NGC 188 is an open cluster in Cepheus. It is about 5,000 light years away and a bit further from the center of the galaxy than we are. It’s also above the disc of the galaxy.

What makes NGC 188 unusual is that is an ancient cluster. It is 6.8 billion years old where most open clusters only last for a few million years before the component stars are no longer gravitationally bound to the cluster and the cluster essentially disperses. For some reason this one has held together for a very, very long time.

This was primarily a testing target. I was working on the sensor tilt in my system and a field with lots of stars was useful to evaluate that. Plus with the nearly full moon it was prudent to avoid faint targets.

This is 5h 44m 30s of RGB data. You can find the technical details at astrobin.