About NGC 743
NGC 743 is an uncommon cluster. It lies about 3,702.1 light-years from Earth and sits in the constellation Cas.
An open cluster: a few hundred stars born together out of one collapsing cloud, still drifting along in loose formation.
Uncommon cluster 30 EP
NGC 743
RA 29.6304° · Dec 60.1663° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Coming towards us +10
- Star cluster +7
- Distant (over 1,000 light-years) +6
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) +4
- Open cluster +3
Total score 30
4 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star cluster · +7
- Distant (over 1,000 light-years) · +6
- Open cluster · +3
- Never sets (northern circumpolar) · +4
- Coming towards us · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- What it actually is. An open cluster: a few hundred stars born together out of one collapsing cloud, still drifting along in loose formation.
Sense of scale
- In perspective. Far away by human standards, yet still a local address inside the Milky Way's spiral arms.
- Sense of scale. Gravity is not strong enough to hold it. Within a few hundred million years these siblings will be scattered right around the galaxy.
Find it in the sky
- Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Cassiopeia.
- Never sets. So far north that from Britain, Canada or northern Europe it never dips below the horizon — it is up every clear night of the year.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around October — that's when to go looking.
Could we get there?
- Verdict. Impossible with our current technology — and the next millennium of it.
Getting there
- Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 65.1 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
Properties
- constellation
- Cas
- dist ly
- 3702.1112
- dso type
- OCl
- name
- NGC 743
- radial velocity kms
- -18
- size arcmin
- 5.4
How to see it
Look for NGC 743 in the constellation Cas.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 743 is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why NGC 743 is an uncommon cluster
NGC 743 scores 30 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Star cluster, Distant (over 1,000 light-years), Open cluster, Never sets (northern circumpolar) and Coming towards us — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.