Star cluster
Kronberger 68
Open star cluster · 347 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 | 977 pc (3.2 thousand ly) |
| Age | 347 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 62 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 2.02 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 20h 00m 36.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | +30° 34′ 37″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 59° S. North of latitude 59° 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 1162 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 57 million years.