IC 2602

Open Cluster IC 2602 (= Lacaille II.9 = Melotte 102 = Collinder 229), in Carina

Theta Carinae cluster, The Southern Pleiades

Right Ascension 10 : 43.2 (h:m)
Declination -64 : 24 (deg:m)
Distance 0.479 (kly)
Visual Brightness 1.9 (mag)
Apparent Dimension 50 (arc min)

Discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1751-1752.

The splendid open cluster IC 2602 was discovered by Abbe Lacaille in 1751-1752 from South Africa. Already Abbe Lacaille has compared this cluster with the Pleiades, and it is still known under the common name "Southern Pleiades."

The distance of IC 2602 has been slightly adjusted from the data of the Hipparcos satellite; according to these data, the cluster is at 479 light years (the older value had been 489 light years).

In the Astronomical League's Southern Sky Binocular Club list.

  • Jean-Claude Mermilliod's WEBDA cluster page for IC 2602
  • SIMBAD Data of IC 2602
  • Observing Reports for IC 2602 (IAAC Netastrocatalog)

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

    [SEDS] [MAA] [Home] [Non-Messier Indexes]

    Last Modification: 29 Mar 1998, 13:25 MET