Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111)
A large, sparse open cluster in Coma Berenices, visible to the naked eye as a faint shimmering patch under dark skies.
Open cluster in Coma Berenices. Magnitude 1.8.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 71° above the northern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 68° above the northern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 26 Mar, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
- Your eyes: Visible to the eye from a dark site as a faint spray of stars.
- 10x50 binoculars: Dozens of stars spread over the whole field.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): Far too big for a telescope; use binoculars.
- A camera: Spans about 40% of an APS-C frame at 135 mm (field 9.9° × 6.6°); needs a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 254′, 8.2 Moons across (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Brightness: magnitude 1.8. Brighter than the faintest stars Georgetown shows (4.3), and Lethem's (6.0).
- Distance: 280 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 280 years ago, around the year 1750.
Apparent size from OpenNGC (Mattia Verga), CC-BY-SA-4.0.
What it is made of
- Type
- Open Cluster
- Distance
- Approx. 280 Lightyears
- True size
- Approx. 20 Lightyears diameter
- Main Sequence Stars (A, F type): About 40 brighter members
More deep-sky objects: Globular Cluster M3 · Globular Cluster M5 · Beehive Cluster (M44) · M67 (Open Cluster) · Hercules Globular Cluster (M13) · M92 (Globular Cluster)