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Credit & Copyright: Tommy Lease
Explanation:
Few star clusters this close to each other.
Visible to the unaided eye from
dark sky areas,
it was cataloged in
130 BC by Greek astronomer
Hipparchus.
Some 7,000 light-years away,
this pair
of
open star clusters
is also an easy binocular target, a
striking
starfield in the
northern constellation of the mythical Greek hero
Perseus.
Now known as
h and chi Persei, or NGC 869 (above right) and
NGC 884,
the clusters themselves are separated by only a few hundred
light-years and contain stars much younger and hotter than the
Sun.
In addition to being physically close together,
the clusters' ages
based on their individual stars are similar - evidence that both
clusters were likely a product of the same
star-forming
region.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: open cluster
Publications with words: open cluster
See also: