Star cluster
ESO 226-06
Open star cluster · 295 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 | Norma |
| Distance | 1,220 pc (4.0 thousand ly) |
| Age | 295 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 73 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.83 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 16h 24m 16.2s |
| Declination (J2000) | −51° 09′ 18″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 39° N. South of latitude 39° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in May, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1954 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 71 million years.