In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory, we'll look at the Auriga
region, and show you how to find these beautiful
deep sky objects:
Messier 36
Messier 36
And IC 405, The Flaming Star Nebula
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!

Hey Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 42 of
Star Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory!
I'm Dave Hearn, and I'm totally jazzed to
be your host.
In this series of programs we'll show you
the most beautiful sights in the night sky,
and explain exactly how to find them with
your binoculars or telescope.
Well this week we’re covering a couple bright
open clusters that we haven’t hit before
on Star Hopping.
And we’ll also cover a gorgeous open cluster
with nebulosity at the end of today’s show,
so make sure you hang out with me for that.
So I have something new to announce: I’ve
added yet another social medium to our list
- you can now reach out to me on Twitter @StarHoppingMan,
so if you have any questions or comments about
the show, or just want to ask a question about
something astronomical, feel free to tweet
me!
So it’s time to get started with our first
target this week; a pretty Open Cluster.
We’ll check it out, right after this message.
Stay Tuned.
Star Hopping Target #1
Messier 36, also known as the Pinwheel Cluster,
is the first of three bright open clusters
in Auriga included in Messier's catalog.
This pretty cluster has an overall brightness
of magnitude 6.3, which makes it barely a
naked eye object in a dark sky.
It’s easy to spot in your binoculars.
It spans about 10 arc seconds across, which
is about a third of the size of the full moon.
To locate M36, we’ll be starting from the
bright first magnitude star ElNath, which
is actually Beta Tauri; the second brightest
star in the neighboring constellation of Taurus,
the Bull.
ElNath is easy to recognize, just look for
it to the lower right of the bright yellow
beacon Capella, which is Alpha Aurigae, blasting
at magnitude 0.1.
From ElNath, we can start off by moving about
4 degrees to the left, to the 4th magnitude
star, Chi Aurigae.
Now move about two degrees more to your left
and you’ll be pleased by the sparkly view
of M36 coming into your eyepiece.
M36 consists of about 60 stars in total.
Inside that count, you’ll see ten 9th to
10th magnitude, twenty 11th to 12th magnitude,
and ten 13th to 14th magnitude stars.
All in all, a very pleasing little open cluster.
Next we’ll locate another open cluster with
a fishy name.
We’ll see it, right after this.
Star Hopping Target #2
M38 is known as the Starfish Cluster, possibly
because of the multiple radiating chains of
stars from the center, but it really takes
a good imagination to see the image of the
five pointed star shaped mollusk that it’s
named after.
Messier 38 is a rich, irregularly round group,
20 minutes of arc in diameter, and it contains
over a hundred stars, many of 9th magnitude
or brighter, so it’s a little richer than
our previously visited target.
So let’s find our fishy friend.
This one’s simple.
From M36, just move 2 1/2 degrees to the upper
left and you’ll see the star studded collection
of M38 coming into view.
M 38 lies at a distance of 4200 light-years,
and has a diameter of 25 light years, about
the same as M 37, which is nearby.
We located that one in episode 4 of Star Hopping.
Definitely don’t miss M37; it’s the best
cluster of the group.
So let’s move on to our last target this
week, which is a faint but amazing nebula
and star cluster combined.
The whole complex is being lit up by a runaway
star that is passing through the area.
We’ll catch up with this runaway, right
after this break.
Star Hopping Target #3
The Flaming Star Nebula is an amazing complex
of reflection and emission nebula.
The main star within the group is 6th magnitude
AE Aurigae.
This star is showing very large proper motion
related to the other nearby stars.
It actually is “just passing through town”
where the nebula happens to be located.
The star originated from the Orion’s Belt
area, and for some unknown reason like a supernova
explosion, it was released or catapulted toward
the north, and it now lies within Auriga.
But this nebula is amazing.
The Flaming Star contains an emission and
a reflection nebula.
The nebula measures approximately 37 minutes
by 19 minutes of arc, wider than the full
moon.
It is very difficult in smaller telescopes,
but of you are fortunate enough to have something
larger, say a 10 or 12 inch reflector, you
should be able to pick it up.
But in a smaller scope the star cluster around
AE Aurigae is very nice in itself.
To locate the Flaming Star, we’ll be starting
at ElNath again.
Move 5 degrees to the upper left to locate
4th magnitude 16 Aurigae.
Then move 1 degree to the upper left to locate
AE Aurigae, the Runaway Star.
Surrounding AE and a bit above it is the wispy
Flaming Star Nebula.
In astrophotos, it is easy to see the blue
reflection nebula and the reddish emission
nebula.
The Flaming Star lies about 1,500 light-years
away, and is about 5 light-years across.
So three more great objects this week, two
for smaller telescopes and one for the big
guns.
We started out locating the pretty open cluster
Messier 36 in central Auriga.
Then we moved a little updates to find it’s
bigger brother, sparkly M38.
Finally we moved up a bit further to march
the Runaway train, the star AE Aurigae, and
checked out the town it was passing through,
IC 405, better known as The Flaming Star Nebula.
So that does it for this week’s episode.
You can find the show notes on our website
at kpobservatory.org/SH042, where you can
comment and leave any questions that you may
have.
And as I mentioned earlier, you can now contact
me personally on Twitter @StarHoppingMan,
where I’d love to help you with any astronomy
or observing questions.
So feel free to reach out with your questions
- I’m here to help.
Well thank you very much for for joining me
here.
I know you have many choices of what you watch
on the inter webs, and I really appreciate
that you chose me.
I’ll see you next week with more Star Hopping
tips and tricks.
I'm Cassie and I hope you've enjoyed star
hopping around the Milky Way.
We'll continue to bring you these video astronomy
tutorials every week on Thursday, and in their
podcast format on Fridays.
They will be designed to help you find deep
sky objects that are up in the sky at the
time we post them on the Internet.
The reason we create these video and podcasts
is to help beginning amateur astronomers learn
the sky and get more enjoyment out of their
telescopes and astronomy in general.
If you have any requests or suggestions of
potential targets in the night sky that you
would like to see us present, just let us
know down in the comment section below, or
on our website blog.
Don’t miss our free Field Notes for this
episode, basically the script of the show,
with all the images and start charts we use
for our star hopping activities.
You can get them for free at kpobservatory.org/FieldNotes.
If this is the first time you’re checking
out Star Hopping, and if you found this video
useful, please consider Subscribing to our
Channel by clicking the Big Yellow Button
down there, click the Thumbs Up on the video,
and please share this tutorial out to your
friends who like looking at stars.
Also, as I just mentioned, please feel free
to leave any question or comment below, and
we will be sure to respond quickly.
Also, please follow KPO on Facebook, where
we post all of our astrophotos and keep everyone
informed about upcoming astronomical events.
We'd love to hear from you to discuss all
this great stuff up in the sky.
All the links to these places including our
website kpobservatory.org, can be found below
in the Episode Notes as well.
And finally, if you feel this video provides
you value, and if you'd like to see more,
please consider supporting us on Patreon,
where for a small amount per video, you can
support our efforts and let us make even more
great astronomy tutorials like this one.
Well thanks again for watching, and we'll
see you next time on Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory.

