File:Caldwell 76 (50291873217).jpg
Caldwell 76 is located in the constellation Scorpius, roughly 5,600 light-years from Earth. First discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna, it has an apparent magnitude of 2.6 and can be spotted with the naked eye when the skies are dark and clear. The cluster appears as a fuzzy patch of light to the unaided eye, but its individual stars can be resolved using a pair of binoculars. Caldwell 76 is easiest to observe during the winter in the Southern Hemisphere. It can be viewed from low latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in the summer.
The cluster is a popular target for southern observers because it is a part of the “False Comet” — a group of celestial objects that resembles a comet streaking across Scorpius. Caldwell 76 forms the head of the “comet,” while two other clusters and a cloud of gas and dust, called an emission nebula, form the tail.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Maiz Apellaniz (Centro de Astrobiologia [CSIC/INTA]); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
For Hubble's Caldwell catalog website and information on how to find these objects in the night sky, visit: <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-caldwell-catalog" rel="noreferrer nofollow">www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-caldwell-catalog</a>Licensing
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by NASA Hubble at https://flickr.com/photos/144614754@N02/50291873217. It was reviewed on 16 December 2020 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |