Messier 34

2MASS image of M34

(taken in infrared band; falsecolor)

Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
Messier 34

Constellation	Perseus
Right ascension	02^h 42.1^m^[1]
Declination	+42° 46′^[1]
Distance	1.4 kly^{[citation needed]} (0.4 kPc)
Apparent magnitude (V)	5.5^{[citation needed]}
Apparent dimensions (V)	35.0′^{[citation needed]}
Other designations	NGC 1039^[1]
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

Messier 34 (also known as M 34 or NGC 1039) is an open cluster in the constellation Perseus. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects in 1764.

M34 is at a distance of about 1,400 light-years away from Earth and consists of some 100 stars. It spans about 35' on the sky which translates to a true radius of 7 light years. The cluster is just visible to the naked eye in very dark conditions, well away from city lights. It is well seen in binoculars.

Links

Messier 34, SEDS Messier pages
Messier 34 Amateur Image by Waid Observatory

References

Membership of Stars in NGC 1039 (M34): NASA Astrophysics Data System link to an article by B. F. Jones and Charles F. Prosser.
^ ^a ^b ^c SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Results for Messier 34. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/"
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Index

Scientific Library - Scientificlib.com