This is Messier 71, a globular cluster. These clusters are not as colorful or glamorous as galaxies and nebulae so they get relegated to nights of poor seeing because they are bright.

They are fascinating.

First, they are old. They may date back to the formation of the Milky Way, possibly before the current structure of the galaxy was settled. I for one cannot picture a mechanism for them forming at all.

Second, they are very dense balls of stars - sometimes millions of stars. All the stars in a cluster are very similar in composition, and there is less variation in size than in the spirals of the galaxy.

Third, they are not "in the Milky Way" as we generally think of the galaxy; t hey are way off in space, above and below the plane of spirals, sometimes a very, very long way away. The gravitational catchment volume of the Milky Way is shaped like a rugby ball, with these globular clusters in the ball, anywhere but in the spiral arms or the center.

The first 3 pictures are the subject of the session, M71. This is a small cluster about 13,000 light years away and 27 light years in diameter. It is special because of all the stars we can see in front of it - we are looking at it through a lot of Milky Way suggesting it is close to the plane of the spiral arms. A more typical globular cluster is M13 in image 4. We are looking at this upwards through the thickness of the disk so there are fewer stars to be seen between us and the cluster.

Image 2 shows a lot of stars of all colors in front of the cluster, but the clusters themselves, M71 and M13, show remarkably little variation in color or size. Globular clusters are different.

Finally, M71 is in the direction of Sagitta, the direction of the core of the galaxy. The star fields are dense and in my wide-field view there has to be a lot more to see than just a cluster. I've picked out a couple of star groupings that look interesting. Facebook insists on messing with the order of my images, so you'll have to use your native wit to figure out what is what.