Star cluster
FSR 0251
Open star cluster · 501 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 | Cygnus |
| Distance | 857 pc (2.8 thousand ly) |
| Age | 501 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 117 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 1.04 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 40m 24.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +42° 57′ 00″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 47° S. North of latitude 47° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in July, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 770 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 50 million years.