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NGC 5281 — Open Cluster in Centaurus

Open Cluster Good (57/100)
Magnitude 5.9m OpenCluster Centaurus (Cen) Visible
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1Properties

Magnitude 5.9
Angular Size 6.9′
Cl, B, S, pC, iR, st 10...12

Position & Identifiers

RA 13h 46m 35.2s
Dec -62° 54' 59.4"
Constellation Centaurus (Cen)
Catalog NGC 5281

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 Mar – May (peak: Apr)

4 Eyepiece View

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125x TFOV: 0.4° Lim. mag: 13.6
N E

NGC 5281 · 6.9′ 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 5316
Easy
Rich open cluster
Open Cluster mag 6.0 1.3° Centaurus
IC 4291
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 9.70 1.4° Centaurus
NGC 5288
Hard+
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 12.0 1.8° Circinus
NGC 5168
Easy
Open cluster
Open Cluster mag 9.1 2.7° Centaurus
NGC 5189
Hard+
Planetary nebula — try an OIII filter
Planetary Nebula mag 10.0 3.4° Musca
R Cen
Hard+
Mira-type variable, range 5.3–11.8
Variable Star mag 6.39 4.7° Centaurus
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