Key facts
- Right ascension
- 06 07 25
- Declination
- +24 ° 05.8 ′
- Distance
- 11,000+ ly (3600±400 pc)
- Apparent dimensions v
- 5 arcmin
- Mass
- 3067 ±69.84 M ☉
- Radius
- 8 ly
- Estimated age
- ~2 billion yrs
- Other designations
- OCL 468, Lund 206, Melotte 40
- Constellation
- Gemini
- Galaxy
- Milky Way
via Wikipedia infobox
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
NGC 2158, also known as OCL 468, Lund 206 or Melotte 40, it is an open cluster of stars located around 11,000 light years (3600 ±400 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Gemini. It is of intermediate age being around 2 billion years old. The cluster is populous with stars containing some 3000 ±69 stars within a radius of about 8 light years.
It is, in angle, immediately southwest of open cluster Messier 35. The two clusters are unrelated, as the subject is around 9,000 light years further away.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Q818603” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.