NGC 225: A Sailboat Sailing Through Cassiopeia

NGC 225 is an open star cluster in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s best viewed in autumn through early winter.

At nearly 2100 light-years from Earth, NGC 225 is a bright and sizable cluster. The cluster’s triangular shape is reminiscent of a small sailboat, and it sits near a reflection nebula. On the evening of September 27, 1783, Caroline Herschel discovered NGC 225. It was the first of three total discoveries (NGC 225, NGC 189, NGC 659) she made that evening.

Studies show that NGC 225 contains fewer than 100 confirmed member stars, many of which are main-sequence stars of spectral types B through F. The brightest members are hot, blue stars typical of a cluster in the early stages of its evolution.

My Observations

Observation on November 12, 2022, at 9:24 p.m.: As with my observation two years ago in 2020, tonight is a clear night with a half-waning rising moon. Still, this cluster comes through quite well. The sketch on this post was done tonight, and as I make my notes, I realized I “zoomed in” perhaps too much using the 12mm eyepiece as the sketch doesn’t show the shape of the sailboat I noticed using the 20mm eyepiece in 2020. I’ll have to visit again using a wider view in the future, as tonight’s view at 12mm seems mostly unremarkable in shape.

Observation on October 6, 2020, at 11:22 p.m.: Astrophotos of NGC 225 are usually remarkable and beautiful. Although tonight is a clear night with good seeing conditions, the cluster is not as remarkable as I had hoped. Perhaps it’s just a haze and a rising moon. I can make out the sailboat shape, but that is about it for tonight.

Key Stats

Constellation	Cassiopeia
Best Viewing	Autumn
Visual Magnitude	+7
Apparent Size	12 arcmin
Distance from Earth	2,143 ly
Milky Way Location	Perseus Arm
My Viewing Grade	B
Designations	Sailboat Cluster

Sources

Photo of NGC 225 by Hunter Wilson (Hewholooks) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Sketch by Wayne McGraw