M48

From South Dublin Astronomical Society

M48
Type	Open Cluster
NGC	NGC2548
Constellation	Hydra
Right Ascension	8h 13.8m
Declination	-5° 48'
Magnitude	5.8
Size	54 arc min.
Image:M48 messier image.jpg

Hydra is so large a constellation that as the “head” of the Watersnake sinks in the western sky the “tail” is still rising in the east. A nice binocular cluster under the “head” is M48, a scattering of 80 or so stars set within a degree or so diameter field. Look about eight degrees southwest of Sigma (ε) Hydrae, one of the stars of the “head” and you’ll spy a tight group of three stars comprising 1, C, and 2 Hydrae. Continue your line 3½º further and this stellar swarm should slither into view. The cluster forms a triangle with the C Hydrae trio and Zeta Monocerotis. What you should see is a slightly condensed sprinkling of ten or fifteen of the cluster’s brighter suns. M48 is 1,500 light years distant and estimated to be about 300 million years old.