The ET Star Cluster – 02 October 2010
When people refer to the stars, they sometimes tell you that a group of stars together are named because they look like a dragon, or a fish or one animal or another.
You then look at those same stars and fail to see how any of those stars look like the animal they are named after.
The ET Star Cluster is one such example, except that this cluster of around 100 stars was named after a movie character called ET created by Steven Spielberg. The cluster was actually discovered in the 1700’s and is known as NGC 457, but due to it’s similarity to the movie character, it is affectionately nicknamed the ET cluster.
Look at the picture below and see if you can match the star field on the left with the image on the right. The 2 brightest stars in the cluster are easily recognizable as the eyes and if you look close you can probably make out the rest of ET as well.