Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Perseus (Per)  ·  Contains:  7 Per)  ·  7 chi Per  ·  Double cluster  ·  HD13659  ·  HD13784  ·  HD13831  ·  HD13841  ·  HD13854  ·  HD13866  ·  HD13890  ·  HD13900  ·  HD13910  ·  HD13969  ·  HD13970  ·  HD14012  ·  HD14051  ·  HD14052  ·  HD14053  ·  HD14092  ·  HD14134  ·  HD14143  ·  HD14162  ·  HD14184  ·  HD14186  ·  HD14210  ·  HD14250  ·  HD14270  ·  HD14330  ·  HD14357  ·  HD14422  ·  And 20 more.
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Double Cluster, Kirby Collins
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Double Cluster

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Double Cluster, Kirby Collins
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Double Cluster

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Description

The "Double Cluster" is technically in the constellation Perseus, but it is more easily found by extending a line from the stars Navi and Ruchbah in the constellation Cassiopeia.  The open clusters are visible as a pair of fuzzy patches in binoculars, but also easily fit in the 1.5 degree field of view from my refractor.

NGC 869 and NGC 884 are about 7000 light years from us and are separated by only a few hundred light years.  Pairs of clusters with similar ages and close proximity may indicate that star formation can occur in multiple regions in the same molecular cloud; a study of binary clusters in 1995 found as many as 8% of all open clusters may be members of a binary pair ["Probable binary open star clusters in the Galaxy", A. Subramaniam et al, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1995].

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995A%26A...302...86S/abstract

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Double Cluster, Kirby Collins