Astronomy

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objects). Beyond the bright showpiece

open star clusters M36, M37, and M38

— which all observers should admire for

their rich diversity in visual splendor —

Auriga has a cache of objects that can sat-

isfy your desires.

FOLLOW THE

“LEAPING MINNOW”

Beyond Capella and its Kids — Epsilon (ε),

Zeta (ζ), and Eta (η) Aurigae — the first

object to catch my eye in this constellation

under a dark sky is the tight and “hazy”

ellipse of starlight east of Iota (ι) Aurigae

on the western bank of the Milky Way;

it may be among the most unsung naked-

eye objects in the night sky. Binoculars

will show this delightful grouping as what

Sky & Telescope’s Alan M. MacRobert

likens to a “leaping minnow.” The bright-

est minnows are 5th-magnitude 16, 19,

and IQ Aurigae.

About 1 ̊ southwest of the leaping min-

now you’ll find 14 Au rig ae. This wide

double star is visible through small tele-

scopes. The pale white pair consists of a

5th-magnitude primary and a magnitude

7.5 secondary 14.6" to the southwest. The

trick is to resolve the 5th-magnitude pri-

mary, which also has a 10th-magnitude

“companion” 12" to the north; I put

“companion” in quotes because the two

are not physically related, being most likely

a chance line-of-sight pairing.

Now return to the leaping minnow and

look immediately northwest of 19 Aurigae

for a naked-eye star at the edge of visibil-

ity: AE Aurigae. This variable star fluctu-

ates erratically between magnitudes 5.8

and 6.1. Born in a binary system some

200 million years ago in the Trapezium

star cluster in the Orion Nebula (M42),

AE Aurigae was ejected to its present loca-

tion after its system had a close encounter

with another binary star system.

Today we still see AE Aurigae “running

away” to the north, only now it is passing

through and illuminating an interstellar

cloud of dust and gas known as the

Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405). Under

dark Hawaiian skies, I’ve spied AE Aurigae

and the brightest part of IC 405 that sur-

rounds the star, using averted vision

through 10x50 binoculars. Small telescope

users should try low power first, and plan

to gently sweep in a general north-south

uriga, a wreath of stars within the larger wreath of the Winter

Hexagon, possesses some of the most disparate deep-sky objects

in the heavens — from dazzling Capella (the most northern

1st-magnitude star) to the dim and distant globular cluster

Palomar 2 (among the most visually demanding deep-sky

Bright star clusters, challenging nebulae, and even a distant

globular cluster await you in one of winter’s great constellations.

by Stephen James O’Meara

A

Open cluster M36

Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405)

LEFT:

GERALD RHEMANN. UPPER RIGHT: BERNHARD HUBL