Star cluster
ASCC 12
Open star cluster · 427 million years
An open cluster of stars born together from the same gas cloud in the Milky Way’s disc; the Galaxy’s tidal forces will disperse it within a few hundred million years. Position, distance, age and member count come from the MWSC catalogue; the total brightness is roughly estimated from the member count.
| Type | Star cluster |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Perseus |
| Distance | 600 pc (2.0 thousand ly) |
| Age | 427 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 74 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.15 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 4h 49m 55.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +41° 43′ 08″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 48° S. North of latitude 48° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 69. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 35 million years.