Collinder 463 -- Open Cluster in Cassiopeia
Collinder 463 -- Last Object of the Night
A nice relaxing view of the magnitude 5.7, Open Cluster (Collinder 463) high in the northern sky
was just what I needed. I had been hunting relatively faint galaxies in Eridanus and Cetus, with
my 110mm refractor, and my tired eyes need something big and bright to look at before closing
down for the night.
Collinder 463 (Cr 463) is next to 50-Cassiopeiae a 4th magnitude star in the northern section of
the Queen of Ethiopia. Cr 463 is best viewed in binoculars or a rich field telescope. Its huge
size of 1-degrees (twice the size of the full moon) and its loose collection of stars makes it
difficult to view in most amateur-sized telescopes. Note that for the drawing a low-power (19x)
and wide-field-of-view (3.4 degrees) was used. In addition, it has no stars that are bright and
thus is best when viewed away from the suburbs. From my house it loses much of its glory. From
a local park away from much of the sky glow it comes to life.
To help show the extent of Cr 463, I placed a circle around it in the drawing.
was just what I needed. I had been hunting relatively faint galaxies in Eridanus and Cetus, with
my 110mm refractor, and my tired eyes need something big and bright to look at before closing
down for the night.
Collinder 463 (Cr 463) is next to 50-Cassiopeiae a 4th magnitude star in the northern section of
the Queen of Ethiopia. Cr 463 is best viewed in binoculars or a rich field telescope. Its huge
size of 1-degrees (twice the size of the full moon) and its loose collection of stars makes it
difficult to view in most amateur-sized telescopes. Note that for the drawing a low-power (19x)
and wide-field-of-view (3.4 degrees) was used. In addition, it has no stars that are bright and
thus is best when viewed away from the suburbs. From my house it loses much of its glory. From
a local park away from much of the sky glow it comes to life.
To help show the extent of Cr 463, I placed a circle around it in the drawing.