Star cluster
IC 1396
Open star cluster · 1.0 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 | Cepheus |
| Distance | 600 pc (2.0 thousand ly) |
| Age | 1.0 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 1,068 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.42 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 21h 38m 60.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +57° 29′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 33° S. North of latitude 33° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in August, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 69. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 35 million years.