Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog"; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the hunter through the sky. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably M41.
The Jewel Box is an open cluster in the constellation Crux, originally discovered by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751–1752. This cluster was later named the Jewel Box by John Herschel when he described its telescopic appearance as "...a superb piece of fancy jewellery". It is easily visible to the naked eye as a hazy star some 1.0° southeast of the first-magnitude star Mimosa. This hazy star was given the Bayer star designation "Kappa Crucis", from which the cluster takes one of its common names. The modern designation Kappa Crucis has been assigned to one of the stars in the base of the A-shaped asterism of the cluster
NGC 752 is an open cluster in the constellation Andromeda. The cluster was discovered by Caroline Herschel in 1783 and cataloged by her brother William Herschel in 1786, although an object that may have been NGC 752 was described by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654.
NGC 2362, also known as Caldwell 64, is an open cluster of stars in the southern constellation of Canis Major. It was discovered by the Italian court astronomer Giovanni Batista Hodierna, who published his finding in 1654. William Herschel called it a "beautiful cluster", while William Henry Smyth said it "has a beautiful appearance, the bright white star being surrounded by a rich gathering of minute companions, in a slightly elongated form, and nearly vertical position". In the past it has also been listed as a nebula, but in 1930 Robert J. Trumpler found no evidence of nebulosity. The brightest member star system is Tau Canis Majoris, and therefore it is sometimes called the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster.
Omega Ursae Majoris is the Bayer designation for a binary star system in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Major. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.61. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 13.24 mas, it is roughly 246 light years from the Sun. At that distance, the visual magnitude of the star is diminished by an extinction factor of 0.11 due to interstellar dust.
Tau Canis Majoris is a multiple star system in the constellation Canis Major. It is approximately 5,000 light years distant from Earth and is the brightest member of the open cluster NGC 2362.
15 Canis Majoris is a variable star in the southern constellation of Canis Major, located roughly 1,200 light years away from the Sun. It has the variable star designation EY Canis Majoris; 15 Canis Majoris is the Flamsteed designation. The star is visible to the naked eye as a faint, blue-white hued star with a baseline apparent visual magnitude of +4.82. It is moving away from the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of 28 km/s.
NGC 663 is a young open cluster in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It has an estimated 400 stars and spans about a quarter of a degree across the sky. It can reportedly be detected with the unaided eye, although a telescope is recommended for best viewing. The brightest members of the cluster can be viewed with binoculars. Although the listed visual magnitude is 7.1, several observers have reported higher estimates.
The Herschel 400 catalogue is a subset of William Herschel's original Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, selected by Brenda F. Guzman (Branchett), Lydel Guzman, Paul Jones, James Morris, Peggy Taylor and Sara Saey of the Ancient City Astronomy Club in St. Augustine, Florida, United States c. 1980. They decided to generate the list after reading a letter published in Sky & Telescope by James Mullaney of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
NGC 4889 is an E4 supergiant elliptical galaxy. It was discovered in 1785 by the British astronomer Frederick William Herschel I, who catalogued it as a bright, nebulous patch. The brightest galaxy within the northern Coma Cluster, it is located at a median distance of 94 million parsecs from Earth. At the core of the galaxy is a supermassive black hole that heats the intracluster medium through the action of friction from infalling gases and dust. The gamma ray bursts from the galaxy extend out to several million light years of the cluster.
NGC 2506 is a mildly-elongated open cluster of stars in the equatorial constellation of Monoceros, located at a distance of 12.7 kly from the Sun near the Galactic anti-center. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1791. The cluster lies around 10,000 ly from the Galactic Center and about 1,600 ly above the Galactic plane. It is of intermediate age, estimated at around two billion years. The cluster has an angular radius of 12′ and a core radius of 4.8′.
NGC 6281 is an open cluster of stars in the constellation Scorpius. It was not included in the Messier or Caldwell catalogues of nebulous objects, but it is the brightest such cluster in the constellation to be left out of both. It is readily observed with the naked eye; it is located about 2° to the east of Mu Scorpii. James Dunlop described the cluster as a "curiously curved line of pretty bright stars, with many stars mixt". John Herschel then described the cluster as both "pretty bright" and "pretty rich".
Mu Canis Majoris is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Canis Major. The pair can be located a little to the southwest of the point midway between Gamma and Theta Canis Majoris, and the components can be split with a small telescope. The system is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.12. Based upon an annual parallax shift of just 2.62 mas as seen from Earth, this system is located roughly 1,200 light years from the Sun.
NGC 2539 is an open cluster in the constellation Puppis, located at the north edge of the constellation. It was discovered by William Herschel on January 31, 1785. It is a moderately rich cluster and with little central concentration, with Trumpler class II1m.
NGC 4349 is an open cluster in the constellation Crux. It was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826. It is located approximately 7,000 light years away from Earth.
NGC 4103 is an open cluster in the constellation Crux. It was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826. It is located approximately 5,000 light years away from Earth, in the Carina-Sagittarius arm.
IC 2488 is an open cluster in the constellation Vela. It was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1752. It is located approximately 3,700 light years away from Earth.
IC 2714 is an open cluster in the constellation Carina. It was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826. It is located approximately 4,000 light years away from Earth, in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm.
NGC 4815 is an open cluster in the constellation Musca. It was discovered by John Herschel in 1834. It is located approximately 10,000 light years away from Earth.
HD 56405 is a star in the southern constellation of Canis Major. It is white in hue and is dimly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.45. To the east of HD 56405 is the open cluster NGC 2360, also known as Caroline's Cluster. The distance to HD 56405, as determined from parallax measurements, is approximately 249 light years. It is drifting further away with a radial velocity (RV) of about +6 km/s. Although classed as a single star, it is to suspected to vary in RV.
