Star cluster
FSR 1648
Open star cluster · 219 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 | 1,050 pc (3.4 thousand ly) |
| Age | 219 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 111 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.29 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 13h 19m 46.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 21′ 04″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 34° N. South of latitude 34° 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 1400 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 61 million years.