Open Star Cluster NGC 663 in Cassiopeia

A 20 minute exposure with an STL-1301E CCD camera thru KAS Member G. Normandin's 10-inch F/8.9 Ritchey Chretien Cassegrain telescope. The field of view is about 24x30 arc minutes, with East at the top.

Dreyer's description of NGC 2420 in his New General Catalog (NGC):

"Cluster, bright, large, extremely rich in stars, stars pretty large."

Quote from: The Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000, 2nd Ed:

"Open Cluster made up of 108 stars, the brightest being magnitude 9. Rich in stars; large brightness range; slight central condensation; detached from background star field."

Open Star Cluster NGC 663 in the Constellation of Cassiopeia is easy to see in the smallest of backyard telescopes or even large binoculars. It is one of the best targets in a wonderful area of the Milky Way. The two bright stars at the lower left of the image have a much different motion across the sky than NGC 663, and thus are probably not a part of the cluster.

• NGC 663
• Magnitude: 7.1
• Constellation: Cassiopeia
• RA: 01h 46m 00.0s
• Dec: +61° 15' 00" Epoch 2000
• Size (mins): 16.0'
• Classification: Open Star Cluster.
  

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George Normandin, KAS

December 26th, 2005