NGC 559 - open cluster in Cassiopeia

Fairly compact and rich, with irregular edges, the open cluster NGC 559 (or Caldwell 8) contains about 150 stars, forty of which are of twelfth magnitude. Its distance is estimated at about 1258 parsecs (4100 light-years) and its spatial diameter at about 10 light years. The most massive components, with a mass equal to or greater than 1.4 M⊙ appear more concentrated in the central regions than less massive stars, showing clear signs of mass segregation. NGC 559 is situated in a rich of dust region of Cassiopeia, which causes the slight greyish haze in the stellar background. Left from NGC 559 can be spotted the dark nebulae LDN 1325 and LDN 1326.

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