Berkeley 83, Open Star Cluster
The star cluster "Berkeley 83" is located in the constellation "Vulpecula". Unfortunately not much background information can be found about
this object, so at least a small estimation should be given here. The parallax was determined with the help of the astrometry satellite "GAIA"
to 0.092mas, which corresponds to a distance of about 35.500 light years. The uncertainty is about 9,000 light years - so it is quite large.
The apparent diameter can be determined with the DSS to 1.7' (arcminutes), from which a true diameter of 17-18 lightyears is calculated.
The brightest stars are about 16.5mag bright, which corresponds to an absolute brightness of M=+1.3mag and therefore to 25 times the luminosity
of the sun. However, the stars seem to be reddened by some dust in front of them - so their luminosity is probably higher than indicated.
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With a 20" telescope at 120x, a faint glow can be seen next to an asterism, which is quite distinct at 270x with indirect vision. In moments of very
steady air, 5-8 very faint individual stars can be seen. The background appears roundish overall, almost uniform and milky.
