Star cluster
NGC 1039
Open star cluster · 240 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 | Perseus |
| Distance | 510 pc (1.7 thousand ly) |
| Age | 240 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 513 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.08 |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.07 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 2h 42m 11.9s |
| Declination (J2000) | +42° 47′ 24″ |
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 October, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around the year 363. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 30 million years.