Thursday, November 7, 2024

Bright Cluster in Andromeda (all night)

NGC 752 is a very large, magnitude 5.7 open star cluster in Andromeda. It is visible with unaided eyes, but it will sparkle in binoculars or through a telescope at low magnification. This under-appreciated beauty, number 28 on
Sir Patrick Moore's Caldwell List, is located 4.5 degrees south of the bright double star Almach (or Gamma 1,2 And). NGC 752's large diameter is due to its closeness to us and to its extreme age, which has given its stars time to disperse and to evolve into golden F-, G-, and K-class members. In the eyepiece, you should see about a dozen brighter stars and fifty or so smaller stars. A bright, golden star named HD 11885 dominates a small triangle
pointing inwards from the southern sector of the cluster, but it's a
foreground star half as far away. The prominent pair 56 Andromedae and HD11727 shine together half a degree to the south-southwest of the cluster. Try splitting Struve 179 located 34 arc-minutes to their west.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (954:100/61)