TRUMPLER 5

 ANCIENT OPEN CLUSTER IN MONOCEROS (THE UNICORN)

(Image centered at: ra 06h:38 m / dec + 09º 26')

December 2024, Observatorio Cielos Albertnos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

APPARENT DIAMETER:  12 arc minutes

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): 10.9

DISTANCE: 9700 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

INSTRUMENT: Orion Optics UK 6" Newtonian with Ultra Grade Optics working at f 4.5

CAMERA: QHY 183 Mono Camera

MOUNT: Vixen GPDX with SkyWatcher motors drive. Guided off axis with QHY 5-II Mono Camera 

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set Antlia Ha 3nm

SKY CONDITIONS: Bortle 2-3 skies

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Tumpler 5 is a rather large and faint open cluster  located a bit more of 1 degree east from the Cone Nebula. The cluster is in a region of extensive and variable obscuration and appears as dense mass of faint star in a rich field full dust and gases mostly Hydrogen and Helium. 

As they age, open clusters of stars begin to lose their identity. This is partly because the brighter members tend to self-destruct as supernovae, and, though the group members share a common motion through space, they are only loosely bound. Thus stars drift away from the cluster in a process that accelerates with time. However, some clusters are big enough to retain their identity much longer than usual, and Trumpler 5 is one such. Its age is estimated to be 125 million years, and it must have been a spectacular sight in its youth. It seems to be at the edge of the Monoceros molecular cloud, where star formation is continuing new generations of young clusters.(*)

(*) text © 1992-2002, Anglo-Australian Observatory