Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cygnus (Cyg)  ·  Contains:  Foxhead Cluster  ·  NGC 6819
NGC 6819  Open Star Cluster, AlBroxton
NGC 6819  Open Star Cluster
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NGC 6819 Open Star Cluster

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Description

NGC6819 is an open cluster located 7,200 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. It was discovered by Caroline Herschel on 12 May 1784. About 7000 light years distant, these stars formed together from a giant interstellar molecular cloud complex around 2.3 billion years ago. That makes them a little more than half again as old as our solar system and the earth. NGC6819  is a nice small open cluster near the Cygnus/Lyra boundary.

Observation notes : It contains about two dozen stars from 10th to 12th magnitude within a 5' circle. Dark skies and a large scope will reveal many more fainter stars as well. In my 18-inch f/4.5 Dob I see an irregular smattering of bright stars overlapping a larger smattering of much fainter stars. The impression is as if we are seeing two clusters, one close and one far away.

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NGC 6819  Open Star Cluster, AlBroxton