Star cluster
NGC 381
Open star cluster · 708 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 | Cassiopeia |
| Distance | 1,200 pc (3.9 thousand ly) |
| Age | 708 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 233 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.34 |
| Metallicity [Fe/H] | 0.07 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 1h 08m 25.8s |
| Declination (J2000) | +61° 34′ 44″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Northern Hemisphere and south to latitude 28° S. North of latitude 28° 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 1889 BC. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 69 million years.