NGC 6819 is a small open cluster near the
Cygnus/Lyra boundary. It contains about two dozen stars from
10th to 12th magnitude within a 5' circle. Dark skies and a
large scope will reveal many more fainter stars as well. About
7000 light years distant, these stars formed together from a
giant interstellar molecular cloud complex around 2.3 billion
years ago. That makes them a little more than half again as old
as our solar system and the earth.
