Star cluster
NGC 1912
Open star cluster · 224 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 | Auriga |
| Distance | 1,144 pc (3.7 thousand ly) |
| Age | 224 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 1,229 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.33 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 5h 28m 51.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | +35° 47′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 54° S. North of latitude 54° N it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in December, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 1706 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 66 million years.