2.6 Apod Entry

The entry for this week is of the Double Cluster in the constellation of Persus or the Hero. This star field is not too far from the Comet Holmes which astronomers have been following closely.The Double Cluster is 7,000 light years and is visible with the naked eye on dark nights.Hipparchus was the first astronomer to identified this cluster in 130 BC.The cluster on the left is cataloged in as NGC 869 and the cluster on the right is NGC884.Inside the cluster are stars that are estimated to have temperatures that far exceed that of the Sun. These two clusters have a distance between them of about acouple hundred light years.