Star cluster
NGC 2301
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 | Monoceros |
| Distance | 805 pc (2.6 thousand ly) |
| Age | 224 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 357 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.06 |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.06 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 6h 51m 46.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +0° 27′ 54″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 90° N. It stands highest at midnight in January, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out around 601 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 47 million years.