IC 1434

Open Cluster IC 1434 in Lacerta

[IC 1434, M Germano]
Right Ascension 22 : 10.6 (h:m)
Declination +52 : 50 (deg:m)
Distance 8.1 (kly)
Visual Brightness 9.0 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 7.0 (arc min)

Perhaps in Johann Elert Bode's catalog of 1777.
Independently found by Espin in 1893.

This open cluster is contained in Johann Elert Bode's list of 75 nebulous objects as Bode 1. While Bode doesn't give details on its discovery or any observations, it seems that this may be his own discovery, in particular as he lists it with source "Bode" in his 1782 Atlas, "Vorstellung der Gestirne" (Introduction of the Luminaries).

The few treatments of Bode's list usually presume that Bode 1 is non-existent. The nearest NGC clusters are NGC 7226 (RA 22:10.5, Dec +55:25, mag 9.6, 2' diameter) and NGC 7243 (RA 22:15.3, Dec +49:53, 21' diameter, 6.4 mag), but both are several degrees off from Bode's position, RA 22:09.1, Dec +52:55 (2000.0). The present author [hf] has found the proximity to the cluster IC 1434 (RA 22:10.5, Dec +52:50) some time ago. Also, at least, there are contemporary positive observations of this object with moderate telescopes, see e.g. the Observing Reports for IC 1434 from the IAAC Netastrocatalog.

J.L.E. Dreyer included this cluster in the (first) IC catalog of 1895 on the ground of its discovery or rediscovery by Rev. T.E. Espin (Espin 1894).

Open Cluster IC 1434 was tentatively classified as of Trumpler type II 1 p, Archinal, Hynes (2003) have it as III 2 m. It contains about 40 stars scattered over a diameter of 8 arc minutes. The brightest of these stars is of about 12th magnitude, the whole cluster of mag 9. It was also cataloged as Collinder 445 and as Melotte 239. It was not deeper studied until Tadross (2008), or in revised form, Tadross (2009), who determined some of its fundamental parameters, such as its distance as about 8,100 ly, and its age as some 900 million years (revised: 320 million years). These results came simultaneously with a claim by Maciejewski and Niedzielski (2008) that this object was not found to be a star cluster but an asterism. However, Bica and Bonatto (2011) confirmed evidence for its nature as an open cluster; these authors find its age at 800 (+/-100) million years.

The image in this page was obtained by Martin Germano, with his 14.5-inch f/5 Newtonian and ST-8XME CCD camera, exposed 340 minutes from his observatory in Thousand Oaks, CA.
More information on this image by Martin Germano.
More images by Martin Germano

  • Jean-Claude Mermilliod's WEBDA cluster page for IC 1434
  • SIMBAD Data of IC 1434
  • Publications on IC 1434 (NASA ADS)
  • Observing Reports for IC 1434 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)
  • NGC Online data for IC 1434

    References


    Hartmut Frommert
    Christine Kronberg
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    Last Modification: May 8, 2011