M93 (Open Cluster)
A rich open cluster in Puppis, shaped somewhat like a starfish or arrowhead, visible with binoculars and well-resolved in small telescopes.
Open cluster in Puppis. Magnitude 6.0.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 59° above the southern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 63° above the southern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 14 Jan, 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 1,500 mm (field 0.9° × 0.6°); needs a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 22′, 71% of the Moon's width (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Brightness: magnitude 6.0. Fainter than Georgetown's faintest stars (4.3) but brighter than Lethem's (6.0).
- Distance: 3,170 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 3,200 years ago.
What it is made of
- Type
- Open cluster
- Distance
- Approx. 3,170 Lightyears
- True size
- Approx. 20 Lightyears across
- Age
- about 740 million years (range 450 million years to 1.2 billion years)
- Notable
- About 740 million years old at 3,170 light-years.
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More deep-sky objects: M46 (Open Cluster) & NGC 2438 (Planetary Nebula) · M47 (Open Cluster) · M41 (Open Cluster) · IC 2391 (Omicron Velorum Cluster) · NGC 2516 (Southern Beehive / Diamond Cluster) · Christmas Tree Cluster & Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)