NGC 1502

The location of NGC 1502 (circled)
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Right ascension04h 07m 48.96s[1]
Declination+62° 19′ 55.2″[1]
Distance3,452 ly (1,058.4 pc)[1]
3,643+313
−290 ly (1,117+96
−89 pc)[2]
Apparent magnitude (V)6.0[3]
Apparent dimensions (V)9.7′[1]
Physical characteristics
Radius5.5 ly (1.7 pc)[4]
Estimated age5 Myr[2]
Other designationsNGC 1502,[5] Cr 45
Associations
ConstellationCamelopardalis
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters
NGC 1502 in infrared

NGC 1502 (also known as the Golden Harp Cluster[6]) is a young[7] open cluster of approximately 60[3] stars in the constellation Camelopardalis, discovered by William Herschel on November 3, 1787.[8] It has a visual magnitude of 6.0 and thus is dimly visible to the naked eye.[3] This cluster is located at a distance of approximately 3,500 light years[1][2] from the Sun, at the outer edge of the Cam OB1 association of co-moving stars, and is likely part of the Orion Arm.[2] The asterism known as Kemble's Cascade appears to "flow" into NGC 1502, but this is just a chance alignment of stars.[9]

The Trumpler class of NGC 1502 is II3p, indicating poorly populated cluster of stars (p) with a wide brightness range (3). The main sequence turnoff point is not well-defined, so the age estimates range from five to fifteen million years.[7] It is heavily reddened due to interstellar dust.[4] One of the brightest candidate members of the cluster is the eclipsing binary SZ Cam, which is a component of a visual double star ADS 2984.[2] There are eleven variable stars and four candidate variables among the cluster members, including a β Cep, two periodic B-type variables, 2–3 eclipsing variables, and an RR Lyrae star.[7] Five members of the cluster are chemically peculiar.[10]

  1. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Cantat-Gaudin_Anders_2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Topasna_et_al_2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference O'Meara2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Tripathi_et_al_2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Simbad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Stoyan, Ronald; Schurig, Stephan (2014). interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas. Erlangen: Cambridge University Press; Oculum-Verlag GmbH. ISBN 978-1-107-50338-0. OCLC 920437579.
  7. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Michalska_et_al_2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Seligman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Thompson2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Paunzen_et_al_2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).