Open Cluster Messier 47

Messier 47
Messier 47: Open cluster with variable star KQ Puppis. Excerpt from the STScI Digitized Sky Survey [147]

History

The Italian astronomer Giovanni Hodierna was probably the first to discover this star cluster in 1654. On 19 February 1771, Charles Messier came across the cluster, but noted the wrong coordinates, which is why it was later listed as NGC 2478 and turned out to be nonexistent. Caroline Herschel noticed the cluster in 1783 and her husband Wilhelm measured the position two years later on 4 February 1785, and the cluster was numbered NGC 2422 in Dreyer's NGC catalog. It was not until 1959 that it was noticed that Messier had miscalculated the position and he actually observed Herschel's NGC 2422.

Physical Properties

M 47 is an open star cluster with stars of 4th magnitude and the Trumpler classification III2m. It contains about 50 stars, which are spread over an area of about half a degree. Distance measurements range from 491 pc to 542 pc (1600 to 1768 light years). The estimated diameter is around 15 light years. The hottest star in the main sequence is of type B2. Most of the other stars are of type B and A. Two are orange stars. The stellar population is comparable to that of the Pleiades. The age of the cluster is estimated to be around 80 million years. [4, 145, 196]

A special treat is the double star STF 1121. It is not a double or multiple star, but forms the center of the open cluster. Stars A/B (6.9 mag, 7.3 mag, position angle 300°, distance 6.5"), star D (9.5 mag, 72", distance increasing), E (9.9 mag, 70", distance decreasing) and G (7.7 mag, 82").[267]

Revised+Historic NGC/IC Version 22/9, © 2022 Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke [277]
Designation NGC 2422
Type OCL (III2m)
Right Ascension (J2000.0) 07h 36m 35.0s
Declination (J2000.0) -14° 28' 47"
Diameter 25 arcmin
Visual magnitude 4.4 mag
Metric Distance 0.491 kpc
Dreyer Description Cl, B, vL, pRi, st L and S
Identification, Remarks WH VIII 38; h 459=3088; GC 1551; M 47; NGC 2478; OCL 596

Finder Chart

M 47 lies in the constellation Puppis about 1.3° away from the open star cluster M 46. It is visible to the naked eye. The best time to observe is January.

Finder Chart Open Cluster Messier 47
Open Cluster Messier 47 in constellation Puppis. Charts created using SkySafari 6 Pro and STScI Digitized Sky Survey. Limiting magnitudes: Constellation chart ~6.5 mag, DSS2 close-ups ~20 mag. [149, 160]

Objects Within a Radius of 15°

References