We value your privacy

This website uses cookies for monitoring visitor numbers, where they come from, which articles are attracting attention or managing comments and contributed content.

Other than detailed in our privacy policy, we do not process personal information from cookies but feel free to opt-out if you wish.  Privacy Policy

Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Dec 31

Auriga

By late evening in January, the constellation of Auriga sits high in the night sky. With its name being the Latin for “charioteer” it has been associated with several characters in mythology.The constellation is dominated by Capella and at magnitude 0.08 it is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. Auriga offers the observer several bright open clusters including M36, M37, and M38, all of which are fine objects in binoculars or a small telescope. Auriga is also host to a a number of Ha emission nebulae of which IC405, the Flaming star nebula, is perhaps the most prominent.

Image credit : Torsten Bronger CC BY-SA 3.0  Published in seasky.org

M36 is an open cluster comprising approximately 60 stars of which about 40 stars are visible in most amateur telescopes. It is approximately 3,900 light-years away and is about 14 light-years across. It is is the smallest and the most concentrated of the three clusters.The open cluster M37 appears larger than M36 and lies at a distance of approximately 4200 light-years. It comprises about 150 stars the most prominent of which is an orange star at its centre. M37 is approximately 25 light-years in diameter It is the brightest open cluster in Auriga

The open cluster M38 is the least concentrated of the three clusters in Auriga and lies at a distance of approximately 3900 light-years from our sun. It has an apparent diameter of approximately 20 arcseconds and a true diameter of about 25 light-years. It has a much more varied stellar population than M36 and M37. M38 is accompanied by NGC 1907, a smaller and dimmer cluster that lies half a degree south-southwest of M38.

IC405, the Flaming Star Nebula, is a reflection / emission nebula surrounding a blue-white star. IC405, along with its neighbours IC 410, IC 417, and NGC1931 makes a fine target for wide field imaging.

There are several minor meteor showers with their radiant in Auriga. The most well known shower is the Alpha Aurigids (“the Aurigids”: August-September) but there is also the Delta and Zeta Aurigids. The Zeta Aurigids is a weak shower lasting from December 11 to January 21 and reaching a peak on January 1. It has very slow meteors, with a maximum rate of just 1 to 5 meteors per hour.