it’s so rich. It has the advantage too of lying on the northern edge of the Scutum star cloud in an overall spectacular summer Milky Way field brimming over with myriad sparkling stars.
Scutum, the Shield, is one of the smallest constellations yet it boasts The Wild Duck Cluster and Messier 26, a fine open cluster in its own right. Scutum is sandwiched largely between Aquila, the Eagle, to its north and east and Sagittarius, the Archer, to the south. The entirety of its territory lies south of the celestial equator, so it doesn’t rise too high from UK shores. At mid-month, the Wild Duck Cluster culminates at about 10.30pm BST at altitude of 32° from London.
The Wild Duck Cluster shines with an integrated magnitude of +5.8 from its nearly 700 member stars spanning 25’. A pair of 10 x 50 binoculars show it as a prominent, unresolved haze 1.8 degrees south-east of magnitude +4.2 beta Scuti. An 80mm (three-inch) telescope can resolve around 100 suns, with the star-count climbing to around 150 through a 150mm (six-inch) telescope.
The cluster’s nickname was coined by the nineteenth-century observer William Henry Smyth; so you see a flock of wild ducks in flight?
Messier 26 (NGC 6694) lies 3.5 degrees south-south-west of Messier 11. Shining with an integrated magnitude of +8, is a fine target to enjoy after Messier 11. A 150mm telescope shows about 20 stars in a 7’-wide area.
