Collinder 228

Open Cluster Collinder 228 (= C1041-597, perhaps Lacaille III.5), in Carina

Right Ascension 10 : 43.0 (h:m)
Declination -60 : 01 (deg:m)
Distance 10.0 (kly)
Visual Brightness 4.4 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 14 (arc min)

Possibly discovered by Lacaille 1751-52. Discovered by Collinder 1931.

This cluster is situated within the southern part of the Eta Carinae, or Great Carina Nebula NGC 3372, about 25' south of the star Eta Carinae. It is probably composed of stars which recently formed from the material in the nebula. Its brightest star, HD 93206 or QZ Carinae, is an eclipsing variable, varying between visual magnitudes 6.16 and 6.49, the main component being of spectral type O9III or B0Ib:; it is approaching us at about 16 km/sec. The second brightest star, HD 93131, is of mag 6.49 and spectral type WN7.

According to Ronald Stoyan of Germany, position and description given by Abbe Lacaille in his catalog indicate that he described this object as his "Nebulous Star" No. III.5, and not again the Great Carina Nebula.

  • SIMBAD Data of Collinder 228
  • Observing Reports for Collinder 228 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)


    Hartmut Frommert (spider@seds.org)
    Christine Kronberg (smil@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)

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    Last Modification: 6 May 2001, 18:40 MET