The Binocular Astronomer in Spring Dark Skies of Tomintoul and Glenlivet 1. The Hyades The Hyades is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth at only 150 light years away. It is the area delineated by the “V” of the face of The Bull in Taurus which includes the very bright orange foreground star Aldebaran (The Bull's Eye). The Hyades is estimated to be around 625 million years Bright Nebulae old and contains hundreds of individual stars. A bright nebula is an interstellar 2. The Pleiades cloud of gas and dust which glows because of radiation from nearby One of the most spectacular night sky views through binoculars. It can be found about three stars. Nebulae are often star- binocular fields to the north west of The Hyades. It was formed within the last 100 million years, forming regions. The Great contains over 1,000 members stars and is 444 light years away from Earth. Nebula in Orion is a prime example. In these regions the gas 3. NGC1647 – An Open Cluster in Taurus and dust coalesce under the influence of gravity to eventually Lying right between the Horns of the Bull (Taurus), NGC1647 is about one binocular field from form stars. Any remaining Aldebaran. 1,800 light years away, it is over 10 times as distant as The Hyades and has around 90 material then forms planets. member stars. 4. The Great Orion Nebula (Messier 42) At 1,300 light years, the Orion Nebula is the closest region of significant star formation to Earth. Orion's Sword hangs down from his belt which is represented by the line of three bright stars in the centre of the constellation. On close examination the centre star of the sword is part of a misty glow – the Great Nebula. It is estimated to be 24 light years across and weigh 2,000 times as much as the Sun. 5. The Starfish Cluster (Messier 38) Messier 38 is called the Starfish Cluster because of it's conspicuous “X” shape as seen through a telescope. It can be found halfway along a line drawn from Theta to Iota Aurigae. It is about 4,200 Open Clusters light years away and around 220 million years old. An open cluster is a group of up to 6. The Pinwheel Cluster (Messier 36) a few thousand stars of roughly similar age. There are over 1,000 Messier 36 is the youngest of the three Auriga clusters at 25 million years. It can be found just to the open star clusters in the Milky south east of M38 within the same binocular field. There are over 60 stars in this cluster which lies Way. Open clusters are formed about 4,300 light years away from Earth. from the same molecular cloud and are bound together by gravity. 7. Messier 37 – A Bright Open Cluster in Auriga They usually only survive for a few hundred million years. After Messier 37 is the brightest of the three Auriga clusters and is one binocular field to the east of M36. that they become disrupted by It contains over 500 stars and is between350 and 550 million years old. close encounters with other clusters and clouds of gas as they 8. Kemble's Cascade orbit the Milky Way. Binoculars often give better views of open Kemble's Cascade is an implausibly long, straight line asterism of a dozen stars in the constellation clusters than telescopes. of Camelopardalis. It can be found two binocular field widths to the west of Alpha Camelopardalis. 9. Messier 35 – An Open Cluster in Gemini This cluster covers about the same area of sky as the full moon. It can be found about half a Asterisms binocular field north west of Eta Geminorum. It contains several hundred stars, was formed around 200 million years ago and is 2,800 light years away from Earth. Asterisms are obvious groupings of stars that are not one of the 10. Messier 48 – An Open Cluster in Hydra traditional constellations. The eye and brain are excellent at seeing The first amphibians were just emerging onto dry land when the stars in this cluster were formed. meaningful patterns in random M48 lies about half a binocular field south of Zeta Monocerotis. It is estimated to be 400 million collections of stars. years old and lies 1,500 light years from Earth. 