NGC 1981

Open Cluster NGC 1981 (= h 362, GC 1184; Collinder 73), in Orion

Right Ascension 05 : 35.2 (h:m)
Declination -04 : 26 (deg:m)
Distance 1.3 (kly)
Visual Brightness 4.6 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 25 (arc min)

Discovered by William Herschel in 1780.

William Herschel discovered this cluster on Ocober 23, 1780 with his 6.2-inch reflector (7-ft. FL), as one of his early objects found before he started his systematical survey for nebulae and clusters. As he just noticed but didn't catalog it on this occasion, it happened that apparently, he never again looked at it ao that it was missed in his catalogs. It was found again by his son, John Herschel, on April 1, 1827, and cataloged as "h 362".

Modern observations provided parallax and distance measurements of this cluster, which was found to be about 1,300 light years (400 pc) distant. Its age was estimated at about 32 million years.

.. more to come ..

  • Jean-Claude Mermilliod's WEBDA cluster page for NGC 1981
  • SIMBAD Data of NGC 1981
  • Publications on NGC 1981 (NASA ADS)
  • Observing Reports for NGC 1981 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)
  • NGC Online data for NGC 1981

  • Wikipedia page for NGC 1981

    Hartmut Frommert
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    Last Modification: July 25, 2026