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 Gemini the Twins. The heads of the twins are represented by the two brightest stars in the constellation; Alpha and Beta are Castor and Pollux. The constellation is rectangular in shape with each side representing one of the twins.

The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Gemini. Gemini can be found due east of the constellations Auriga and Taurus which we visited a few weeks back. You should have no problem locating the constellation as it's two brightest stars Castor and Pollux are magnitudes 1.5 and 1.1 respectively. These stars represent the heads of the twins. Interestingly, Castor the alpha star is dimmer than Pollux the beta star. This has led astronomers to speculate that one of these stars has varied in considerably in brightness over the centuries. Castor is located about 50 light years from Earth and is the 23^rd brightest star in the sky. Pollux is located about 35 light years from Earth and is the 17^th brightest star. Castor is a very interesting multiple-star system, made up of 6 stars! Of these, two are easily visible in amateur telescopes. The third, at mag9.1 probably requires a 4" telescope to see. Castor A & B are mag2.0 and mag2.8 and are separated by 3.1" making them an easy double. If you find each of these, look real close (OK, you need to look closer than your telescope will allow), as each of these stars is itself an extremely tight double star!

Open Star Cluster M35 as imaged by Anthony Arrigo of Utah Skies

Ok, let's start things off with the only Messier object in the list Open Star Cluster M35(mag5.1). This object can be seen with the naked eye under dark skies and is easily found in smaller telescopes and binoculars. Home to well over 120 member stars, M35 is located some 2800 light years from Earth.

The accompanying shot was taken by Utah Skies own Anthony Arrigo on January 17, 2004 using a Sony DSC-F717 digital camera using eyepiece projection through a 150mm Maksutov-Cassegrain.

M35 is a sweet object in any instrument. Easily visible in binoculars... and as you'd expect... as you increase the aperture and magnification the view improves from beautiful to spectacular.

Next we'll hit a neighboring Open Star Cluster NGC2158(mag8.6). This delicate beauty is actually in the same low power, wide angle view of M35. Home to about 150 tightly grouped, faint stars, NGC2158 really requires a bit of aperture to appreciate. It's visible in the 6", looks nice in the 10" and is beautiful in the 25".

The Eskimo Nebula as imaged by Ed Grafton

Moving on we come to on of my favorite Planetary Nebulas NGC2392(mag8.6). This beautiful nebula was made famous by an incredible Hubble Space Telescope image. This is one of the nicest planetary nebulas to view. The nebula is fairly bright and benefits greatly from increased magnification. You can find the Eskimo about 2.5° ESE of Delta Geminorum. This is a fun object to view in telescopes as small as about 8-10". Push the power and see how much detail comes into view! You'll quickly see how this object received it's name.

This awesome shot was taken by Ed Grafton. Remember Ed??? He's a previous Utah Skies Astrophotographer of the Month.

Continuing, we come to a beautiful Open Star Cluster, NGC2420(mag8.3). This is a sweet cluster which spans about 10' in diameter. Home to several dozen stars, this cluster will look nice in telescopes from about 4" and up. You'll find NGC2420 about 6.5° south of Pollux.

Continuing, we come to another fine Open Star Cluster NGC2266(mag9.5). Given it's relative brightness, and great position overhead, this should be a piece of cake.

Supernova Remnant IC443 as imaged by Robert Gendler

Let's wrap things up with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Bright Nebula IC443. Ok... this object is listed as a bright nebula, but.. some reading I have done suggests that it is actually a supernova remnant. No visual magnitudes were available, but... it is a really large object... spanning 50' x 40'.

This awesome shot was taken by Robert Gendler using a Takahashi FCT150. That's a 6" refractor in case you were wondering. Not to shabby, eh? If you'd like to see more of Robert's incredible work, make sure to checkout his website... or... his Astrophotographer of the Month page right here on Utah Skies.

Good Luck!