ASTRO: M47

M 47/NGC 2422 is a very coarse open cluster about 1600 light-years
distant in Puppis. In my skies it is an easy naked eye object and great
in very small telescopes. Spread over an area of the sky the size of
the full moon it is too big for my field of view. Even though it
doesn't fit my FOV I had to image it as I'm trying to image all M
objects I can reach from my latitude. Some are just too low unfortunately.

Located in the winter Milky Way M 47 is seen against a rather strong
star field. It contains some 50 stars in an area about 14 light years
across. It's age is estimated to be 72 to 78 million years.

SEDS reports the cluster was first seen by Hodierna prior to 1654.
Messier rediscovered it over 100 years later. Considering it is a
rather easy naked eye object I find this surprising. Messier gave a
wrong sign with his position so it was still lost until William Herschel
found it yet again in 1785.

Before you say there are no galaxies in the image NED lists two. They
are faint and star-like with little data available, not even an
estimated magnitude.

14" LX200R @ f/10, L=8x5' RGB=4x5', STL=11000XM, Paramount ME

Rick
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