Star cluster
ASCC 66
Open star cluster · 58 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 | Centaurus |
| Distance | 1,032 pc (3.4 thousand ly) |
| Age | 58 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 175 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.10 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 11h 13m 33.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −55° 26′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 35° N. South of latitude 35° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1341 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 60 million years.