Southern Pleiades (IC 2602)
A bright open cluster in Carina, often called the Southern Pleiades or Theta Carinae Cluster, easily visible to the naked eye.
Open cluster in Carina. Magnitude 1.9.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 19° above the southern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 22° above the southern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 28 Feb, 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. From Guyana it only reaches 19° above the southern horizon, so you need a clear, low view south.
- 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 600 mm (field 2.2° × 1.5°); needs a tracking mount.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 50′, 1.6 Moons across (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Brightness: magnitude 1.9. Brighter than the faintest stars Georgetown shows (4.3), and Lethem's (6.0).
- Distance: 486 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 490 years ago, around the year 1540.
What it is made of
- Type
- Open Cluster
- Distance
- Approx. 486 Lightyears
- True size
- Approx. 20 Lightyears diameter
- Young Hot Stars (B-type): Dominated by Theta Carinae
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More deep-sky objects: Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532) · Jewel Box Cluster (NGC 4755) · NGC 2516 (Southern Beehive / Diamond Cluster) · IC 2391 (Omicron Velorum Cluster) · Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) · 47 Tucanae (NGC 104)