Taxus Baccata

by | Mar 15, 2018 | Taxus Baccata

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HR diagram showing the main sequence turnoff of NGC 188 and M 67, indicating their relatively high ages

NGC 188 (also known as Caldwell 1 or the Polarissima Cluster[4]) is an open cluster in the constellation Cepheus. It was discovered by John Herschel in 1825. Unlike most open clusters that drift apart after a few million years because of the gravitational interaction of our Milky Way galaxy, NGC 188 lies far above the plane of the galaxy and is one of the most ancient of open clusters known, at approximately 6.8 billion years old.[5]

NGC 188 is very close to the North Celestial Pole, under five degrees away, and in the constellation of Cepheus at an estimated 5,000 light-years' distance, this puts it slightly above the Milky Way's disc and further from the center of the galaxy than the Sun.

References

  1. ^ a b c "NGC 188". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
  2. ^ Bonatto, C.; Bica, E.; Santos, J. F. C. Jr. (2005). "Spatial dependence of 2MASS luminosity and mass functions in the old open cluster NGC 188". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 433 (3): 917–929. arXiv:astro-ph/0502453. Bibcode:2005A&A...433..917B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041113.
  3. ^ Clark, R. N. (1990). Visual Astronomy of the Deep Sky. Cambridge University Press. p. 287. Bibcode:1990vads.book.....C. ISBN 978-0-521-36155-2.
  4. ^ Stoyan, Ronald; Schurig, Stephan (2014). interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas. Erlangen: Cambridge University Press; Oculum-Verlag GmbH. ISBN 978-1-107-50338-0. OCLC 920437579.
  5. ^ VandenBerg, D. A.; Stetson, P. B. (2004). "On the Old Open Clusters M67 and NGC 188: Convective Core Overshooting, Color‐Temperature Relations, Distances, and Ages". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 116 (825): 997–1011. Bibcode:2004PASP..116..997V. doi:10.1086/426340.

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