In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory, we'll look at the Canis
Minor region, and show you how to find these
beautiful deep sky objects:
The Seagull Nebula
The Medusa Nebula
And the Missing Messier Object, M48
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!

Hey Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 45 of
Star Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory!
I'm Dave Hearn, and I'm tickled pink 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.
As we are approaching the holiday season,
I wanted to revisit my two episode series
“Telescopes for Beginners”, in episodes
7 and 8 of Star Hopping.
I was going to do a 2016 Update, but when
I reviewed the content, I found it still applies
this year, and the telescopes I recommended
are still available at Orion Telescope Center.
So if you are looking at buying a telescope
for a beginning amateur astronomer, check
out those two episodes.
The links to them can be found in this episode’s
show notes, or you can find them directly
at kpobservatory.org/SH007 and SH008.
Tonight on Star Hopping we’re continuing
to locate some deeper deep sky objects.
As the Winter stars begin their ascension
into the eastern sky, we’re seeing the constellations
of Gemini, Orion, Canis Major, and Canis Minor
appear.
The latin term “Canis” means Dog, and
we are familiar with Canis Major, with it’s
top dog star Sirius, the brightest star in
the sky.
But there is another smaller dog running around
up there in the area: Canis Minor, with it’s
not-so-shabby 0 magnitude star Procyon lighting
up the area.
I’ve heard many pronunciations of this star’s
name - “Pro SIGH on” as I said a moment
ago, “PRO See on”, a little different,
and PRO Key on, the strangest pronunciation
I have heard to be sure.
My favorite is “Pro SIGH on”, and I like
the star so much I named my astronomy company
after it; Procyon Systems.
I used to make software and hardware systems
for amateur astronomers years ago.
Now I just make Star Hopping videos for you
to enjoy.
But I digress - back to Canis Minor.
Canis Minor is a fairly small constellation,
consisting of only two stars: Procyon, and
3rd magnitude Gomiesa.
Within the borders of the constellation you
can find only a few very faint galaxies, but
in the surrounding area there are tons of
great targets.
We’ll check out the first one, a large nebula,
right after this message.
Star Hopping Target #1
The Seagull Nebula is a very large and visually
faint nebula found across the border in the
constellation of Canis Major.
This is a great photographic target, but there
are some brighter areas that you can indeed
see visually.
The nebula takes the shape of the large seabird
of it’s namesake, with the head of the seagull
being the brightest area, catalogued as NGC
2327 or alternatively tracked as Gum 1.
Most of the nebulosity in the group is catalogued
as IC 2177, and it forms the Seagull's wings.
There is also a bright knot of nebulosity
at the end of the right wing of the seagull,
closest to Sirius.
This area is cataloged as Gum 3 and could
also be seen with your telescope.
Several open star clusters are also involved
in this large area of nebulosity, the most
prominent being NGC 2335, located on the northern
"wing" of the Seagull figure.
To find the Seagull, we’ll start out at
bright Sirius.
You can’t miss that one!
Start out by moving 5 degrees to the lower
left to 4th magnitude Muliphein, also known
as Gamma Canis Majoris.
Now move about 4 degrees upwards to 4th magnitude
Theta Canis Majoris.
Now this is a very tough jump - move about
5 1/2 degrees to the lower left to 5th magnitude
FN Canis Majoris.
This is the brightest star in the Seagull
Nebula complex.
The main wing structure lies about a half
degree above FN, and Gum 1, which is the Seagull’s
head, lies about a degree above and slightly
to the left.
The open cluster NGC 2343 lies about 3/4 of
a degree to the upper left of FN, and the
open cluster NGC 2335 lies about 2 degrees
to the upper left.
The bright knot of nebulosity Gum 3 is located
about 2 degrees to the lower right of FN.
So with a smaller telescope you will definitely
be able to see the open clusters, and those
of you with larger scopes and maybe a nebular
filter would be able to see the nebulae Gum
1 and Gum 3.
The Seagull nebula complex is thought to be
located at a distance of 3800 light-years
from Earth.
So next we’ll look for a very large planetary
nebula, named after a snakey mythological
character.
We’ll find it, right after this.
