NGC 663

Alt. Designations: NGC 663
Object Type: open cluster
Constellation: Cassiopeia
Distance: 6.85 kly
Right Ascension: 01h 46m 09.0s
Declination: +61° 14´ 00"
Visual Magnitude: 7.1
Apparent Dimension: 15.0´ Dia.
Best Month To View: Oct

NGC 663 is young open cluster in the Cassiopeia constellation with an estimated age of 20–25 million years. It has an estimated 400 stars and spans about a quarter of a degree across the sky. This cluster appears to be located in front of a molecular cloud, although the two are not physically associated. This cloud has the effect of blocking background stars from the visual image of the cluster as it lies at a distance of 300 parsecs.

NGC 663 on the left and NGC 654 on the right