Image of Wild Duck Cluster released by Nasa has Twitter struggling to connect the dots

1/8
Bonnie Christian6 April 2019

These stars have been named the Wild Duck Cluster by NASA as it apparently looks like a flying flock of wild ducks.

But, many have struggled to connect the dots, with the suggestion confusing Nasa's 30.7 million Twitter followers.

“This star cluster, Messier 11, is also known as the Wild Duck Cluster!,” the US space agency tweeted.

“Why? Look closely — the brightest stars in this @NASAHubble image roughly resemble the V shape of a flock of ducks in flight.”

However, their followers were quick to respond with their own versions of what the cluster looked like.

Many drew elaborate images of a duck over the picture, alongside the tongue-in-cheek captions: “Found it!” and “Figured it out!”

While others thought further outside the box.

One posted a picture of what looks like a ghost, writing: “That’s what I found...hire me Nasa!”

Another simply drew a question mark over the image of the cluster.

According to Messier Objects, a guide to bright galaxies, nebulae and clusters listed in the Messier catalogue, the Wild Duck Cluster is the furthest open cluster listed in the catalogue that is visible to the naked eye.

It is 6,200 light years away from Earth and contains about 2,900 stars.

In a blog post Nasa wrote: “Messier 11 is one of the richest and most compact open clusters currently known. By investigating the brightest, hottest main sequence stars in the cluster, astronomers estimate that it formed roughly 220 million years ago.

“Messier 11 is likely to disperse in a few million years as its members are ejected one by one, pulled away by other celestial objects in the vicinity.”

Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society told the Standard the cluster is not considered a constellation because it is too small and can only be properly seen with binoculars or a telescope.

However, naming of patterns in the sky are set by the International Astronomical Union and typically derive from a history of humans projecting myths and legends into the sky.

“The IAU published an agreed list of 88 constellations in 1930 (agreed at meetings in the 1920s), and set their boundaries on the sky.” Dr Massey said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT