{"id":26175,"date":"2021-11-18T11:30:34","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T11:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=26175"},"modified":"2021-11-18T11:30:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T11:30:34","slug":"binocular-tour-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2021\/11\/18\/binocular-tour-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Binocular Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Locate this month\u2019s selection of wide-field targets in and around Orion, the Hunter<\/p>\n\n

With Steve Tonkin<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
1. The Stream<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 10×50 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Follow a line from Mintaka (Delta<\/span> (\u03b4) Orionis) through Rigel (Beta (\u03b2) Orionis) the same distance further on, to the most northerly of a colourful string of mostly 5th and 6th magnitude stars running down to the southwest. Note the colour gradation from orange 60 Eridani at the top of the chain, through yellow 59 and 58 Eridani, down to a fainter white star \u2013 then an abrupt change to the reddish 54 Eridani at the end. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

2. Orion\u2019s Pelt<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 10×50<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The Pi (\u03c0) Orionis stars were<\/span> traditionally depicted as an animal hide. They stretch over 9\u00b0 of sky, so you will have to pan along it to see it all, but it is worth it as binoculars bring out the star colours. They range from white Pi <\/span>1 <\/sup>(\u03c0 ) and Pi (\u03c0 ) Orionis, through yellow Pi (\u03c0 ), down to blue Pi (\u03c0 ) and Pi (\u03c0 ), which contrasts well with the ruddy 5 Orionis and orange Pi (\u03c0 ) Orionis. <\/p>\n\n

3. Collinder 70<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 10×50<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Collinder 70 is the cluster nearly<\/span> everybody has seen, but hardly anyone knows: it is the huge oval-shaped group of mostly blue-white stars surrounding Orion\u2019s Belt. On a clear night, you should be able to see about 70 stars. Can you see the swan whose S-shaped neck weaves its way down between Alnilam (Epsilon (\u03b5) Orionis) and Mintaka, then rises up as it\u2019s wing between Alnilam and Alnitak (Zeta (\u03b6) Orionis)? <\/span><\/p>\n\n

4. M42<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 15×70<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

You can see the Orion Nebula, M42,<\/span> with your naked eye as the central \u2018star\u2019 of Orion\u2019s Sword. Although it is a lovely object in binoculars of any size, especially in a dark transparent sky, use the biggest you have to help you tease out more detail. This showpiece of the winter skies is a star-forming region about 12 lightyears across and it will reveal more of itself the longer you gaze at it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

5. NGC 2232<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 10×50<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Start at Beta (\u03b2) Monocerotis, and <\/strong>navigate a little more than 2\u00b0 north of it to a small fuzzy patch, that you may be able to see without binoculars. Binoculars reveal two distinct wedgeshaped groups of stars, with the two brightest stars (10 Monocerotis and 9<\/span> Monocerotis), each at the tip of a wedge. On a good night you should be able to count about 20 stars in 10x50s.<\/p>\n\n

6. The 37 Cluster<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 15×70<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Take a line from Alnitak to Betelgeuse (Alpha (\u03b1) Orionis) and extend it 8\u00b0<\/span> northwards to a pair of white stars, Nu (\u03bd) and Xi (\u03be) Orionis. Go back \u00bd\u00b0 towards Betelgeuse and you will find a rectangular cluster of stars, NGC 2169, with a void in the middle. If you mount them, 15×70 binoculars will show you that the brighter stars make a number \u201837\u2019. <\/p>\n\n

CHART: PETE LAWRENCE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Locate this month\u2019s selection of wide-field targets in and around Orion, the Hunter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"54","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"54","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_54-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_54-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"December-2021","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"December-2021","purple_external_id":"December-2021-54-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"December-2021-54-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086547||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086547||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.199","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968.jpg",2048,1220,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968-300x179.jpg",300,179,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968-768x458.jpg",768,458,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968-1024x610.jpg",800,477,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968-1536x915.jpg",1536,915,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/11\/7f5474df-f1d7-4eab-8b5d-9e142bac7968.jpg",2048,1220,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Locate this month\u2019s selection of wide-field targets in and around Orion, the Hunter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26175"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26553,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26175\/revisions\/26553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}