NGC 188 is very close to the North Celestial
Pole, under five degrees away, and in the constellation of
Cepheus at an estimated 5,000 light year distance, this puts it
slightly above the Milky Way's disc and further from the center
of the galaxy than the Sun. Unlike most open clusters that drift
apart after a few million years because of the gravitational
interaction of our galaxy, NGC 188 lies far above the plane of
the galaxy and is one of the older known open clusters.
