Hi fellow Astronomers! Last night I took a relaxing tour of the best open star clusters in Puppis. What a beautiful, rich constellation this is, open clusters abound. Here are my highlights using my 10 inch dobsonian reflector:
CR 135: Wide cluster centred on Ahadi( Pi Puppis). Stars above Ahadi form an arrow shape. Nice double star HD 57194 situated between NV Puppis and V2 Puppis.
NGC 2451: Bright and scattered cluster centred around the orange star c Puppis. Mostly bright blue stars contrast pleasingly with orange c Puppis.
NGC 2477: Dense and rich. Amazing sight at low power, resembles a manta ray! Very rich, resembles a loose globular cluster. A showpiece object!
NGC 2546: Rather large open cluster, rich in the centre. A beautiful asterism within this cluster resembles a human figure! It's located at the bottom of the cluster (Newtonian view).
M 46: Rich and compressed. Beautiful. Planetary nebula NGC 2438 is located on the outskirts of this nice cluster
M 47: Big, bright and bold! Interesting star patterns in this cluster. One feature that blew me away was a chain of stars streaming from M47 to near by open cluster NGC 2423. Wow really beautiful. It's as if there is a star chain linking these two clusters together.
M 93. Another wonderful cluster! Rich and glorious at low powers. Adding to the scene was near by open cluster NGC 2448, which has a Y shape. Just stunning!
We are really lucky here in the southern hemisphere to have this wonderful constellation. It's a joy to visually observe the multitude of open cluster in Puppis as well it's other deep sky objects. Have a go at it next clear skies you get!
Joe