Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cassiopeia (Cas)  ·  Contains:  34 phi Cas  ·  NGC 433  ·  NGC 436  ·  NGC 457  ·  PK128-04.1  ·  Sh2-188  ·  The star φCas
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NGC 457/Owl Cluster, Sigga
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NGC 457/Owl Cluster

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NGC 457/Owl Cluster, Sigga
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NGC 457/Owl Cluster

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Description

NGC 457 is the brightest open cluster in Cassiopeia and one of the finest objects of its type in the northern sky. At magnitude +6.4, it's just beyond naked-eye visibility but easily seen with binoculars and a beautiful sight through telescopes. The brightest cluster stars are arranged in prominent lines and curves lines appearing to resemble an Owl shape, hence the popular name "the Owl Cluster". It's located 7,900 light-years distant.

NGC 457 was discovered by William Herschel in 1787. Finding the Owl Cluster is easy; it's positioned two degrees south-southeast of eclipsing binary star system Ruchbah (δ Cas - mag. +2.7). This star is one component of the characteristic "W" asterism of Cassiopeia. The brightest star inside NGC 457 is Phi Cas (φ Cas - mag. +5.0). Despite not being a member of the cluster, this foreground star is visible to the naked eye. Together with another non-cluster star - seventh magnitude HD 7902 (HIP 6229) - they form the bright eyes of the Owl greatly adding to the splendour of the view through backyard scopes.

--Freestarcharts

I quite happy with this one, is super attractive object and field, plenty of colour in nice area of sky. RGB 3x300 seconds with very bright moon. I suppose this look somewhat Owlish if have better imagination than me.

I work on this one quite a while to try and solve histogram mystery, criticism and suggestions happily accepted!

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NGC 457/Owl Cluster, Sigga