Home > Star Clusters > Open > NGC457

NGC457

ET Cluster, or Owl Cluster
Open Star Cluster
Right Ascension 01h 19m 35s Best Seen 10/15-5/1
Declination 58° 17' 12" Magnitude 6.4
Constellation Cassiopeia

Actual		 Compared
to ...
Distance ~7,900 ly --
Diameter ~30 ly --
Number of Stars ~150 --
Actual Brightness -- --
Age ~ 21 million years
Integrated Spectral Type -- G2 V
Density (gram/cubic cm) -- --

What To Look For Through The Telescope

  1. Recommended eyepiece: 40mm or 80 mm.

  2. Through the telescope the cluster will appear to be individual star; much like sugar or salt sprinkled on a table top.

NGC457 Information

  1. Other names: Dragonfly Cluster, and Kachina Doll Cluster

  2. Nicknames come from its shape. Two bright stars can be imagined as eyes. Scattered rows of faint stars make up the arms or wings, and the rest of the cluster forms a body.

  3. This is a young group of stars, with an average separation within the cluster of about 1 light year.

  4. First discovered by 1787 by William Herschel.

  5. Contains over 100 stars, including:

    a. Over 50 stars that are 8.5 to 12th magnitude

    b. Over 30 stars that are 13th to 14th magnitude

    c. A red star lies at the northern edge -- Phi Cassiopeiae, the bright star that forms one of the “eyes”, is likely not a member of the cluster, actually being much closer to Earth and simply appearing to be part of the cluster.

    d. It is somewhat triangular shaped, with streams of stars protruding NNW, SW and E from a compressed center.
Home > Star Clusters > Open > NGC457 > Reference top
References
Item Updated Notes
Coordinates 2017-05-07 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_457
Magnitude 2017-05-07 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_457
Distance 2017-05-07 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_457
Actual Brightness --
Number of Stars 2017-05-07 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_457
Diameter 2003-01-05 Burnham says “cannot be much less than 30 light years”
Age --
Integrated Spectral Type --
Other Information 2017-05-07 http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=ngc457&submit=SIMBAD+search
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_457