NGC 7062 is a compact open cluster nestled in the rich star fields of Cygnus, shining at an apparent magnitude of 8.3 and spanning a modest 5.8′ across the sky. Its small angular size makes it a rewarding target for astrophotographers working with longer focal lengths, where the cluster’s individual stars can be resolved cleanly against the dense Milky Way backdrop. With a physical diameter of roughly 9 light-years, this stellar grouping presents a tight, jewel-box appearance that benefits from careful star-color calibration to bring out the subtle hues of its member suns. Because it lies embedded in one of the busiest regions of the summer Milky Way, framing NGC 7062 alongside surrounding nebulosity and star clouds can produce a striking wide-field composition.
Names and Catalog numbers
- NGC 7062
Position and the cosmic neighborhood
NGC 7062 sits at a right ascension of 21h 23m 26.9s and a declination of +46° 23′ 06″, placing it firmly within the sprawling star fields of Cygnus, the Swan. This part of the sky runs straight through the plane of the summer Milky Way, so any image of the cluster will be crowded with foreground and background stars, making it an ideal region for mosaics and wide-field panoramas. The dense stellar surroundings offer plenty of contextual detail, and imagers can easily incorporate neighboring open clusters and faint galactic nebulosity into a single frame. For observers in the northern hemisphere, the cluster’s high declination keeps it well placed and high overhead during the summer months.
Nice to Know
- Despite its brightness of magnitude 8.3, NGC 7062 is small at just 5.8′ across, so it rewards imaging setups with generous focal length to resolve its member stars.
- At a distance of about 5,220 light-years, the cluster’s light has traveled for millennia before reaching your sensor.
- Its true physical diameter is only around 9 light-years, marking it as a genuinely compact stellar family.
- The cluster shows a slight blueshift, approaching us with a radial velocity of -22 km/s.
Brightness, distance and size
The object has an apparent magnitude of 8.3 mag, it lies about 5,220 light-years from Earth and spans roughly 9 light-years across. On the sky it appears about 5.8′ in size.
