Another clear night in December, and it may be the last of the year. Went out to get a view and images of NGC 884 and NGC 869 – The Double Cluster. I've posted an image of it in the past (at this link here), but tonight's yielded much better results due to 30 images stacked at 15Seconds, 3.2seconds, and 8seconds all at F3.1 ISO400.
Click to Enlarge.
NGC 884 and NGC 869 also known as Caldwell 14 are two open clusters within the constellation of Perseus. The cluster can be found between the constellation lines of Perseus and Cassiopeia. These two relatively young clusters lay at a distance of 7600 and 6800 light-years away with NGC 869 being 5.6 million years old and NGC 884 being 3.2 million years old. Each cluster contains a few hundred stars, young hot super-giant suns that are thousand times for luminous than our sun. This double cluster is one of the few objects that can be seen with the unaided eye. They cover a span of only 30 arc-seconds which is about the width of the moon.
When viewing the double cluster you can see a variety of colored stars from blue, to white, to the red of a swelling giant star moving ever closer to it's violent end as a supernova. This cluster can be enjoyed with just your eyes (given you live in a dark enough area) as a fuzzy object between Perseus and Cassiopeia, or enjoyed with a pair of binoculars, or a telescope ranging from small to large in size. Next clear night see if you can spot the double cluster with your unaided eye.
Comments