Star clusters
935 CATALOGUEDStars born together and still travelling together — loose open groups, or ancient globes of hundreds of thousands.
PRIMER — 60 SECONDS
Open versus globular
Open clusters are young, sparse, and in the galactic disk; they disperse within a few hundred million years. Globulars are dense, spherical, and nearly as old as the galaxy.
Why they matter
Every star in a cluster is the same age and distance, which makes clusters the calibration bench for almost everything known about stellar evolution.
[
THE FAMOUS ONES
] 5 ENTRIESNAME
CLASS
MASS
DISTANCE
MAG
CONSTELLATION
Pleiades★
Open cluster
—
444.0 ly
1.20 V
Taurus
h Persei Cluster★
Open cluster
—
7620 ly
3.70 V
Perseus
47 Tuc Cluster★
Globular cluster
—
15 000 ly
4.09 V
Tucana
Omega Centauri★
Globular cluster
—
17 700 ly
5.33 V
Centaurus
Hercules Globular Cluster★
Globular cluster
—
22 200 ly
5.80 V
Hercules
BY CONSTELLATION · 70 REGIONS
DORADO · 194MENSA · 68SAGITTARIUS · 49CYGNUS · 43SCORPIUS · 42TUCANA · 40PUPPIS · 37MONOCEROS · 35CASSIOPEIA · 33CENTAURUS · 27OPHIUCHUS · 26VELA · 24AURIGA · 19PERSEUS · 19AQUILA · 17CARINA · 17CEPHEUS · 15CANIS MAJOR · 14VULPECULA · 14GEMINI · 13SCUTUM · 13NORMA · 12ORION · 11TAURUS · 11ARA · 10CRUX · 9HYDRUS · 8LUPUS · 8LACERTA · 7SERPENS · 7ANDROMEDA · 5COMA BERENICES · 5TRIANGULUM · 5CAMELOPARDALIS · 4CANCER · 4CIRCINUS · 4COLUMBA · 4HERCULES · 4MUSCA · 4PEGASUS · 4AQUARIUS · 3DELPHINUS · 3HYDRA · 3LEPUS · 3LYRA · 3PYXIS · 3SAGITTA · 3APUS · 2CANIS MINOR · 2CAPRICORNUS · 2HOROLOGIUM · 2LYNX · 2PICTOR · 2BOÖTES · 1CANES VENATICI · 1CHAMAELEON · 1CORONA AUSTRALIS · 1DRACO · 1ERIDANUS · 1FORNAX · 1LIBRA · 1PAVO · 1RETICULUM · 1SCULPTOR · 1TELESCOPIUM · 1TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE · 1URSA MAJOR · 1URSA MINOR · 1VIRGO · 1VOLANS · 1
NGC 6356
Globular cluster
—
47 619 ly
7.42 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6355
Globular cluster
—
23 157 ly
11.05 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6352
Globular cluster
—
18 265 ly
8.87 V
Ara
NGC 6342
Globular cluster
—
29 680 ly
10.01 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6335
Stellar association
—
—
—
Scorpius
NGC 6325
Globular cluster
—
30 659 ly
11.49 B
Ophiuchus
NGC 6322
Open cluster
—
4309 ly
6.00 V
Scorpius
NGC 6318
Open cluster
—
7429 ly
11.80 V
Scorpius
NGC 6316
Globular cluster
—
37 508 ly
9.03 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6304
Globular cluster
—
19 569 ly
9.03 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6293
Globular cluster
—
28 702 ly
9.02 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6287
Globular cluster
—
27 397 ly
10.30 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6284
Globular cluster
—
46 640 ly
7.43 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6281
Open cluster
—
1715 ly
5.40 V
Scorpius
NGC 6268
Open cluster
—
4921 ly
9.50 V
Scorpius
NGC 6259
Open cluster
—
7473 ly
8.00 V
Scorpius
NGC 6256
Globular cluster
—
30 333 ly
—
Scorpius
NGC 6253
Open cluster
—
5511 ly
10.20 V
Ara
NGC 6249
Open cluster
—
3992 ly
8.20 V
Scorpius
NGC 6242
Open cluster
—
4161 ly
6.40 V
Scorpius
NGC 6235
Globular cluster
—
31 637 ly
7.20 V
Ophiuchus
NGC 6231
Open cluster
—
5275 ly
2.60 V
Scorpius
NGC 6229
Globular cluster
—
95 564 ly
9.86 V
Hercules
NGC 6216
Open cluster
—
8238 ly
10.10 V
Scorpius
NGC 6208
Open cluster
—
3798 ly
7.20 V
Ara
NGC 6204
Open cluster
—
3910 ly
8.20 V
Ara
NGC 6200
Open cluster
—
—
7.40 V
Ara
NGC 6193
Open cluster
—
3880 ly
—
Ara
NGC 6192
Open cluster
—
5438 ly
8.50 V
Scorpius
NGC 6178
Open cluster
—
2890 ly
7.20 V
