Messier 34
2MASS image from Messier 34 | |
AladinLite | |
Constellation | Perseus |
Position equinox : J2000.0 |
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Right ascension | 02 h 42 m 07.4 s |
declination | + 42 ° 44 ′ 46 ″ |
Appearance
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classification | I, 3, m (Trumpler), d (Shapley) |
Brightness (visual) | 5.2 likes |
Brightness (B-band) | 5.37 likes |
Angular expansion | 25 ' |
Number of stars | 100 |
Physical data
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distance | 1400 ly (430 pc ) |
diameter | 14 years |
Age | 180 million years |
history | |
Discovered by | GB Hodierna (publ. 1654) / C. Messier (1764) |
Catalog names | |
M 34 • NGC 1039 • C 0238 + 425 • OCl 382 • Mel 17 • Cr 31 • Lund 91 • |
Messier 34 (also known as NGC 1039 ) is a medium-sized open star cluster with an angular diameter of 25 'and an apparent magnitude of 5.2 mag. It is in the constellation Perseus on the border with Andromeda, about halfway between the stars Algol (β Per) and Alamak (γ And). The cluster is around 1,400 light years from the solar system and is around 15 light years across . It consists of about a hundred stars that were formed together about 200 million years ago .
Since M34 only contains around 100 stars that span more than full moon width, this cluster of stars is relatively inconspicuous. Messier gave a diameter of only 17 'in 1764. Only recognizable as a delicate group of stars in binoculars 8 × 30, a dozen stars appear in the field of vision from 10 × 50. In the telescope, on the other hand, the star cluster appears increasingly scattered from 50 times magnification. The low variance of the brightness and the many double stars are unusual .
Web links
- Spektrum.de : Amateur recordings [1]
Individual evidence
- ↑ NASA / IPAC EXTRAGALACTIC DATABASE
- ↑ a b c d e f Messier 34 at SEDS
- ↑ a b SIMBAD Astronomical Database
- ↑ Seligman
- ↑ Bernd Koch, Stefan Korth: The Messier objects. The 110 classic destinations for sky watchers. Kosmos-Verlag Stuttgart 2010