Uncommon cluster 33 EP

Double Cluster

RA 35.1750° · Dec 57.1375° · openngc

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Score breakdown

· 4 badges

33 pts · Uncommon

Uncommon 34 pts → Rare

Bigger on the sky than the full Moon +12
Has a proper name +8
Star cluster +7
Loose stellar association +6

Total score 33

1 more point to reach Rare.

Badges

Star cluster · +7
Has a proper name · +8
Loose stellar association · +6
Bigger on the sky than the full Moon · +12

Trivia

What it actually is

What it actually is. A stellar association: a sprawling family of hot young stars that shared a birthplace but were never gravitationally bound to each other.

Sense of scale

Sense of scale. It is already coming apart. Associations dissolve into the general population of the galaxy within tens of millions of years.

Find it in the sky

Where to look. You'll find it in the constellation Perseus.
Northern sky. It rides the northern half of the sky — an easier target the further north you are.
Best time of year. It stands highest in the middle of the night around October — that's when to go looking.

What's in a name

Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

Properties

aliases: h & chi Persei
constellation: Per
dso type: *Ass
name: Double Cluster
named: yes
size arcmin: 50

Nearby objects

About Double Cluster

Double Cluster is an uncommon cluster. It sits in the constellation Per.

A stellar association: a sprawling family of hot young stars that shared a birthplace but were never gravitationally bound to each other.

How to see it

Look for Double Cluster in the constellation Per.

Like any astronomical target, Double Cluster 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 Double Cluster is an uncommon cluster

Double Cluster scores 33 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 4 science badges — Star cluster, Has a proper name, Loose stellar association and Bigger on the sky than the full Moon — 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.