Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Puppis (Pup)  ·  Contains:  NGC 2477
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NGC 2477, Gary Imm
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NGC 2477

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NGC 2477, Gary Imm
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NGC 2477

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Description

This object is an open cluster of about 300 stars located 4000 light years away in the southern constellation of Puppis. When I heard that some consider this to be one of the top open clusters in the sky, I as doubtful. It isn't even a Messier object. But I was wrong - this is a majestic cluster. It approaches a globular cluster in the sheer density of stars around the center, but because it is an open cluster, all of the stars are bright and resolved including many red giants. Although the magnitude of the brightest star is only 9.8, the magnitude of the cluster is a stunning 5.8, 4 magnitudes higher, because of the number of uniform bright stars in the cluster. The fact that it is so low in the southern sky (3 degrees transit above the Paris horizon) is the only thing which prevented it from joining the other 3 Messier clusters from Puppis.

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NGC 2477, Gary Imm

In these collections

Open Clusters