Star cluster
C1331-622
Open star cluster · 1.8 billion 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 | 1,078 pc (3.5 thousand ly) |
| Age | 1.8 billion years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 116 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.27 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 34m 37.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −62° 25′ 01″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 28° N. South of latitude 28° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in April, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1491 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 62 million years.