11. Rho Cancri – An Optical Double An easy, widely spaced optical double star. Rho Cancri is about half a binocular field east of Iota Double Stars Cancri. It is about 41 light years away. A double star is a pair of stars that 12. The Beehive Cluster (Messier 44) appear close to each other in the sky. This is either because two The Beehive Cluster is one of the northern sky's best binocular sights. It can be found just west of a stars at different distances are line drawn between Gamma Cancri and Delta Cancri. Lying around 580 light years away, it contains aligned by chance (an optical at least 1,000 stars and is roughly 600 million years old. double), or because the two stars are orbiting one another (a binary 13. NGC2903 – A Galaxy in Leo double). A binary star system whose orbit is edge on to our line The human race did not exist when the light from this galaxy started it's journey to reach your eyes. of sight is called an eclipsing NGC2903 is about half a binocular field south of Lambda Leonis. Although it just looks like a small double star. The best known smudge of light through binoculars it is nevertheless a galaxy of billions of suns, shining out across example is Algol – the Demon 20 million light years of intergalactic space. Star. 14. Tau Leo – An Optical Double A pale lemon and pale blue optical double. Start at Theta Leonis heading south east to Iota, then Sigma. Tau is now one and a half binocular fields to the south east. 15. Melotte 111 – An Open Cluster in Coma Berenices Although Melotte 111 is one of the closest star clusters to Earth, King George II was on the throne of Britain when it's light started travelling towards us. Melotte 111 can be found just to the east of Gamma Comae Berenices. It contains about 50 stars spread out over 6 degrees of sky, filling a binocular field nicely. 16. The Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51) The Whirlpool Galaxy is one of the best known galaxies in the northern sky. It can be found one Globular Clusters binocular width from Nu Ursae Majoris, at right angles to and underneath the handle of the Plough. This faint smudge of light is actually two galaxies that are interacting with one another. M51 is a Globular clusters are balls of stars spiral galaxy estimated to be around 23 million light years from Earth. It's companion, NGC5195 is a that orbit the centres of major dwarf galaxy that is connected to M51 by a dust rich tidal bridge. galaxies. These clusters are tightly bound together by gravitational 17. Messier 106 - A Seyfert Galaxy attraction. Around 150 globular clusters are known to exist around M106 is one of the brightest examples of a Seyfert galaxy. The unusually bright core is thought to the Milky Way, each one of them be caused by sections of the galaxy falling into a super massive black hole at the centre. M106 can containing several hundred be found halfway between Gamma Ursae Majoris and Beta Canum Venaticorum. It is about 24 thousand stars. They are all million light years away from Earth. extremely ancient and are thought to be the remnant cores of galaxies 18. The Cat's Eye Galaxy (Messier 94) that have been assimilated by the Milky Way. Globular clusters Messier 94 is known as the Cats Eye Galaxy because of it's remarkable eye-like appearance through usually appear as a fuzzy star a telescope. You can find it about half a binocular field width above a line drawn from Alpha to Beta through binoculars. A telescope is Canum Venaticorum. It is another spiral galaxy lying about 16 million light years away from Earth. needed to see any individual stars in the cluster. 19. Messier 3 – A Globular Cluster in Canes Venatici Messier 3 is one of the largest and brightest northern globular clusters. At 34,000 light years from Earth it is also one of the most distant. You can find it about halfway between Arcturus and Alpha Canum Venaticorum. M3 has about 500,000 stars and is estimated to be 8 billion years old. 20. Bode's Galaxy (Messier 81) Bode's Galaxy was discovered by Johann Bode in 1774. To find it extend a line from Gamma Ursae Majoris through Alpha Ursae Majoris about the same distance to the galaxy. Lying only 12 million light years away, it's large size and relative brightness make it a popular target. 21. The Cigar Galaxy (Messier 82) M82 is called the Cigar Galaxy because of it's narrow elliptical shape as seen from Earth. M82 can Galaxies be found in the same binocular field as M81. 100 million years ago, tidal forces caused by the gravity of M81 started to deform M82. This has driven star formation in the Cigar Galaxy to increase A galaxy is a collection of stars, tenfold compared to "normal" galaxies. M82 is thus categorised as a starburst galaxy. interstellar gas and dust bound together by gravity. The Milky 22. The Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101) Way is our home galaxy. Galaxies range in size from dwarfs with just The Pinwheel is an extremely large galaxy containing about a trillion stars.