Open Clusters in Cassiopeia

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Star-hop chart

This region of sky offers a good example of how many open clusters can be found in the star-rich arms of the Milky Way. Berkeley 58, NGC 7790, and NGC 7788 can all be seen together in a 1-degree field of view. All three are estimated to be about 9,000 light years away.

None of these clusters is very bright or impressive, but they can be fun to examine with higher magnification to see how much you can discern. Further to the northwest is another small cluster, King 12. Two other catalogued clusters (Harvard 21 and Frolov 1) are so inconspicuous it is hard to locate them among the background stars.

NGC 7790:

Image details:  Mosaic of four panels, each from 30 exposures of 30 seconds each, taken with a Dwarf Mini telescope.

October 2026