NGC 2477

Open Cluster NGC 2477

(= Lacaille I.3

= Caldwell 71)

in Puppis

Right Ascension	07 : 52.3 (h:m)
Declination	-38 : 33 (deg:m)
Distance	4.2 (kly)
Visual Brightness	5.8 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	27 (arc min)

This cluster was discovered by Abbe Lacaille when he was in South Africa during

1751-1752.

Burnham states this is “probably the finest of the galactic clusters in Puppis,”

but not in Messier’s catalog and many other observing lists as it is situated

to much south. However, where it comes sufficiently high over the horizon, it is

a splendid rich cluster of over 300 stars, crowded in a 20′ field, situated about

2.5 deg NW from 2.25 mag, extremely hot O5 supergiant Zeta Puppis (this star, at

2,400 light years distance, is one of the brightest stars known, with absolute mag

-7.1, corresponding to 60,000 solar luminosities).

The brightest star of NGC 2477 is of mag 9.81, the hottest of spectral type B8.

The cluster’s age has been estimated at about 700 million years (Sky Catalog 2000).

In the

Astronomical League’s Southern Sky Binocular Club list.

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Hartmut Frommert

([email protected])

Christine Kronberg

([email protected])

Last Modification: 21 Mar 1998, 14:10 MET