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NGC 1981 — Open Cluster in Orion

Open Cluster Excellent (71/100)
Magnitude 4.6m OpenCluster Orion (Ori) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 4.6
Angular Size 9.0′
Cl, vB, lRi, st L, sc

Position & Identifiers

RA 05h 35m 09.6s
Dec -04° 25' 30.4"
Constellation Orion (Ori)
Catalog NGC 1981

2How easy to spot?

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Telescope Bortle 3 Bortle 4 Bortle 5
80mm refr. Easy Easy Easy
150mm Newt. Easy Easy Easy
C8 203mm Easy Easy Easy
Easy Medium Hard Very hard Impossible

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

Easy on Seestar S50

3Visibility

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Best season Nov – Jan (peak: Dec)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

NGC 1981 · 9.0′ diameter

5 Best Magnification

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6 Classification Decoder

Nearby in the Sky

Other targets within a few degrees — pan your scope a little and keep exploring.

Visibility scores assume a 150 mm Newton at Bortle 4.

NGC 1975
Medium+
Diffuse nebula
Diffuse Nebula mag 7.00 0.3° Orion
M43
NGC 1982
Easy
Emission nebula — try an OIII filter
Emission Nebula mag 9.0 0.8° Orion
Theta Ori
HIP 26235; Theta2 Orionis; 43 Orionis
Easy
Easy double, sep 52.3″
Double Star mag 5.08 1.0° Orion
NGC 2112
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 9.0 6.7° Orion
Show on Map

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