M46, M47 and NGC 2423

M46, M46, NGC 2423

M46 (left), M47 (right, bright cluster) and NGC 2423 (above M47) are galactic star clusters located in the constellation Puppis in the southern Milky Way.

M46 is a beautiful cluster of magnitude 6.5 which contains about 100 stars and the planetary nebula NGC 2438 (the small red speck on top of M46). M47, which is situated about 1 degree west of M46, is a cluster which consists of about 30 bright stars. At magnitude 4.4 it can be easily seen with the unaided eye under dark skies. Its diameter is about 30 arcminutes, the size of the full moon. NGC 2423 is another less condensed cluster located just north of M47, which contains about 40 stars.

This field is a very interesting region of the Milky Way, and the large star clusters make it ideal for binocular observations.

Exposure Data

Instrument: JSO 4.9" f/3.8 Wright-Newton
F/stop: 3.8
Exposure: Composite of 2 exposures, approx. 10 + 14.5 minutes
Film: Fuji Superia 400F
Exposure start: 00:25 MEZ
Date: February 21, 2004
Location: Ebenwaldhöhe, Lower Austria
Conditions: Visual limiting magnitude 6.0 mag, seeing 5, temperature -1.5°C, slight wind, low humidity
Autoguider: Meade Pictor 216 XT, max. error: 2
Enhancement: Adobe Photoshop 7.0, SGBNR 1.0.4
Notes: One of the first testphotos I took with the JSO Wright-Newton, vignetting-corrected.

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