When is the best time to observe IC 1396 C?

IC 1396 C is best observed from July through September, with peak visibility during August when it transits around midnight in the Northern Hemisphere.

Where is IC 1396 C located in the sky?

IC 1396 C lies in the constellation Cepheus at right ascension 21h 39m and declination +57° 30′.

What telescope do I need to see IC 1396 C?

At magnitude 3.5, IC 1396 C is visible to the naked eye from dark skies, easy in any binoculars.

IC 1396 C — Open Cluster in Cepheus

Open Cluster Good (50/100)

Magnitude 3.5^m OpenCluster Cepheus (Cep) Visible

Star Map + List + Plan Star Hop

Observe

1Properties

Magnitude 3.5

Angular Size 14.0′ × 4.0′

Description

neb part of Milky Way

Position & Identifiers

RA 21h 39m 06.0s

Dec +57° 30' 00.0"

Constellation Cepheus (Cep)

Catalog IC 1396 C

Physical size

12 light-years across — about 1.4× the Sun-to-Sirius distance

2How easy to spot?

Telescope	Bortle 3	Bortle 4	Bortle 5
80 mm refractor 80mm refr.	Easy	Easy	Easy
150 mm Newton 150mm Newt.	Easy	Easy	Easy
Celestron C8 (203 mm SCT) C8 203mm	Easy	Easy	Easy

Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

Bortle 3 = rural · 4 = outer suburbs · 5 = suburbs

Easy on Seestar S50

At 150mm under B5 skies you should resolve about 50 of 400 members.

3Visibility

Set a location in User Settings to see visibility data.

Best season Jul – Sep (peak: Aug)

4 Eyepiece View

Telescope Eyepiece

125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6

IC 1396 C · 14.0′ diameter

5 Best Magnification

6Where this cluster sits in time

Open clusters span more than four orders of magnitude in age — from newborn OB associations to ancient, metal-rich survivors.

7 Colour-Magnitude Diagram

A cluster's colour-magnitude diagram reveals its age: the bluer the turn-off point where the main sequence bends into red giants, the younger the cluster.

Loading member data…

Each point is a Gaia-DR3 member. Colour encodes spectral type; size reflects membership probability.