NGC 2451

Open Cluster NGC 2451 (= Collinder 161) in Puppis

[NGC 2451, Matt BenDaniel]
Right Ascension 07 : 45.4 (h:m)
Declination -37 : 58 (deg:m)
Distance 0.85 (kly)
Visual Brightness 2.8 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 45 (arc min)

Discovered by Hodierna before 1654.

This cluster was probably another one discovered by Hodierna. Because of its southern declination, northern observers including Charles Messier and William Herschel could not find it.

NGC 2451 consists of 40 stars, the brightest of which (c Puppis) is a yellowish giant of magnitude 3.6, and the hottest of which is of spectral type B8. Its age was estimated at 36 million years, and it is receding from us at 26 km/sec. At only about 850 light years, this cluster is quite close to us.

The image in this page was obtained by Matt BenDaniel. It was cropped from a larger image which shows NGC 2451 together with its apparent neighbor, NGC 2477. This is a 60-minutes exposure on Kodak E 200 film, taken with a Tele Vue 85 refractor at f/5.6, on December 31, 2000 at 00:23 PST.

  • More information on this image (Matt BenDaniel)
  • More images from Matt BenDaniel

    In John Caldwell's List and in the Astronomical League's Southern Sky Binocular Club List.

  • Jean-Claude Mermilliod's WEBDA cluster page for NGC 2451
  • SIMBAD Data of NGC 2451
  • Publications on NGC 2451 (NASA ADS)
  • Observing Reports for NGC 2451 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)
  • NGC Online data for NGC 2451

    Hartmut Frommert
    Christine Kronberg
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    Last Modification: March 12, 1998