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NGC 2362 (Canis Major)

Object image
Fig.1 - The terminus of star formation: The open star cluster NGC 2362 (Caldwell 64) in Canis Major, photographed with a 16-inch f/4.5 Dob on an equatorial platform.
Object name: Constellation: Coordinates: Apparent size: Visual brightness:
NGC 2362 Canis Major 07h19m / -24°59' 8' x 8' 4.1 mag

The open cluster NGC 2362 ("Tau Canis Majoris Cluster", Caldwell 64) in the constellation Canis Major. NGC 2362 is a relatively young 4-5 million years in age and represents the final product of the star forming process. It is devoid of natal molecular gas and dust. The brightest star in the cluster is Tau Canis Majoris. NGC 2362 is approximately 4,800 light-years from Earth and was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654. (source: Wikipedia).

Seventeen exposures of approximately 3 minutes (51 minutes total exposure) at ISO 800, taken on December 29, 2018, were added for this shot with the DeepSkyStacker software and the final image processing was done in Photoshop. A beautiful but bright half moon had risen a bit earlier than expected so I had to stop the exposures. A picture of the moon taken with the exact same equipment one hour later can be seen below.

Equipment: Canon EOS 450D Baader modified camera, TeleVue Paracorr Type II coma corrector, 16" f/4.5 "Ninja" dobsonian telescope riding on a dual-axis Tom Osypowski equatorial platform, Lacerta MGEN autoguider, Lacerta off axis system (field of view comparison: image of the moon with the same equipment).

moon image
Fig.2 - The moon with the same equipment as above, taken one hour after finishing the exposures for NGC 2362 on December 29, 2018. Single exposure at ISO 400 and 1/320 s.
Search chart
Fig.3 - Search chart for NGC 2362. Map © 2021 "The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project", www.siaris.net. Map is slightly modified. The map can be downloaded here.
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