NGC 3293 The Gem Cluster

NGC 3293 is a bright open cluster in the southern constellation of Carina. it is easily visible just northwest of the large Carina Nebula. NGC 3293 is also visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star, less than two degrees northwest of the famous star η Carinae, in a stellar field that appears rich and with the bright trail of the Milky Way in the background; 10x50 binoculars reveal the main stars, which appear very concentrated. With an amateur telescope the object appears completely resolved into dozens of stars, but it is only in long-exposure photos that the faint nebula present to the north of the cluster is visible. Despite its brightness and ease of resolution, it often takes a back seat in amateur observations due to the presence of the large Carina Nebula, visible less than 1° to the southeast, and other objects, such as the Southern Pleiades and NGC 3532.

Its declination is strongly southern and means that this cluster is not observable from many of the inhabited regions of the northern hemisphere, such as Europe and almost all of North America; from some inhabited regions of the southern hemisphere, on the contrary, it is circumpolar present. The best time for observing it in the evening sky is between January and June.