The Clusters of Auriga
When the sky is clear, but the moon is almost full, its argent glow drowning out the faint gossamer nebulae, it's time to capture some of the Fall sky's better star clusters. Three of the best happen to appear in the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer, which rises high into the sky by midnight. Auriga's brightest star (Alpha Aurigae) is Cappella, which is almost impossible to overlook in the night sky, moon or no moon. The constellation is shaped like a pentagon with Cappella, the brightest star, at one point.
Auriga is rich in open star clusters and nebulae (see IC 410 and IC 405, below) because the Milky Way (the view of one the galaxy's spiral arms) runs through the constellation. Among the open star clusters are three gems of particular beauty, all three noted by French astronomer Charles Messier in his famous catalog: M36, M37 & M38. All three clusters can be easily glimpsed with binoculars or a small telescope. The following images were taken with a 6" Newtonian reflector.
When the sky is clear, but the moon is almost full, its argent glow drowning out the faint gossamer nebulae, it's time to capture some of the Fall sky's better star clusters. Three of the best happen to appear in the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer, which rises high into the sky by midnight. Auriga's brightest star (Alpha Aurigae) is Cappella, which is almost impossible to overlook in the night sky, moon or no moon. The constellation is shaped like a pentagon with Cappella, the brightest star, at one point.
Auriga is rich in open star clusters and nebulae (see IC 410 and IC 405, below) because the Milky Way (the view of one the galaxy's spiral arms) runs through the constellation. Among the open star clusters are three gems of particular beauty, all three noted by French astronomer Charles Messier in his famous catalog: M36, M37 & M38. All three clusters can be easily glimpsed with binoculars or a small telescope. The following images were taken with a 6" Newtonian reflector.
M36
Containing about three score stars, M36 is about 14 light years in diameter and is located about 4,100 light years away.
This image comprises three, five minute sub-exposures, for a total exposure time of 15 minutes.M37
This cluster is considerably larger than M36, containing roughly 500 stars spread across a 25-light year diameter. M37 is located around 4,400 light years away and is thought to be about 300 million years old.
This image comprises five, five minute sub-exposures, for a total exposure time of 25 minutes.
M38
Located about 4,200 light years away, M38 has about the same diameter of M37 (around 25 light years), but appears to contain fewer member stars. NGC 1907, a smaller open cluster that appears near M38 is captured in the same field at the lower left of the image below.
This image comprises seven, five minute sub-exposures, for a total exposure time of 35 minutes.
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