M18, NGC 6613

M18 is an open cluster in the constellation Sagittarius. It is a widely spread poor cluster with fewer than a couple of dozen members, about 5000 light-years away and quite young, only around 30 million years old. This approximately true-color picture was created from images taken in June 1996 using BVR colors, at the Burrell Schmidt telescope of Case Western Reserve University's Warner and Swasey Observatory located on Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Arizona, during the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program operated at the Kitt Peak National Observatory and supported by the National Science Foundation. Image size 22.0 arc minutes.