Baractova 1 - Open Star Cluster / Asterism
"Baractova 1" - also known as "Barkhatova 1" - is an asterism or open star cluster in the constellation Cygnus. The object is located near the famous North America
Nebula (NGC 7000) at a declination of +46°.
The question that arises with this object is whether "Baractova 1" is the round structure of bright stars with an apparent diameter of 15', or the faint and only 2.5' large
asterism of 13...14mag stars in the western part. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any precise information on this, so that the true nature of it remains unclear at this
point.
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In my 20" f/3 telescope, the large, round structure shows up most beautifully at 120x. It stands out very well from the surrounding area. A total of over a hundred stars
can be counted within this area, all of which could be members of the OC. Three of the stars are significantly brighter than the others. The inner region is irregular with
darker areas, there is no increased star density towards the center.
The small stellar condensation in the western part is best seen at 210...270x. There are 10-15 faint stars with approximately the same brightness.
The vicinity is very rich in stars. Next to "Baractova 1" there are also 2 bright, whitish shining stars, which offer a wonderful contrast. One of these stars can be seen in
the top left of the image.