Scorpius
NGC 6169
Open cluster
—
—
6.60 V
Norma
NGC 6167
Open cluster
—
4785 ly
6.70 V
Norma
NGC 6152
Open cluster
—
5238 ly
8.10 V
Norma
NGC 6144
Globular cluster
—
32 942 ly
9.63 V
Scorpius
NGC 6139
Globular cluster
—
34 246 ly
9.68 V
Scorpius
NGC 6134
Open cluster
—
3729 ly
7.20 V
Norma
NGC 6124
Open cluster
—
2056 ly
5.80 V
Scorpius
NGC 6115
Open cluster
—
—
9.80 V
Norma
NGC 6101
Globular cluster
—
49 250 ly
10.08 V
Apus
NGC 609
Open cluster
—
18 858 ly
11.00 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 6067
Open cluster
—
6916 ly
5.60 V
Norma
NGC 6031
Open cluster
—
5797 ly
8.50 V
Norma
NGC 6025
Open cluster
—
2513 ly
5.10 V
Triangulum Australe
NGC 602
Open cluster
—
—
13.02 V
Hydrus
NGC 6005
Open cluster
—
8347 ly
10.70 V
Norma
NGC 5999
Open cluster
—
9175 ly
9.00 V
Norma
NGC 5998
Open cluster
—
—
—
Scorpius
NGC 5986
Globular cluster
—
33 594 ly
6.92 V
Lupus
NGC 5946
Globular cluster
—
40 117 ly
10.72 V
Norma
NGC 5927
Globular cluster
—
24 136 ly
8.86 V
Lupus
NGC 5925
Open cluster
—
4609 ly
8.40 V
Norma
NGC 592
Stellar association
—
—
—
Triangulum
NGC 5897
Globular cluster
—
41 422 ly
8.52 V
Libra
NGC 5824
Globular cluster
—
102 087 ly
9.56 V
Lupus
NGC 5823
Open cluster
—
5931 ly
7.90 V
Circinus
NGC 5822
Open cluster
—
2682 ly
6.50 V
Lupus
NGC 5800
Open cluster
—
—
—
Lupus
NGC 5764
Open cluster
—
6504 ly
12.60 V
Lupus
NGC 5749
Open cluster
—
3548 ly
8.80 V
Lupus
NGC 5715
Open cluster
—
7025 ly
9.80 V
Circinus
NGC 5694
Globular cluster
—
110 567 ly
10.89 V
Hydra
NGC 5662
Open cluster
—
2476 ly
5.50 V
Centaurus
NGC 5634
Globular cluster
—
82 518 ly
10.05 V
Virgo
NGC 5617
Open cluster
—
7603 ly
6.30 V
Centaurus
NGC 5606
Open cluster
—
8089 ly
7.70 V
Centaurus
NGC 5593
Open cluster
—
3341 ly
—
Lupus
NGC 559
Open cluster
—
9227 ly
9.50 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 5466
Globular cluster
—
54 142 ly
9.70 V
Boötes
NGC 5460
Open cluster
—
2383 ly
5.60 V
Centaurus
NGC 5385
Open cluster
—
—
—
Ursa Minor
NGC 5381
Open cluster
—
7989 ly
—
Centaurus
NGC 5359
Open cluster
—
—
—
Circinus
NGC 5316
Open cluster
—
4701 ly
6.00 V
Centaurus
NGC 5299
Open cluster
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 5288
Open cluster
—
8721 ly
11.80 V
Circinus
NGC 5286
Globular cluster
—
34 899 ly
8.31 V
Centaurus
NGC 5284
Stellar association
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 5281
Open cluster
—
5163 ly
5.90 V
Centaurus
NGC 5269
Open cluster
—
6669 ly
—
Centaurus
NGC 5168
Open cluster
—
10 559 ly
9.10 V
Centaurus
NGC 5155
Stellar association
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 5138
Open cluster
—
6052 ly
5.33 V
Centaurus
NGC 5120
Open cluster
—
—
10.80 V
Centaurus
NGC 5053
Globular cluster
—
52 837 ly
9.96 V
Coma Berenices
NGC 5045
Stellar association
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 5043
Open cluster
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 4937
Stellar association
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 4852
Open cluster
—
4175 ly
8.90 V
Centaurus
NGC 4833
Globular cluster
—
19 243 ly
7.79 V
Musca
NGC 4815
Open cluster
—
11 261 ly
8.60 V
Musca
NGC 465
Open cluster
—
—
—
Tucana
NGC 458
Open cluster
—
—
11.66 V
Tucana
NGC 456
Open cluster
—
—
—
Tucana
NGC 4463
Open cluster
—
5911 ly
7.20 V
Musca
NGC 4439
Open cluster
—
6480 ly
8.40 V
Crux
NGC 4372
Globular cluster
—
15 982 ly
9.85 V
Musca
NGC 436
Open cluster
—
11 202 ly
8.80 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 4349
Open cluster
—
6287 ly
7.40 V
Crux
NGC 4337
Open cluster
—
8452 ly
8.90 V
Crux
NGC 433
Open cluster
—
6634 ly
—
Cassiopeia