Discover Pazmino’s Cluster, or Stock 23, a small open cluster in Camelopardalis that shines as a hidden gem for binoculars and telescopes.
Pazmino’s Cluster, catalogued as Stock 23, is small open cluster in a moderate-sized scope. Credit: Bernhard Hubl
The far-northern constellation Camelopardalis the Giraffe rarely garners significant attention from sky observers. But this faint grouping of block-eye stars does hold a number of unusual treats, and one of them is known as Pazmino’s Cluster. Catalogued in the 1950s by German astronomer Jürgen Stock, and given the designation Stock 23, the small group of stars has a box-like appearance and is a gem in the eyepiece.Â
In 1978, amateur astronomer John Pazmino wrote a story about the cluster in Sky & Telescope magazine, which helped to bring this small star group lots of attention. For many years astronomers believed the group was an asterism — merely appearing as a cluster but with its stars not physically blockociated in space. But recent studies have confirmed its existence as an open cluster.
The brightest stars in Pazmino’s cluster form the shape of a V, and its brightest single sun glows at about 9th magnitude. The brightest members of the group cover an area of about 15’. The distance to this cluster is approximately 2,000 light-years, and the stars are slowly moving toward us in space.Â
This is a really nice object in large binoculars or a moderate-power telescopic field of view.
