Three Clusters in Puppis

Image Description and Details : 

Three open star clusters are seen here in the constellation Puppis, east of the bright star Sirius. To the lower left is Messier 46 or M46, 5000 light years away. M46 has about 500 stars estimated to be about 250+ million years old. The planetary nebula NGC 2438 lies on the northeast edge of M46 (about the 11 o’clock position in the image) but is most likely not part of the cluster.
Just one degree west-northwest of M46 (to the right in the image) lies another open star cluster Messier 47 or M47. M47 is much younger in age, about 78 million years old and is 1600 light years distant. There are also about 500 stars, mostly high temperature giant blue stars, reflecting the cluster’s young age, as well as some red giants.
NGC 2423 is the open cluster just above M47 in the image and is much closer to us. It contains several red giant stars, at least one of which has an orbiting planet discovered in 2007. The distance to that system is about 2500 light years.
Capture info:
Location: Orion’s Belt Remote Observatory, Mayhill NM
Telescope: Takahashi FSQ 106N
Camera: SBIG STXL 16200
Mount: Paramount MX+
Data: RGB 3,2,2.5 hours
Processing: Pixinsight 1.8.8.7

Copyright: Dave Doctor