| M50 |
Open
Cluster
aka
NGC 2323, Melotte 58, Collinder 124, Raab 45, OCL 559
RA:
07h03m12.3s Dec: -08°19'28" (Monoceros)
Integrated
Visual Magnitude: 7.2
Angular
Diameter: 16.0'
Distance
3000 ly
Age:
78 Myrs
Minimum
requirements to detect: ? under dark skies |
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M50 is described in
Burnham's as, "an attractive group for the small
telescope" and as, "a fine open cluster, located a little
more than a third of the way along a line drawn from Sirius to
Procyon." Perhaps the most obvious feature of this
cluster is the brightest star, which is quite red. This 7.8
magnitude star is HD 52938, a K3 giant. Another star to look
for is the 8.5 magnitude HD 52980, a double with an 11th magnitude
companion 6.8" distant.
It has been estimated
that M50 contains some 200 stars. I found this beautiful
cluster that T. W. Webb called "a brilliant cluster" to be
a very pleasing sight in my 18-inch.
The field in an 6-inch f/8 at
50x. North is down and east is to the right.
|
Millennium
Star Atlas Vol I Chart 273
Sky
Atlas 2000 Chart 12
Uranometria
2000 Vol II Chart 273
Herald-Bobroff
Astroatlas B-06 C-40 |
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