NGC 3532

Coordinates

  • X 1487
  • Y 51
  • Z 545
→ Sol: ∼1,585

Object type

  • Open cluster
  • Star cluster
simbad:NGC 3532

Neighbourhood :

  • NGC 3532 Sector BR-D b12-2
  • NGC 3532 Sector CX-Y b15-4
  • NGC 3532 Sector DU-C b14-1
  • NGC 3532 Sector EB-O c6-5
  • NGC 3532 Sector EX-Y b15-3

Wiki

NGC 3532, also commonly known as the Football Cluster or the Wishing Well Cluster, is an open cluster some 405 parsecs from Earth in the constellation Carina. Its population of approximately 150 stars of 7th magnitude or fainter includes seven red giants and seven white dwarfs. On 20 May 1990 it became the first target ever observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. A line from Beta Crucis through Delta Crucis passes somewhat to the north of NCG 3532. The cluster lies between the constellation Crux and the larger but fainter "False Cross" asterism. The 4th-magnitude Cepheid variable star x Carinae (V382 Car) appears near the southeast fringes, but it lies between the Sun and the cluster and is not a member of the cluster.

The cluster was first catalogued by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751. It was admired by John Herschel, who thought it one of the finest star clusters in the sky, with many double stars (binary stars).

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "NGC 3532", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.