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NGC 2360 (aka Caroline's Cluster & Caldwell 58)

OPEN CLUSTER IN CANIS MAYOR

(ra: 07h 18' 21"/ dec -15º 40')

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A HIGH RESOLUTION VIEW

April 2025, Home Backyard in Martinez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Open Cluster

Visual Brightness: 7.2

APPARENT DIAMETER: 13 arc minutes

DISTANCE: 3700 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: AT RC 8" Astrograph Ritchie Chrétien 

CAMERA: QSI 583 WS

GUIDING: Off Axis / SX LodeStar / PHD Guiding

FILTERS: Baader LRGB Set

SKY CONDITIONS: Urban Skies, half Moon

EXPOSURES: LRGB (20,20,20,20) - all channels bin 1x1

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

Caroline Herschel discovered this Open Cluster on February 26 1763 and included in her list as number 2.  NGC 2360 was her first original discovery of a deep sky object who described it as a "beautiful cluster of pretty compressed stars near 1/2 degree in diameter". Her brother William included it in his catalog. The cluster contains roughly 80 stars, mostly of them relatively faint. The cluster lies 3.5 degrees east of Gamma Canis Majoris and less than one degree northwest of the eclipsing binary star R Canis Majoris. It has a combined apparent magnitude of 7.2 and 13 arc minutes in diameter. Visible at the right is the unrelated star, 5.5 magnitude HD 56405.

Swiss astronomers Jean-Claude Mermilliod and Michel Mayor were able to date the age of the cluster at 2.2 billion years. The cluster has a diameter of around 15 light-years and is located 3700 light-years from Earth