Hyades
Cluster
This
is the group of stars that form the V shaped figure of Taurus the
bull. Although it's easily visible naked-eye, take a closer look
with your binoculars and you'll see the beautiful and colourful
double stars theta 1 & 2, and delta 1 and delta 2.
M45 Pleiades
Cluster
Another
naked-eye object, this is best viewed through the wide-field of a
pair of binoculars.
M42 - Orion
Nebula
The
brightest nebula visible in the northern hemisphere. Appears as a
bright green cloud surrounding theta 1 and theta 2 orionis: the
middle stars in Orion's sword.
NGC 1981
What?
An NGC object? Actually it's an easy one, once you find M42, just
look at the top of the field of your binoculars and you'll see an
attractive little group of 7 stars shaped like an aardvark.
M41
This
open cluster is located one binocular field below Sirius. Although
several books mention that it can be glimpsed naked-eye from a dark
sky, all I could see through my 10x50 from my suburban Pointe-Claire
home was a dim patch a little smaller than the full moon. Yet from
our out of town observing site in Ste-Chrysostome with the moon at
first quarter, I was able to see several stars imbedded in the
cluster.
M47
Starting
from Sirius, look about two binocular fields eastward for a little
splash of stars. In dark skies, you may even see the faint wisp of
M46 in the same field.
M35
Another
open cluster, this one lies at the feet of Gemini. Like M41, it's
appearance will depend on the darkness of your sky. It was fairly
well resolved in my 10x50 from Ste-Chrysostome.
M37
If
you follow an imaginary line northward along the feet of Gemini for
a couple of fields of view, you should see this faint wisp of
nebulosity. Although you won't be able to resolve many of this
cluster's faint stars if you look closely you should notice how much
more concentrated it becomes towards the center.
M36
If
you've managed to find M37, keep it in the edge of your field and
hunt for the slightly fainter M36 nearby. It was dim when viewed
from my suburban backyard, but easily glimpsed from Ste-Chrysostome.
M38
Try
using the same technique but this time starting from M36 and you'll
find M38. Although these last three clusters may look alike at first
glance, if you look carefully and patiently you'll begin to discern
how different they really are.
Introduction
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