A bright open cluster in Canis Major, located about 4 degrees south of Sirius. Easily found with binoculars and possibly visible to the naked eye from dark sites.
Open cluster in Canis Major. Magnitude 4.5.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 62° above the southern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 66° above the southern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 30 Dec, 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 only from a dark site, as a hazy knot of stars; lost in city skies.
10x50 binoculars: Resolves into dozens of stars.
A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): Dozens to hundreds of stars at low power.
A camera: Spans about 40% of an APS-C frame at 800 mm (field 1.7° × 1.1°); needs a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
Size on the sky: 38′, 1.2 Moons across (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
Brightness: magnitude 4.5. Fainter than Georgetown's faintest stars (4.3) but brighter than Lethem's (6.0).
Distance: 2,330 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 2,300 years ago.
What it is made of
Type
Open cluster
Distance
Approx. 2,330 Lightyears
True size
Approx. 26 Lightyears across
Age
about 150 million years (range 97 million years to 280 million years)
Notable
About 150 million years old and 2,330 light-years away, 4° south of Sirius.