NGC 5617 - Star cluster in the constellation Centaurus

NGC 5617 is an open star cluster which consists of about 175 stars in total. Directly next to it is the small star cluster Pismis 19, which is located about 3000 light years behind NGC 5617. The apparent diameter is only 2 arcminutes and the brightest stars just reach magnitude 12. Due to the high interstellar absorption, the cluster appears in a yellowish-reddish color.

The planetary nebula Henize 2-111 is located towards the left edge of the image, which is brightened by the scattered light from α Centauri.

larger image
Date:02.05.2019
Optics: Pentax SDP 105
Aperture: 105 mm
Focal Length: 670 mm
Camera: Canon EOS 700Dac
Exposure: 8 x 600 s
Location: Chamaeleon Observatory, Onjala Lodge, Namibia
Processing: DeepSkyStacker, Photoshop
Diameter:15 light years
Distance:5,000 light years
annotated image

image field in the sky