Give a Hoot: C13

caldwell 13 in cassiopeia

*courtesy of seds*

C13 (aka ngc 457) has many nicknames including the Kachina Doll, E.T., Owl, and Jet Fighter cluster. It's also not a stretch to see it as Sir Patrick sporting his shiny monacle, as it's one of the best non-Messiers in his Caldwell catalogue. At magnitude 6.4, the rich open cluster is also the brightest in Cassiopeia [radec 0119+5820 psa 01]. Of note, C13's brightest sun, phi Cas, is actually an unrelated foreground star that just happens to be in our line of sight to the rest of the 7900 ly distant cluster.

Residing in the northern circumpolar sky has alot to do with its popularity and varied descriptions, and its orientation on ones first view tends to leave the strongest impression (my own first C13 experience happened to catch the cluster in Jet Fighter mode).

Discovering these multiple 'personalities' also speaks to the benefits of observing all of our treasures at different aspects as they rotate during their trek through the sky.      

(btw- herschel 400 hunters can also log ngc 436, the more modest 'mouse' cluster, found in c13's neighboring fov either escaping the owl's claws or directly in the jet's gunsights.)

tinyurl.com/saberdoesthestarz

tinyurl.com/c14isawesome

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