NGC 1746


45 minutes exposure, Fuji Super HG II 400 film.
5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.

NGC 1746 is large, rather scattered cluster of moderately bright stars in Taurus. It is situated about halfway between the Hyades cluster and beta tauri. The brightest stars are K-type giants, while the majority are A-type main sequence stars.

Interestingly, both MegaStar and The Sky plot an overlapping cluster NGC 1758 on the eastern edge of NGC 1746. It is possible that there are 2 clusters here as the stars do appear to be in two overlapping clumps. However I do have some doubts about the reality of there being two seperate clusters.