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 4230
Open cluster
—
—
9.40 V
Centaurus
NGC 422
Open cluster
—
—
13.26 V
Tucana
NGC 419
Globular cluster
—
—
10.50 V
Tucana
NGC 4184
Open cluster
—
—
—
Crux
NGC 416
Globular cluster
—
—
11.76 V
Tucana
NGC 4147
Globular cluster
—
61 317 ly
10.74 V
Coma Berenices
NGC 411
Open cluster
—
—
12.10 V
Tucana
NGC 4103
Open cluster
—
6496 ly
7.40 V
Crux
NGC 4052
Open cluster
—
9262 ly
8.80 V
Crux
NGC 3960
Open cluster
—
7610 ly
8.30 V
Centaurus
NGC 395
Open cluster
—
—
—
Tucana
NGC 3909
Open cluster
—
—
—
Centaurus
NGC 381
Open cluster
—
3723 ly
9.30 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 376
Open cluster
—
—
10.90 V
Tucana
NGC 371
Open cluster
—
—
—
Tucana
NGC 3680
Open cluster
—
3390 ly
7.60 V
Centaurus
NGC 366
Open cluster
—
8487 ly
—
Cassiopeia
NGC 362
Globular cluster
—
27 071 ly
6.58 V
Tucana
NGC 361
Open cluster
—
—
11.77 V
Tucana
NGC 3590
Open cluster
—
8363 ly
8.20 V
Carina
NGC 3572
Open cluster
—
8057 ly
6.60 V
Carina
NGC 3519
Open cluster
—
—
7.70 V
Carina
NGC 3496
Open cluster
—
7760 ly
8.20 V
Carina
NGC 346
Open cluster
—
—
—
Tucana
NGC 3446
Open cluster
—
—
—
Vela
NGC 339
Globular cluster
—
—
12.21 V
Tucana
NGC 3330
Open cluster
—
5611 ly
7.40 V
Vela
NGC 330
Open cluster
—
—
9.55 V
Tucana
NGC 3293
Open cluster
—
8059 ly
4.70 V
Carina
NGC 3255
Open cluster
—
21 865 ly
11.00 V
Carina
NGC 3231
Open cluster
—
—
—
Ursa Major
NGC 3228
Open cluster
—
1579 ly
6.00 V
Vela
NGC 3201
Globular cluster
—
16 634 ly
8.24 V
Vela
NGC 3114
Open cluster
—
3318 ly
4.20 V
Carina
NGC 3105
Open cluster
—
24 592 ly
9.70 V
Vela
NGC 306
Open cluster
—
—
12.07 V
Tucana
NGC 3036
Open cluster
—
—
—
Carina
NGC 3033
Open cluster
—
5809 ly
8.80 V
Vela
NGC 2995
Stellar association
—
—
—
Vela
NGC 299
Open cluster
—
—
11.73 V
Tucana
NGC 2982
Open cluster
—
—
—
Vela
NGC 2972
Open cluster
—
6367 ly
9.90 V
Vela
NGC 294
Open cluster
—
—
12.24 V
Tucana
NGC 2932
Stellar association
—
—
—
Vela
NGC 2925
Open cluster
—
2464 ly
8.30 V
Vela
NGC 2910
Open cluster
—
4211 ly
7.20 V
Vela
NGC 290
Open cluster
—
—
11.71 V
Tucana
NGC 288
Globular cluster
—
26 419 ly
8.13 V
Sculptor
NGC 2866
Open cluster
—
9132 ly
—
Vela
NGC 2849
Open cluster
—
19 085 ly
12.50 V
Vela
NGC 2808
Globular cluster
—
30 333 ly
5.69 V
Carina
NGC 272
Open cluster
—
—
—
Andromeda
NGC 269
Open cluster
—
—
12.59 V
Tucana
NGC 2678
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cancer
NGC 2671
Open cluster
—
4555 ly
11.60 V
Vela
NGC 2670
Open cluster
—
4825 ly
7.80 V
Vela
NGC 267
Open cluster
—
—
—
Tucana
NGC 2669
Open cluster
—
3733 ly
6.10 V
Vela
NGC 2666
Open cluster
—
—
—
Lynx
NGC 2664
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cancer
NGC 2660
Open cluster
—
9686 ly
8.80 V
Vela
NGC 2659
Open cluster
—
6783 ly
8.60 V
Vela
NGC 2658
Open cluster
—
14 452 ly
9.20 V
Pyxis
NGC 265
Open cluster
—
—
12.17 V
Tucana
NGC 2645
Open cluster
—
5912 ly
7.32 V
Vela
NGC 2635
Open cluster
—
19 138 ly
11.20 V
Pyxis
NGC 2627
Open cluster
—
5925 ly
8.40 V
Pyxis
NGC 2609
Open cluster
—
—
—
Carina
NGC 2588
Open cluster
—
14 307 ly
11.80 V
Puppis
NGC 2587
Open cluster
—
10 078 ly
9.20 V
Puppis
NGC 2580
Open cluster
—
14 596 ly
9.70 V
Puppis
NGC 2571
Open cluster
—
4287 ly
7.00 V
Puppis
NGC 2568
Open cluster
—
—
—
Puppis
NGC 2567
Open cluster
—
5710 ly
7.40 V
Puppis
NGC 256
Open cluster
—
—
12.50 V
Tucana
NGC 2547
Open cluster
—
1263 ly
4.70 V
Vela
NGC 2546
Open cluster
—
3068 ly
6.30 V
Puppis
NGC 2539
Open cluster
—
4166 ly
6.50 V
Puppis
NGC 2533
Open cluster
—
9122 ly
7.60 V
Puppis
NGC 2520
Open cluster
—
2084 ly
6.50 V
Puppis
NGC 2516
Open cluster
—
1334 ly
3.80 V
Carina
NGC 2509
Open cluster
—
8314 ly
9.30 V
Puppis
NGC 2506
Open cluster
—
10 158 ly
7.60 V
Monoceros
NGC 2489
Open cluster
—
6597 ly
7.90 V
Puppis
NGC 2483
Open cluster
—
—
7.60 V
Puppis
NGC 2482
Open cluster
—
4353 ly
7.30 V
Puppis
NGC 2479
Open cluster
—
4982 ly
9.60 V
Puppis
NGC 2477
Open cluster
—
4700 ly
5.80 V
Puppis
NGC 2459
Open cluster
—
—
—
Canis Minor
NGC 2455
Open cluster
—
10 087 ly
10.20 V
Puppis
NGC 2453
Open cluster
—
13 921 ly
8.30 V
Puppis
NGC 2451
Open cluster
—
—
9.50 V
Puppis
NGC 2448
Open cluster
—
3596 ly
—
Puppis
NGC 2439
Open cluster
—
12 493 ly
6.90 V
Puppis
NGC 2432
Open cluster
—
6250 ly
10.20 V
Puppis
NGC 2430
Open cluster
—
—
—
Puppis
NGC 2428
Open cluster
—
4435 ly
—
Puppis
NGC 2425
Open cluster
—
11 417 ly
—
Puppis
NGC 2423
Open cluster
—
3036 ly
6.70 V
Puppis
NGC 2421
Open cluster
—
8764 ly
8.30 V
Puppis