Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Deep Sky Object Image Gallery

Open star clusters are widely distributed in our galaxy and represent a loose collection of stars which number from a few dozen to a few hundred stars and are weakly-held gravitationally. Perhaps the three most famous such open clusters are the Pleiades (M45) in Taurus, the Beehive (M44) in Cancer and the double cluster in Perseus. They are all characterized with a handful of hot and white prominent stars and nebular material surrounding these stars.

Note: Open cluster NGC 1502 in the constellation of Camelopardalis illustrated below is a very young but bright cluster dominated by a handful of magnitude 7 and 8 member stars and including a close bright binary pair (SAO 13031, mag 6.95; SAO 13030, mag 7.08) and within two degrees of the bright red star SAO 12968 (mag 5.07, B-V +1.664). Lying at a distance of 2,680 light-years away, NGC 1502 is estimated to be a mere 11.2 million years old. Comprised of approximately 50 member stars spanning approximately 8 arc-minutes in diameter, this cluster is very well detached from the background sky owing to the number of bright member stars at the core. NGC 1502 is best observed during winter and early spring when it is furthest north of the celestial pole at the end of astronomical twilight and thereafter.

Please click on the image below to display in higher resolution (1200 x 900)

Image Details
NGC 1502 - Open Cluster in Camelopardalis
Imaging Details
NGC Number:
1502

Common Name(s):
N/A

Other Designations:
Cr 45, OCL 383

Object Type:
Open Cluster

Object Classif:
I 3 m

Constellation:
Camelopardalis

RA / Dec:
04h 07m 47s /
62° 19' 50"


Distance:
2,680 light-yrs

Object Size:
8' x 8'

Magnitude:
6.9
Date:
Jan 11, 2008
20:30 - 23:20 UT+2


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
AP 160 f/7.5 StarFire EDF
AP 1200GTO GEM
SBIG ST-2000XM
SBIG CFW10
SBIG LRGB + IR-block


Integrations:
Lum :  030 min (10 x 3 min)
Red :  030 min (05 x 6 min)
Green :  030 min (05 x 6 min)
Blue :  030 min (05 x 6 min)
Dark :  135 min (15 x 3+6 min)
Flat :  ~ 18,500 ADU
Binning :  1x1 (Lum),  1x1 (RGB)

Temperatures:
Ambient : + 03.4 ° C
CCD Chip : - 25.0 ° C

Software:
CCDSoft V5.00.186
AIP4Win V2.1.10
Photoshop CS2