Star Hopping Target #2
The Medusa Nebula is a fairly bright and large
planetary nebula just barely across the border
from Canis Minor into Gemini.
I found this nebula just last weekend, and
started to image it right before the clouds
rolled in over KPO.
But I was surprised what I captured in just
a few minutes of exposure.
It’s very large, spanning 13 minutes of
arc across, not quite half the size of the
full moon.
The Medusa Nebula, cataloged as Abell 21,
is a very old planetary nebula.
It was discovered in 1955, and until the early
1980s it was thought to be a supernova remnant
because of it’s strange shape.
This faint planetary is best viewed with a
larger scope with an Oxygen 3 filter, at low
power.
The brighter area is a huge crescent-shaped
object partially filled in with fainter nebulosity.
There are three or more stars in the arc but
none in the central area.
The arc is somewhat brighter along the outer
rim.
The Open cluster NGC 2395 lies about a half
a degree away.
To find our Snake-headed target, we’ll start
on bright Procyon.
Move 4 degrees upwards and slightly left to
3rd magnitude Gomiesa.
Make a quick 3/4 degree hop to the left to
4th magnitude Gamma Canis Minoris.
Now move about 3 degrees to the upper left
to 4th magnitude 6 Canis Minoris.
Here’s a tough one - move about 3/4 of a
degree to the upper left to a 6th magnitude
star.
Now slide a half degree to the upper left
and you may see the haze of the Medusa Nebula
entering your eyepiece.
The open cluster NGC 2395 lies about a half
degree above the Medusa, so if you can’t
find the nebula, look for the cluster and
retrace your steps.
As I mentioned, this came up fairly easily
in an astrophoto, so you may have luck capturing
this elderly planetary, which lies at a distance
of 1500 light years from Earth.
So we can check out a brighter open cluster
next - one that Messier made an error on when
he catalogued it in his list.
We’ll find his mistake, right after this.
Star Hopping Target #3
Messier 48 is a fairly conspicuous open cluster,
shining at magnitude 5.8.
The cluster contains about 80 stars, of which
about 50 are brighter than magnitude 13.
The more concentrated core of the cluster
extends over a half degree, while the outskirts
reaches out to about 54 minutes, just shy
of a full degree.
This cluster should be seen with the naked
eye under good conditions.
But I mentioned this cluster was lost by Messier.
He actually entered it into his famous catalog
in 1771.
However, there is actually no cluster in the
position indicated by Messier.
The value that he gave for the right ascension
matches that of NGC 2548; however, his declination
is off by five degrees.
The object remained missing until identified
by Oswald Thomas in 1934.
So this object appears in two catalogs: Messier’s
at position 48, and in Dreyer’s New General
catalog, at entry 2548.
So let’s find the missing cluster, that
officially lies in the constellation of Hydra,
the sea serpent.
We’ll start out again on Bright Procyon.
Move straight down about 6 degrees to a 4th
magnitude double star.
Now move 5 degrees to the lower right to 4th
magnitude Zeta Monocerotis.
Now move 3 degrees to the lower right, and
the sparkle of Messier’s missing cluster
will move into your eyepiece.
M 48 lies about 1,500 light years from Earth,
and is about 24 light years in diameter.
Amazing to get that much space in your wide
field eyepiece, huh?
Okay, so we had two challenge objects this
week, and one target for the small scopes
out there.
We started off with the huge and complex Seagull
nebula in Canis Major, with its multiple nebulae
and star clusters.
A great photographic target for sure.
Next we checked out the dim but very large
planetary, the Medusa Nebula, barely into
the constellation of Gemini.
Lastly we found Messier’s lost open cluster,
M 48, found in the constellation of Hydra.
So that does it for this week’s episode.
You can find the show notes on our website
at kpobservatory.org/SH045, where you can
comment and leave any questions that you may
have.
You can also 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 on Twitter - I’m
here to answer any astronomy questions you
may have.
Well thank you very much for for joining me
here, and I’ll see you next time 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.
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out Star Hopping, and if you found this video
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Also, as I just mentioned, please feel free
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Also, please follow KPO on Facebook, where
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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.
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Well thanks again for watching, and we'll
see you next time on Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory.

