Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  NGC 7160
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NGC 7160, Gary Imm
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NGC 7160

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NGC 7160, Gary Imm
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NGC 7160

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Description

This object is an open star cluster of about 60 stars located 2500 light years away in the constellation of Cepheus. The core of the main cluster spans an apparent distance of 5 arc-minutes, which corresponds to a true distance of about 4 light years. The cluster tidal radius is about 18 light years, past which a star will not remain gravitationally bound to the cluster core.

The cluster has no extended infrared emission when observed by more powerful telescopes, indicating that the molecular cloud in which it was formed has dissipated.

Stephen James O'Meara labelled this as the 104th of his Secret Deep objects, and called it the Swimming Alligator cluster. The two horizontally paired stars at the image center are the eyes, with the gator facing right. I have plenty of alligators living near me, but I don't think this cluster especially reminds me of one. It is a beautiful object, though. I light the contrast between the large bright blue stars and the smaller dimmer orange stars.

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