NGC 2421 -- Open Cluster in Puppis
Northern Puppis Non-Messier Open Clusters
The constellation of the “Stern of the Ship Argo” (Puppis) is for the most part too far south from
my location in Central Maryland to view – but not all of it. There is a wide northern extension of
the constellation that rides the milky way north just to the east of Canis Major culminating in the
well-known Open Clusters of M46 and M47 (also do not forget the Open Cluster M93 south of
them). In addition, there are many additional Puppis Open Clusters along this stretch of the
Milky Way worth visiting. Two local Parks provided me far better southern views of the sky
than from my backyard, which I sketched eight of the best of the northern non-Messier Puppis
Open Clusters on the evenings of March 2nd and March 3rd (NGC 2421, 2479, 2482, 2489,
2509,2527, 2567 and 2571).
NGC 2421 (also known as Melotte 67 and Collinder 151) was the first of the Open Clusters that
I visited. It was a good choice. The cluster is easily identified 10 arcminutes southeast of a pair
of bright 9.5 magnitude stars (10:00 o’clock near the edge in the drawing). The 70-plus stars
making up NGC 2421 is surrounded by a triangle of 10th magnitude groups of stars (just below
center in the drawing). Many of the star members were just visible with increasingly dimmer
stars fading off as deep as I could go -- eventually blending into a faint haze of stars below the
resolution of the 110mm refractor. It was a fine way to start my Northern Puppis Open Cluster
journey.
my location in Central Maryland to view – but not all of it. There is a wide northern extension of
the constellation that rides the milky way north just to the east of Canis Major culminating in the
well-known Open Clusters of M46 and M47 (also do not forget the Open Cluster M93 south of
them). In addition, there are many additional Puppis Open Clusters along this stretch of the
Milky Way worth visiting. Two local Parks provided me far better southern views of the sky
than from my backyard, which I sketched eight of the best of the northern non-Messier Puppis
Open Clusters on the evenings of March 2nd and March 3rd (NGC 2421, 2479, 2482, 2489,
2509,2527, 2567 and 2571).
NGC 2421 (also known as Melotte 67 and Collinder 151) was the first of the Open Clusters that
I visited. It was a good choice. The cluster is easily identified 10 arcminutes southeast of a pair
of bright 9.5 magnitude stars (10:00 o’clock near the edge in the drawing). The 70-plus stars
making up NGC 2421 is surrounded by a triangle of 10th magnitude groups of stars (just below
center in the drawing). Many of the star members were just visible with increasingly dimmer
stars fading off as deep as I could go -- eventually blending into a faint haze of stars below the
resolution of the 110mm refractor. It was a fine way to start my Northern Puppis Open Cluster
journey.