Star cluster
NGC 2423
Open star cluster · 1.1 billion 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 | Puppis |
| Distance | 824 pc (2.7 thousand ly) |
| Age | 1.1 billion years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 428 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.06 |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.07 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 7h 37m 06.6s |
| Declination (J2000) | −13° 50′ 59″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 76° N. South of latitude 76° S it never sets. 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 663 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 48 million years.