Star cluster
FSR 1697
Open star cluster · 115 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 | Circinus |
| Distance | 912 pc (3.0 thousand ly) |
| Age | 115 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 128 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.63 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 15h 06m 42.1s |
| Declination (J2000) | −56° 31′ 01″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 33° N. South of latitude 33° 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 950 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 53 million years.