NGC 457

Constellation: Cassiopeia

Distance: 7900 light-years

NGC 457 is an open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1787. It has an estimated age of 21 million years. The cluster features a rich field of about 150 stars of magnitudes 9-13.

The cluster is sometimes referred by amateur astronomers as the Owl Cluster or the E.T. Cluster, who imagine two eyes formed by the double star Phi Cassiopeiae, the two brightest stars in the image (see images below). These "eyes" are probably unrelated foreground stars about 2,000 light-years away.