NGC 2158

Star clusters are large groups of stars held together by the gravitational force they exert on themselves. There exist two main types of star clusters – globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old gravitationally bound stars, and open clusters are groups of tens to a few thousand stars formed from the same molecular […]

IC 2948: An Open Cluster and Nebula in Centaurus

IC 2948 is a young open star cluster in the southern constellation Centaurus. It was discovered by astronomer A. David Thackeray in 1950 through his observation of the cluster’s Bok globules, now known as Thackeray’s Globules. IC 2948 is associated with the emission nebula IC 2944, also known as the Running Chicken Nebula or the […]

NGC 2112

NGC 2112, or Collinder 76, is an old open cluster in the Orion constellation. Since it is located near the celestial equator, it is partially visible from both hemispheres during certain times of the year. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1786. It is believed that NGC 2112 is one of the oldest open […]

NGC 2669 Cluster

NGC 2669 is an intermediate age cluster approximately 8600 light years away from Earth in the Southern constellation, Vela. Vela means “sails” in Latin and was given this name due to formerly being part of the constellation Argo Navis, or “The Ship Argo”. Its position in the upper section of Argo is representative of sails […]

NGC 4609 | An Open Cluster in Crux

Introduction NGC4609, alternatively recognized as Caldwell 98, is a young open cluster within the southern constellation of Crux – a cross-shaped asterism often referred to as the Southern Cross. A fascinating fact about the Crux constellation is that it is widely used as a national and distinctive symbol in many countries (Wikipedia contributors, 2024). Figure […]

NGC 3680 Cluster

NGC 3680 is an intermediate age, open cluster located in the Southern constellation Centaurus. It was first discovered by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop in 1826 and is estimated to be over 1.2 billion years old. Interestingly, the NGC 3680 star cluster was classified as containing less than 50 stars, yet the number of stars making […]

IC 2395

IC 2395 is a young star cluster located in the Southern constellation Vela. This cluster was first discovered in 1908 by Solon Irving Baily. This cluster was also independently discovered later, which caused some discrepancy on whether or not IC 2395 and BH 47 are the same cluster, but both Claria´ et al. (2003) and […]

NGC 2270

NGC 2270 is an intermediate aged open cluster, located in constellation Monoceros very close to the celestial equator, making it partially visible in both equators at certain times of the year. A fairly large telescope is needed to observe this cluster considering its size, brightness, and classification. The cluster was determined to be approximately 1.1 […]

NGC 3532 cluster analysis

NGC 3532, also known as the Wishing Well Cluster, is an open cluster situated in the southern hemisphere. It is located in the constellation Carina approximately 405 parsecs from Earth (Robichon et al., 2005). It is classified as an intermediate age cluster with an age of 300 Myr (Fritzewski et al., 2021). Concerning its history […]

Open Cluster: NGC 4103

NGC 4103 is a young open cluster in the Southern constellation of Crux and was discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop in the year 1826. The cluster is estimated to contain 421 members within its 12.1-15.9 parsec radius, with only 199 being in the central part of the cluster. The cluster is not heavily […]