Saturday, November 23, 2024

The Double Cluster (all night)

The northeastern sky on November evenings hosts the bright constellations of Perseus and W-shaped Cassiopeia, with the very bright star Capella positioned well below them. The sky between Perseus and Cassiopeia hosts the Double Cluster, a pair of bright open star clusters that together cover a finger's width of the sky. They make a spectacular sight in binoculars or a telescope
at low magnification. The higher (more westerly) cluster, designated NGC 869, is dense and contains more than 200 white and blue-white stars. The lower (easterly) cluster NGC 884 is looser and includes a handful of 8th magnitude golden stars. The clusters, which both formed in the same part of the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, are about 7,300 light-years away from us. The clusters would be even brighter if they weren't being dimmed by opaque dust in the galactic plane.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (21:2/156)