About NGC 4337
NGC 4337 is an uncommon cluster. It sits in the constellation Cru and shines at apparent magnitude 8.9.
An open cluster: a few hundred stars born together out of one collapsing cloud, still drifting along in loose formation.
Uncommon cluster 28 EP
NGC 4337
RA 186.0138° · Dec -58.1238° · openngc
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Coming towards us +10
- Under the Southern Cross +8
- Star cluster +7
- Open cluster +3
Total score 28
6 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Star cluster · +7
- Open cluster · +3
- Under the Southern Cross · +8
- 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
- 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
- How to spot it. At magnitude 8.9 it is just past naked-eye reach — ordinary binoculars will pull it in, over in Crux.
- Southern sky. It rides the southern half of the sky — an easier target the further south you are.
- Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around March — that's when to go looking.
Its true colour
- Its true colour. Open clusters look blue-white because they are young — their hottest, bluest stars have not had time to die yet.
How we came to know it
- The New General Catalogue. Its NGC number comes from J. L. E. Dreyer's 1888 catalogue, itself built on decades of sky sweeps by William Herschel and his sister Caroline.
Properties
- constellation
- Cru
- dso type
- OCl
- mag
- 8.9
- name
- NGC 4337
- radial velocity kms
- -16
- size arcmin
- 6.6
How to see it
Look for NGC 4337 in the constellation Cru. At apparent magnitude 8.9, it is an easy target for binoculars.
Like any astronomical target, NGC 4337 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 4337 is an uncommon cluster
NGC 4337 scores 28 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Star cluster, Open cluster, Under the Southern Cross 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.