NGC 457 (Owl Cluster) - wonderfuluniverse.de

NGC 457 (Owl Cluster) from my own backyard

In 2007, I captured images of the open cluster NGC 457 from my backyard using my DSLR equipment. At the time, DSLR astrophotography was still relatively new to me, and this bright and distinctive cluster made for an ideal target under suburban skies.

Located in the constellation Cassiopeia, NGC 457 is often nicknamed the “Owl Cluster” or “ET Cluster” because of its characteristic shape. Two bright foreground stars form the “eyes,” while the surrounding star pattern suggests outstretched wings. The brighter of the two is Phi Cassiopeiae, a yellow supergiant that dominates the visual appearance of the cluster field.

Scientifically, NGC 457 lies at a distance of roughly 7,500–9,000 light-years and is estimated to be about 20 million years old. It is a relatively young open cluster, still containing several hot, massive blue stars. Imaging it with DSLR equipment allowed me to capture not only the dense stellar population but also subtle color differences between the hotter blue members and the evolved yellow supergiant. Even today, this early dataset remains a reminder of how rewarding bright open clusters can be, both aesthetically and scientifically.

Data calibration and registration was done with DeepSkyStacker, the final processing was performed with PixInsight. The result was as follows: