Our Constellation report is an easy way for people to become familiar with the nighttime sky. We’ll discuss myths associated with the various constellations as well as describing the numerous deep sky objects residing in the area. No equipment is required to view the constellations, though a star chart can be quite helpful. This ease of observing makes constellations a natural place to begin your journey to the stars.

This weekend we move on to the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. This should be an easy constellation to find. You're probably familiar with several of it's neighbors and it's a fairly bright collection of stars... led by it's alpha star, Capella.

The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Auriga . Auriga can be found high and to the east shortly after dark. It's sandwiched in between a bunch of well known constellations... Perseus to the west... Gemini to the east... Taurus and Orion to the south.

Capella is located a mere 45 light years distance, and.. at mag0.08 is the 5th brightest star in the sky. It has a slight yellowish tint to it and.. it's a double star. It's companion, however, is too close and too faint to be seen. It was first detected by astronomers at the Lick Observatory in 1899

A wide angle view of Auriga as captured by Jerry Lodriguss

Checkout this awesome Jerry Lodriguss image of Auriga. Notice the detail he's captured. THIS is what Auriga would look like under truly dark skies. Jerry captured this image using a 85mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens for a 5 minute exposure.

I've mentioned it several times, but... for any newcomers, you have to checkout Jerry's site. He does amazing work!

Ok, let's start things off with the first of three Messier Objects residing within Auriga, Open Star Cluster M38(mag6.4). Estimates place this object about 4,200 light years distant. And, with a diameter of about 20', astronomers estimate an actual diameter of about 25 light years. M38 is believed to be about 220 million years old and contains a yellow giant of mag 7.9 as the brightest of its roughly 100 member stars.

While you're enjoying M38, see if you can spy tiny open cluster NGC1907. It's only minutes away, but it's diminutive appearance leads many to overlook it. When you spot it, pump up the magnification a notch. This will make it the only object in the field of view, and allow for better observation.

Don Brown's image to the right shows M38 and NGC1907. The 20 minute guided shot was captured on 800 speed Fuji film in an Olympus OM1 through a Takahashi FS102 at prime focus...

Open Star Cluster M36 as imaged by Anthony Arrigo of Utah Skies

Moving on about 2.5° to the southeast, we come to another fine Open Star Cluster Open M36(mag6.0). M36 is about 4,100 light years distant and spans approximately 12'. It has about 60 member stars, the brightest of which are about mag 9. Estimates of the age of M36 point to about 25 million years. This is quite young for a star cluster. M36 is the smallest of Auriga's Messier clusters.

The accompanying image was taken onSeptember 14th, 2003 by Utah Skies own Anthony Arrigo, using a Sony DSC-F717 digital camera attached to a 150mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. It is a single 30 second exposure.

Next up is yet another beautiful Open Star Cluster M37(mag5.6). M37 is the brightest of the 3 open clusters in Auriga. It is also the richest of the 3, containing roughly 150 member stars brighter than mag 12.5. Some estimates suggest upwards of 500 stars. Astronomers estimate its age at about 300 million years. This number is derived from the high number of red giant stars found in the cluster. Its distance is estimated to be between 3,600 and 4700 light years. Its diameter is 24' which corresponds to about 20 to 25 light years across. M37 is always my favorite stop in Auriga. The bright, reddish star at it's center immediately becomes visible as my eyes lock on. It's quite a beautiful site.

This image was taken by Utah Skies own Don Brown using a 4", f/8 Takahashi reflector and an SBIG STV. He captured 15 60-second luminance and 4-each 60-second RGB exposures on Monday night, January 6th, 2003. They were then combined in Maxim DL.

Next we'll hit a cluster loaded with nebulosity, NGC1931(mag11.3) In fact, it's got so much nebulosity, you'll almost lose the cluster. Anyway... this whole object is kind of small... about 3'x3' so once you've found it, you'll want to crank up the magnification a bit. I'd also compare the views with and without various nebula filters.
This beautiful shot was taken by Al Kelly. Make sure you visit his website... it's loaded with awesome shots and great information on how to take great CCD images.

Open Star Cluster, NGC1857 as imaged by Al Kelly.

Next up is a sweet Open Star Cluster, NGC1857(mag7) as imaged by Former Featured Astrophotographer, Al Kelly. Have you been to Al's website lately? If not, you're missing out. Al just keeps on cranking out impressive views of some of the night skies most beautiful deep sky objects.

The Flaming Star Nebula as imaged by Jerry Lodriguss

Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, IC405 also known as The Flaming Star Nebula. We've got another beauty from Jerry Lodriguss for you. Look at the amount of nebulosity he's captured. No wonder its called the Flaming Star Nebula. It really does look like the star is on fire.

This object is a combination reflection and emission nebula. To best view the nebula, you'll want some aperture, dark skies and an H-Beta filter.

Good Luck!