Favorite Open Clusters?

Besides The Pleiades & The Double Cluster, which other Open Clusters you would consider a must view?

Personally I have two favorites (even though I love them all)... Caldwell 64 and M37.

Remember well looking at the C64 Cluster for the first time, and it was like love at first sight!
Beautiful group of faint stars around a huge bright one...

M37 is just another mesmerizing cluster, with a miriad of very faint stars, simply beautiful!



Clear skies to all!



Ivan

Hi Ivan,

M46 because of the planetary nebula. It has a 3-D feeling in a 10" scope!
NGC 2518 Very large and bright. Easily comparible to M44.
NGC 3766 Nice tight cluster of bright stars.
NGC 2477 Almost looks like a loose globular.
The Jewel Box.
NGC 6067 Nice cluster of bright stars.
NGC 3532 Large and bright. Great with bino's.

Cheers,

Maurice

Ivan,

In Canis Major, you might want to check out the star tau. This star "very bright" is surrounded by about 25 stars, I found it by accident while scanning the area. I could not find an NGC or HIP number for the cluster. If your to far north this may be out of reach. It's do-able even with a 60mm. Very nice cluster. I have often wondered how many of the cluster are a system. Nearby is NGC-2477 with at least 300 members and very large.

I love open clusters because of their diversity. If I want to show a couple of examples of open clusters to someone new to astronomy I will always chose among the following three:

Double cluster in Perseus
M37, Auriga
M11, Scutum

The last one is awkwardly placed for me, normally accessible only during a few nights in August - September. But it's a beauty in my 8-inch.

I have a few personal favourites:

NGC7789, Cassiopeia
M46, Puppis
NGC6946, Cepheus
NGC6791, Lyra
NGC2194, Orion

The first one seems to be everyone's favourite, and I have no problems understandig that. However, M46 and NGC6946 are also great objects, the first one is interesting with the small planetary involved (or perhaps a foreground object), the second one having galaxy NGC6939 in the same field of view. The two last ones are challenging objects even in an 8-inch. They appear as an enigmatic, unresolved glow behind a rich star field.

NGC 3532 in Carina is the best open cluster in the sky, IMO.

Has anyone mentioned the 37 Cluster, NGC 2169?

Dave Mitsky

Here's a top ten list that I posted last year on this forum.

Here's my "top ten" list of favorite open clusters:

1. NGC 3532 (the best open cluster in the sky, see http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n3532.html )
2. M24 (even if it isn't a true open cluster)
3. NGC 7789
4. NGC 2477
5. NGC 869 & NGC 884 (the Double Cluster)
6. NGC 2362
7. M11
8. M46
9. NGC 6231
10.M37

Other noteworthy open clusters include M6, M7, M35, M36, M38, M44, M45, M47, M50, M67, M93, NGC 188, NGC 225, NGC 457 (the Owl or E.T. Cluster), NGC 663, NGC 1502, NGC 1528, NGC 1907, NGC 2158, NGC 2169 (the "37" Cluster), NGC 2264, NGC 2360, NGC 2539, NGC 4755 (the Jewel Box), NGC 6802, NGC 6939, and Stock 2.

Dave Mitsky

What is the NGC designation for Caldwell 64? I don't know if many of us use the Caldwell designations.

Personally, I really like M35, with NGC 2158 in the same field. The contrast between the two really gives you a visual impression of their relative distances.

Thanks,
Doug