Star clusters

935 CATALOGUED

Stars born together and still travelling together — loose open groups, or ancient globes of hundreds of thousands.

RANKED LISTS
Brightest▸
Pleiades — apparent magnitude 1.20 (V)
TOP 50
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 ENTRIES
NAME
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
ALL CLASSESOPEN CLUSTER · 663GLOBULAR CLUSTER · 208STELLAR ASSOCIATION · 64
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
NAME▲
CLASS
MASS
DISTANCE
MAG
CONSTELLATION
NGC 7281
Open cluster
—
7081 ly
—
Cepheus
NGC 7295
Open cluster
—
7683 ly
9.70 V
Lacerta
NGC 7394
Open cluster
—
—
—
Lacerta
NGC 7419
Open cluster
—
10 554 ly
13.00 V
Cepheus
NGC 7423
Open cluster
—
12 176 ly
—
Cepheus
NGC 7429
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cepheus
NGC 743
Open cluster
—
3585 ly
—
Cassiopeia
NGC 7438
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cassiopeia
NGC 744
Open cluster
—
4302 ly
7.90 V
Perseus
NGC 7492
Globular cluster
—
82 191 ly
10.48 V
Aquarius
NGC 7510
Open cluster
—
10 364 ly
7.90 V
Cepheus
NGC 752
Open cluster
—
1438 ly
5.70 V
Andromeda
NGC 7686
Open cluster
—
—
5.60 V
Andromeda
NGC 7708
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cepheus
NGC 7762
Open cluster
—
3162 ly
—
Cepheus
NGC 7788
Open cluster
—
9913 ly
9.40 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 7789
Open cluster
—
6767 ly
6.70 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 7790
Open cluster
—
10 956 ly
8.50 V
Cassiopeia
NGC 7795
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cassiopeia
NGC 7801
Open cluster
—
—
—
Cassiopeia
NGC 796
Open cluster
—
—
—
Hydrus
NGC 886
Open cluster
—
3317 ly
—
Cassiopeia
NGC 956
Open cluster
—
—
8.90 V
Andromeda
NGC 957
Open cluster
—
7509 ly
7.60 V
Perseus
Omega Centauri★
Globular cluster
—
17 700 ly
5.33 V
Centaurus
Owl Cluster
Open cluster
—
9402 ly
6.40 V
Cassiopeia
Pearl Cluster
Open cluster
—
6678 ly
5.30 V
Centaurus
Pleiades★
Open cluster
—
444.0 ly
1.20 V
Taurus
Ptolemy's Cluster
Open cluster
—
905.7 ly
3.30 V
Scorpius
Small Sgr Star Cloud
Stellar association
—
—
4.50 V
Sagittarius
S Nor Cluster
Open cluster
—
3095 ly
5.40 V
Norma
Wishing Well Cluster
Open cluster
—
1557 ly
3.00 V
Carina
θ Car Cluster
Open cluster
—
495.1 ly
—
Carina
ο Vel Cluster
Open cluster
—
493.5 ly
2.50 V
Vela
χ Persei Cluster
Open cluster
—
7638 ly
3.80 V
Perseus