NGC 4463 (OC)

Open Cluster in Musca
R.A.Dec.SizeMag SBCnt.StTypeDistanceChart
12h 29m 58.5s-64° 47′ 35.4″5.0′7.210.4I3pOC----
NGC 4463 DSS plate
Source: POSS-2 UK Schmidt Red (STScI) | Field: 15′ × 15′

Background

NGC 4463 is a small, faint open cluster in Musca,  3,500 light-years away. Only  3' across with a tight knot of brighter stars at its core.

My Observing Notes

25-cm (Meade 10-inch LX200, The Coffee Grinder): Tough to pick out at 9th magnitude in the finderscope. In the eyepiece appears as a small (3') cluster, with a dense knot of 7–10 brighter stars in a tight formation almost resembling an arrow pointing left.(Saturday, August 2025)

References

Charts

NGC 4463 ultra-wide chart
Ultra-wide view (~25° field)
NGC 4463 wide-field chart
Wide-field view with Telrad rings (4°, 2°, 0.5°)
NGC 4463 finderscope view
Finderscope view (9×50 RACI, ~4.4° TFOV)
NGC 4463 eyepiece view
Eyepiece view — 35 mm Panoptic on 12-inch f/5 (1.6° TFOV)