imaged NGC 1502 (Halifax)

BGO captured open cluster NGC 1502. This cluster in the constellation Camelopardalis also harbours the multi-star system HR 1260 aka ES 2603 and STF 485. The NGC proper is one of the Herschel 400 targets. Rhonda and I had viewed this with my C8 on 17 Mar but I never really had a chance to dive deep.

Luminance only, 1 second subexposures, 20 stacked shots. FITS Liberator, Paint.NET. North is up; east is left.

The two obvious bright stars at the centre of this grouping I believe are A and E. SkyTools 3 Pro says A is magnitude 6.9 as it E. A is to the left or south-east; E is north-west.

ST3P shows the B stars to the right of A and mag 7.1 with a separation of 6.5" but I don't see this. This is an extremely faint star in the image. Could that be it?

The C comrade appears to be north of A and east of E. It is much dimmer than A and E. ST3P says mag 10.4.

D is an associate far away. It is to the east of centre in a grouping of four stars, something of a squished rectangle. D is brighter than C. ST3P says 9.4.

SkyTools shows F (at mag 11.2) as a solitary star north-north-west of E but I see two stars in the image. Perhaps it is the dimmer upper (northern) star?

The software does not show a G element.

ST3P shows the H attendant (mag 9.6) to the west of A-B; again I see two stars here. Perhaps it is the brighter of the tight two, the one on the north. The H star is also noted as STF 484 along with I...

The I accomplice is west of E and north of H. It seems in the image to be the same brightness as H but ST3P says it is mag 9.8.

Friend J? I don't know where it is. SkyTools says the mag 9.3 star close to and north-west of C but there's nothing there in the image. But F has a consort that does not show in the app. Has J moved toward F? Or is the software showing J is the wrong spot?

K is back to the east, near D. The mag 9.1 star is due west of D, close to another star.

In fact, the star very close to K is L. The mag 11.4 star is south-west of K. K and L are noted as HLM 3.

SkyTools does not refer to a M companion.

Partner N is well away to the south-south-west from centre. The mag 9.6 star is almost due south of H. Also known as HRZ 2.

SkyTools says O is a mag 9.4 star very close to D, less than 1 arc-second to the south. I don't see this. If it is real, it would be too tight for the BGO system.

Fun. Tagged most of the elements...

The very wide, bright pair to the far right or west in the image is HD 25498 aka CTT 7.

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Wikipedia link: NGC 1502.