This bright cluster itself is easily visible with the naked eye as a hazy patch, but is resolvable into stars using binoculars. It contains two 5th magnitude red giant stars and three main visual double stars: HJ 4027, HJ 4031 and I 29. A small telescope would be required to split the double stars, which are all pairs of 8-9 magnitude and 1-10 arcseconds separation.
| Object | NGC2516 Diamond Cluster |
| Constellation: | Carina |
| Position: | RA 07h 58m 06s Dec -60° 47' 60' |
| Apparent Size: | 22 x 22 arcmins |
| Apparent Magnitude: | 3.8 |
| Distance in light years: | 1300 ly |
| Photo Data | |
| Date of Expose: | 25 Dec 2021 |
| Location: | IC Astronomy Observatory Spain Oria, Almería, Spain , ASL 1250m GPS: 37.4988 N / -2.42178 W |
| Telescope: | SPA-2-CCD: Officina Stellare 700 RC, f/d 8.0/5600mm |
| Camera: | FLI PL16803, 9μm, 4096x4096px, @ T sensor = -15°C |
| Field of View: | 23 x 23 arcmins |
| Pixel Scale/Resolution: | 0.33.arcsec/px |
| Expose frames/times: | L (2)1x300s, R 2x300s, G 2x300s, B 2x300s |
| Total expose: | 35min |
| Filter: | Astrodon Luminance, Red, Green, Blue |
| Mount: | Paramount MX+ |
| Software: | Siril 1.4, Photoshop CC |
| Remarks: |
© 2025 Peter Cerveny