M11, NGC 6705

M11 is one of the richest and most compact open clusters, with nearly 3000 stars packed into only twenty-odd light-years. This color composite was created from CCD images taken at the Burrell Schmidt telescope of the Warner and Swasey Observatory of the Case Western Reserve University, located on Kitt Peak in southwestern Arizona. The contributing images were taken in July 1995 during the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program operated at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and supported by the National Science Foundation.