{"id":27044,"date":"2021-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&#038;p=27044"},"modified":"2022-01-11T15:57:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T15:57:08","slug":"binocular-tour-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2021\/12\/16\/binocular-tour-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Binocular tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center intro\">Meet the Cheshire Cat and discover the cross asterism of the Delones<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center author\">WITH STEVE TONKIN<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"no-tts wp-block-image article-in-image bild\"><figure class=\"no-tts aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1250\" src=\"https:\/\/dj9jqhxgw9833.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"no-tts wp-image-27043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-1024x625.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-768x469.jpg 768w, https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-1536x938.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<h5 class=\"article-subhead\"><strong>1. The Cheshire Cat <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Recommended equipment: 10&#215;50<\/strong><br>How nice to be welcomed to the sky<strong> <\/strong>with a smile! Yellow Phi (\u03c6) Aurigae is the brightest star in the \u2018grin\u2019 of mostly 6th and 7th magnitude stars that extends for about 1.5\u00b0, with another widely spaced pair of stars \u2013 the yellowish eyes \u2013 0.5\u00b0 to the west. Other than a small group of 8th magnitude stars that gives the merest hint of the disappearing nose, that\u2019s all that remains of the Cheshire Cat. <\/p>\n\n<h5 class=\"article-subhead\"><strong>2. The Auriga Trio of Clusters<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Recommended equipment: 10&#215;50<\/strong><br>At the northern end of the Cheshire<strong> <\/strong>Cat\u2019s smile, you will see a fuzzy<span> patch. That is the Starfish Cluster, M38, and a couple of degrees southeast you\u2019ll find another one, M36. Now put M36 at the northwest of the field and yet another fuzzy patch, larger and brighter than either of the previous two, is visible to the left of centre of the field of view. This is the Salt and Pepper Cluster, M37.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h5 class=\"article-subhead\"><strong>3. Stock 10<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Recommended equipment: 10&#215;50<\/strong><br>Stock 2 is about the same size as<strong> <\/strong>M37, but is a very sparse cluster that<span> can be tricky to distinguish from the background Milky Way. You\u2019ll find it at the third point of a triangle with Tau (\u03c4) and Upsilon (\u03c5) Aurigae. The brightest three stars form a distinct little arc, which you can use to confirm that you are in the right place, but note how all the stars clump into little sub-groups. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<h5 class=\"article-subhead\"><strong>4. The Delones<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Recommended equipment: 10&#215;50<\/strong><br>Traditionally, the Delones (Psi (\u03c8)<strong> <\/strong>Aurigae) group of 5th magnitude<span> stars represented the ends of the lashes of the Charioteer\u2019s whip. Then Maximilian Hell used them to honour William Herschel\u2019s discovery of Uranus with a depiction of his telescope. The variety of colours makes this a rewarding region for binoculars. Note the cross asterism formed by Psi-2<\/span>, Psi-4, Psi-5 and Psi-7 Aurigae and 16 Lyncis.<\/p>\n\n<h5 class=\"article-subhead\"><strong>5. NGC 2281 <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Recommended equipment: 15&#215;70<\/strong><br>The cross asterism of the Delones is a good guide to our next open cluster. NGC2281 lies less than a degree southwest of Psi-7 Aurigae. This is a loose but rich cluster that benefits from the magnification of larger binoculars \u2013 it looks like a nebulous patch in smaller ones. If you look carefully, you may see that the central \u2018star\u2019 is a tiny rhombus of 9th magnitude stars.<\/p>\n\n<h5 class=\"article-subhead\"><strong>6. The Other Double Cluster<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n<p class=\"article-full-body sans-serif\"><strong>Recommended equipment: 15&#215;70<\/strong><br>Look midway between Capella<strong> <\/strong>(Alpha (\u03b1) Aurigae) and Mirphak<span> (Alpha (\u03b1) Perseii) and the more obvious of the double, NGC 1528, will present as a rich, compressed cluster much like M38.<\/span> NGC 1545, slightly more than a degree to the southeast, is smaller and sparser, but brighter. At 2,500 lightyears away, they are a similar distance from us.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"footer\">PHOTO: PETE LAWRENCE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet the Cheshire Cat and discover the cross asterism of the Delones<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27043,"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":"January-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"January-2022","purple_external_id":"January-2022-54-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"January-2022-54-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086548||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086548||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.200","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.200","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.200","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.200","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\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d.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\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d.jpg",2048,1250,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-300x183.jpg",300,183,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-768x469.jpg",768,469,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-1024x625.jpg",800,488,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d-1536x938.jpg",1536,938,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2021\/12\/4b530c19-b507-452e-abad-8f3f63c6ba3d.jpg",2048,1250,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":"Meet the Cheshire Cat and discover the cross asterism of the Delones","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044"}],"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=27044"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27668,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044\/revisions\/27668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}