Star cluster
NGC 4609
Open star cluster · 126 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 | Crux |
| Distance | 1,308 pc (4.3 thousand ly) |
| Age | 126 million years |
| Member stars (MWSC) | 149 |
| Reddening E(B−V) | 0.36 |
| Source | MWSC (Kharchenko et al. 2013) |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 42m 18.0s |
| Declination (J2000) | −62° 59′ 24″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 27° N. South of latitude 27° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 4,266 years ago. At that time the first farming villages were being founded; there was no writing yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 76 million years.