Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  NGC 457  ·  Owl Cluster  ·  The star φCas
NGC457  (The ET Cluster), AlBroxton
NGC457  (The ET Cluster)
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NGC457 (The ET Cluster)

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Description

NGC457 (also known as the Owl Cluster, the ET Cluster, or Caldwell 13) is an open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel in 1787 and lies over 7,900 light years away from the Sun. It has an estimated age of 21 million years The cluster is sometimes referred by amateur astronomers as the Owl Cluster, Kachina Doll Cluster,, the ET Cluster (due to its resemblance to the movie.Bright, large, pretty rich, compressed. 63 stars counted including Phi Cass, it is a light yellow star at the edge of the cluster at 100X. There is another bright star near Phi that gives the effect of having two glowing eyes looking back at the observer. In the Southwest we call this cluster the Kachina Doll, two sparkling eyes and the rest of the cluster outlines outstretched arms with feathers. Many tribes in the Southwest made such dolls for their rites. vie character) or the "Skiing Cluster".

Observation Notes : Two bright stars, magnitude 5 Phi-1 Cassiopeia and magnitude 7 Phi-2 Cassiopeia can be imagined as eyes. The cluster features a rich field of about 150 stars of magnitudes 12-15.

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Revisions

  • NGC457  (The ET Cluster), AlBroxton
    Original
  • NGC457  (The ET Cluster), AlBroxton
    B
  • Final
    NGC457  (The ET Cluster), AlBroxton
    C

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NGC457  (The ET Cluster), AlBroxton