Open Cluster NGC 7243

NGC 7243
NGC 7243: Open clusters in Lacerta. Section of DSS2 [147]

History

On 26 September 1788 William Herschel looked through his 18.7 inch reflecting telescope and encountered a cluster that he cataloged as VIII 75 and described as follows: «A cluster of coarsly scattered large stars, a little extended, south preceeding, north preceding, 16' long.» [464] Dreyer added the cluster in 1888 as NGC 7243 to his «New General Catalogue». [313]

Physical Properties

Revised+Historic NGC/IC Version 22/9, © 2022 Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke [277]
Designation NGC 7243
Type OCL (IV2p)
Right Ascension (J2000.0) 22h 15m 08.5s
Declination (J2000.0) +49° 53' 51"
Diameter 30 arcmin
Visual magnitude 6.4 mag
Metric Distance 0.808 kpc
Dreyer Description Cl, L, P, lC, st vL
Identification, Remarks OCL 221

Finder Chart

The cluster NGC 7243 is located in the constellation Lacerta. It is circumpolar in Central Europe, but the best time to observe it is May to December, when it is highest at night.

Finder Chart Open Cluster NGC 7243
Open Cluster NGC 7243 in constellation Lacerta. 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]

More Objects Nearby (±15°)

References

  • [147] Aladin Lite; aladin.unistra.fr/AladinLite
  • [149] SkySafari 6 Pro, Simulation Curriculum; skysafariastronomy.com
  • [160] The STScI Digitized Sky Survey; archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form
  • [277] «Historische Deep-Sky Kataloge» von Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke; klima-luft.de/steinicke (2021-02-17)
  • [313] «A New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, being the Catalogue of the late Sir John F.W. Herschel, Bart., revised, corrected, and enlarged» Dreyer, J. L. E. (1888); Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society. 49: 1–237; Bibcode:1888MmRAS..49....1D
  • [464] «Catalogue of a second thousand of new nebulae and clusters of stars; with a few introductory remarks on the construction of the heavens» William Herschel, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1 January 1789; DOI:10.1098/rstl.1789.0021