NGC 7044, Open Star Cluster
NGC 7044 is an open star cluster in the northern part of the constellation Swan. It was discovered in 1786 by Friedrich Wilhelm
Herschel. With an apparent magnitude of 12.0mag it is rather faint and therefore an object for medium-sized and large telescopes.
The apparent size is 5.8'.
Because of its low luminosity the cluster has rarely been studied with scientific methods.
The distance to NGC 7044 is given in two papers with 10,300 and 10,600 light years, a newer study comes to a value of nearly
8,000 light years. All in all, the cluster is quite far away from us, which of course explains the low brightness. The two brightest
member stars have 13mag, ~15 stars are in the range of 14...15mag, another ~60 stars in the range of 15...16mag. The majority
of the stars are even fainter. The light of the cluster is a bit weakened and reddened by dust. The reddening E(B-V) is about 0.6
magnitudes and is most pronounced in the northeastern part of the cluster.
Using the apparent diameter and the distance, a true extent of about 18 light-years is obtained, which by the way is a respectable
value for an open cluster.
The age of NGC 7044 is given with 1.6 billion years.
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In my 20" telescope NGC 7044 offers a great view. Already at 120x you can see a dim, diffuse light spot, from which faint stars
flash out everywhere.
The cluster is most beautiful at 270x. It is still quite faint, but with indirect vision very well visible. The shape is roundish, the
edges slightly irregular. In addition, the brightness seems to increase slightly towards the center. The background glow appears
grainy and a total of about 25 individual stars can be seen, the brightest belonging to the 14th magnitude class. Overall NGC
7044 has a touch of a faint globular cluster.
