NGC 1981 (Gary Imm)

Celestial hemisphere: Southern · Constellation: Orion (Ori) · Contains: NGC 1973 · NGC 1975 · NGC 1981 · Sh2-279

Powered byPixInsight

NGC 1981

Powered byPixInsight

NGC 1981

This underappreciated object, also known as Collinder 73, is an open cluster located 1300 light years away in the constellation of Orion, just north of the Running Man Nebula. It is equal to the full moon in diameter and consists of 20 stars. It is the topmost of four deep sky objects that define Orion's sword. Some people see it as a coal car, while others say it looks like an alligator. I see neither very well, but many of you already know how creatively challenged I am in this area. Note that the curved line of three bright stars on the left side of the image, the top of which is a tough to ascertain double star (Struve 750), do not formally belong to the cluster.

In any other part of the sky, this cluster (tied for 11th place in brightness among open star clusters) would be recognized as an outstanding open cluster, but it is overshadowed here by the nearby Orion nebula and its constituents.

Open Star Clusters
The refractors!
Cloudy Nights
ZWO ASI1600MM/QHY163M

Hidden Treasures Catalog (Complete*)
Open Clusters

Please note: The following tables are updated every 24 hours.

Distribution of astrophotographers

This table shows the number of distinct astrophotographers who have been assigned and IOTD/TP award compared to the total number of images awarded.
	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

Distribution of subject types

This table shows the distribution of awards per subject type, compared to the popularity of images of that subject type.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

Distribution of data sources

This table shows the distribution of awards per data source, compared to the popularity of images acquired from that data source.
	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

Submitted The date and time when you submitted this image for IOTD/TP consideration.	...
Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
Promotions by Submitters When 3 distinct Submitters promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for Top Pick status. This requirement, in addition to anonymization of images and distribution to only a subset of them, prevents biases and ensures that the best images are selected.
Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
Early dismissal Staff members have a lot of images to inspect on a daily basis, and they can dismiss images if they believe they don't meet the requirements for IOTD/TP selection. If an image is dismissed 5 times, it's removed from the process. This streamlines the process and ensures that any bias present in promotions could be overruled by other staff members.

Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	1877687
PixInsight job	SOXKS3MII2EY88WQCH5LMWSXF3AA8AMU
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	05h34m58s.450
RA (top/left)	05h36m44s.590
RA (top/right)	05h32m54s.550
RA (bottom/right)	05h33m11s.910
RA (bottom/left)	05h37m01s.639

Dec (center)	-04°26′51″.82
Dec (top/left)	-04°02′12″.40
Dec (top/right)	-04°07′55″.38
Dec (bottom/right)	-04°51′30″.99
Dec (bottom/left)	-04°45′47″.48

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

NGC 1981

NGC 1981

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

In these public groups

In these collections

		...
You have no new notifications.

Image Index:

Contribution Index (beta):

NGC 1981

NGC 1981

Equipment

Acquisition details

Description

Comments

Sky plot

Histogram

In these public groups

In these collections

Notifications

AstroBin is in READ ONLY mode

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Sorry :-(

Are you really sure?

Warning!

Warning!

Are you sure?

Report abuse

Slideshow settings

IOTD/TP stats (last [x] days)

Distribution of astrophotographers

Distribution of subject types

Distribution of data sources

Sorry

Sorry

Share

Upload new revision

Upload uncompressed source (XISF/FITS/PSD/TIFF)

Delete image and all its revisions?

Delete original image?

Delete all other versions?

Delete all revisions?

IOTD/TP stats

The following people like this image

The following people bookmarked this image

Warning

Flag malfunctioning thumbnails

Contains

Remove yourself as a collaborator

Plate-solving information