C58 · open cluster

Caroline's Cluster

NGC 2360 is an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major.

RA07h 17m 43sDec−15° 38' 28"

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Identity & coordinates

Identification

Primary designation: C58
All designations: C58 · NGC 2360 · Caroline's Cluster
Object type: Open Cluster
Constellation: Canis Major
Best viewing: Winter

Coordinates & physical

Right ascension (J2000): 07h 17m 43s
Declination (J2000): −15° 38' 28"
Apparent magnitude (V): —
Distance: —

III

Visibility tonight

The science

NGC 2360 is an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major. It was discovered on 26 February 1783 by Caroline Herschel, who described it as a "beautiful cluster of pretty compressed stars near 1/2 degree in diameter". Her notes were overlooked until her brother William included the cluster in his 1786 catalogue of 1000 clusters and nebulae and acknowledged her as the discoverer. The cluster lies 3.5 degrees east of Gamma Canis Majoris and less than one degree northwest of the eclipsing binary star R Canis Majoris; it has a combined apparent magnitude of 7.2. It is 13 arc minutes in diameter. By the western edge of the cluster is the unrelated star, 5.5-magnitude HD 56405.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA-4.0