When is the best time to observe NGC 3228?

NGC 3228 is best observed from January through March, with peak visibility during February when it transits around midnight in the Northern Hemisphere.

Where is NGC 3228 located in the sky?

NGC 3228 lies in the constellation Vela at right ascension 10h 21m and declination -51° 43′.

What telescope do I need to see NGC 3228?

At magnitude 6.0, NGC 3228 is easy in 7×50 or 10×50 binoculars.

NGC 3228 — Open Cluster in Vela

Open Cluster Excellent (65/100)

Magnitude 6.0^m OpenCluster Vela (Vel) Visible

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1Properties

Magnitude 6.0

Angular Size 6.6′

Description

Cl, 9 L and a few S st

Position & Identifiers

RA 10h 21m 22.2s

Dec -51° 43' 21.4"

Constellation Vela (Vel)

Catalog NGC 3228

Physical size

3.1 light-years across — comparable to the Sun's nearest-neighbour 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 47 of 115 members.

3Visibility

Set a location in User Settings to see visibility data.

Best season Jan – Mar (peak: Feb)

4 Eyepiece View

Telescope Eyepiece

125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6

NGC 3228 · 6.6′ 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.