Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Coma Berenices (Com)  ·  Contains:  10 Com  ·  12 Com  ·  13 Com  ·  14 Com  ·  15 Com)  ·  15 gam Com  ·  16 Com  ·  17 Com  ·  18 Com  ·  21 Com  ·  22 Com  ·  23 Com  ·  7 Com  ·  8 Com  ·  9 Com  ·  Box  ·  HD106184  ·  HD106238  ·  HD106330  ·  HD106398  ·  HD106421  ·  HD106479  ·  HD106510  ·  HD106678  ·  HD106691  ·  HD106814  ·  HD106842  ·  HD106857  ·  HD106887  ·  HD106946  ·  And 217 more.
Maria's Star Cluster, (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256), Chris Gifford
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Maria's Star Cluster, (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256)

Maria's Star Cluster, (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256), Chris Gifford
Powered byPixInsight

Maria's Star Cluster, (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256)

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Description

I came back to this object again when I realized I didn't actually have the whole cluster in the FOV of the Z73.  I switched to my 75-300 zoom lens the next night and dropped the focal length to 250mm.  The cluster popped with the first sub.  I am quite pleased with the FOV.  I may have been able to actually frame the entire cluster in the Z73 FOV with APT's aiming feature and advanced GoTo capabilities, but I think this one makes for a better view of the cluster in its surrounding area.  There is some slight curvature at the edges due to the lens and there was also quite a bit of vignette with the lens and the 6D but the flats and Astro Flat Pro handled that easily enough.  I also ran another imaging run using the 550D and the L-Pro filter to see if the full illumination of the sensor would make a difference in the quality of the image.  Nothing I am willing to share at this point.

Maria's Star Cluster, (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256) is a small but nearby open cluster located in the constellation Coma Berenices. The cluster contains about 40 brighter stars (between magnitudes 5 and 10) with a common proper motion. The brighter stars of the cluster make out a distinctive "V" shape as seen when Coma Berenices is rising. The cluster used to represent the tail of Leo. However, in around 240 BC, Ptolemy III renamed it for the Egyptian queen Berenice's legendary sacrifice of her hair.

The Hipparcos satellite and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting have been used to establish a distance to the cluster's center of approximately 86 parsecs (280 ly). The distance established via the independent analyses agree, thereby making the cluster an important rung on the cosmic distance ladder. The open cluster is roughly twice as distant as the Hyades and covers an area of more than 7.5 degrees on the sky. The cluster is approximately 450 million years old.

I found this cluster in APT's object database.  When I passed the coordinates to Stellarium, it showed a nice region of space but no DSO designation.  Since APT found this cluster for me using new search filters that I asked Yoddha for, in which he asked Maria to develop, I decided to call the cluster Maria's Star Cluster.

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Maria's Star Cluster, (also known as Melotte 111 or Collinder 256), Chris Gifford

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Open Clusters