In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory, we'll look at the Gemini
region, and show you how to find these beautiful
deep sky objects:
The Rosette Nebula
The Christmas Tree Cluster
And the Open Cluster M35
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!

Hey Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 9 of Star
Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory!
I'm Dave Hearn, and I'm absolutely elated
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.
So we're not on our spaceship set this week
as we're coming to you from Key West Florida,
while our family prepares for the Thanksgiving
holiday. I hope you like the tropical holiday
backdrop here!
I wanted to make sure that we didn't miss
a week of Star Hopping!
Well, now we're back to our standard content
after those two weeks of Star Hopping Extras,
where we discussed how to pick out Telescopes
for Beginners. As we're approaching the holiday
season, I know that many parents will be looking
to select a telescope, so if you're in the
market for a new scope, check out those two
videos - you can just click on the thumbnail
below to check it out.
So during our Extra episodes, the stars have
had some time to rise a bit, and Orion is
now halfway up in the sky at around 10:30
PM. We looked at Orion a few weeks ago, but
there are a lot of other great areas close
by that need our attention. The constellation
of Gemini, with the bright stars Castor and
Pollux, and the dimmer but very rich constellation
of Monoceros both have a bunch of great deep
sky objects within their borders. Some people
just starting out in observing may not be
aware of Monoceros; it lies between Orion
and Gemini, and the Winter Milky Way runs
right through the middle of it.
Our first target for this episode is smack
in the middle of Monoceros - the gorgeous
Rosette Nebula. This is a large region of
nebulosity and an area of active star birth
that lies about 5200 light years away. There
is a bright open star cluster in the center,
NGC 2244, which is easily seen with binoculars,
and this will be the target of our star hop.
To locate the Rosette Nebula, we will be starting
on the bright star Betelgeuse, in the constellation
of Orion. About 8 degrees down from Betelgeuse
is the
4th magnitude star Epsilon Monocerotis. This
is a pretty big move into an area without
any bright stars, so make sure you have the
right star before you move.
Once you're on Epsilon, you're pretty close
to our target. About 2 degrees to the lower
left you'll see a group of about 6 stars in
a rectangular shape. This is NGC 2244, the
open cluster at the heart of the Rosette Nebula.
With a wide field eyepiece, you might be able
to see some of the brighter structures of
the Rosette. It is very large, measuring 60
by 80 minutes of arc. For a comparison, the
full Moon is 30 arc minutes across, so the
Rosette is over twice the size of the full
Moon!
Ready to move on to our second target?
Appropriate for the approaching holiday season,
we're going to locate the Christmas Tree Cluster.
This area of star clusters and nebulosity
is beautiful in astrophotos, like his one
from KPO.
To locate this photogenic grouping, we'll
be starting from the bright star Pollux in
the constellation of Gemini. This first magnitude
star is easy to see with its companion Castor.
Pollux is the brighter and lower of these
two beacons. From Pollux, move about 8 degrees
to the upper right to find the star Wasat,
(what's that?) shining at magnitude 3.5. The
next hop is to the upper right about 3 degrees,
to the 4th magnitude star Mekbuda. The next
hop is a long one, but fairly easy - move
about 8 degrees to the upper right to the
bright 2nd magnitude star Alhena. Now we'll
make a hard right turn, and move about 3 degrees
down to the 3rd magnitude star Alzirr, passing
it's neighborhood companion 30 Geminorium.
Now we move to the base of the Christmas Tree,
by slewing 3 degrees to the right, across
the border into Monoceros, to the 5th magnitude
star S Monocerotis.
In binoculars, you can see a triangular pattern
of stars resembling the shape of a pine tree,
with S Monocerotis at its base. This is the
Christmas Tree Cluster, also known as NGC
2264, is a very complex area of young stars
and nebulosity. In astrophotos the famous
Cone Nebula can been seen, this feature is
extremely difficult to spy visually, even
with filters. This region lies about 2600
light years away, and is a very active star
forming region.
Ready for our last target?
Good, because it's M35, which is one of the
most famous of open clusters. With only your
unaided eyes, you can find this cluster near
the 3 "foot stars" of Gemini under fairly
good observing conditions. M 35 is a splendid
sight in a small telescope, best seen in a
low power eyepiece. The cluster contains over
120 stars from 6th to 13th magnitude within
a half degree area, about the size of the
full moon, and it contains more than 500 stars
in total.
To find M35, we'll start from the bright star
Alhena that we just passed on our way to the
Christmas Tree Cluster. From Alhena, move
about 4 degrees to the upper left to the 4th
magnitude star Nu Geminorium. Now move in
the same direction about 3 degrees to the
3rd magnitude star Tejat Posterior. Next,
move about 2 degrees up and slightly right
to the 3rd magnitude star Propus. During this
move you'll pass right through IC 443, also
known as the Jellyfish Nebula, but it is so
faint you won't notice it. This is one target
I have had my eye on to image at KPO for a
while. Maybe this Winter sometime.
The next couple of stars in this hop are fainter.
Move about a degree straight up to 3 Geminorium.
You'll pass 7th magnitude 4 Geminorium on
the way there.
We're getting close now so hang in there.
Move 2 degrees to the left to 6th magnitude
5 Geminorium. Now move about a half degree
upwards and you'll run into a mass of stars
that form the open cluster Messier 35.
In a wide field scope you'll see the hundred
or so stars that form M35. And then to the
upper right about a half degree you see the
small tight open cluster NGC 2158. These two
make an attractive pair in astrophotos.
Review
So that's our three objects for this episode.
We started off with locating the large and
gorgeous Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. Then
we moved a little up and to the left and used
our star hopping to focus on the Christmas
Tree Cluster and the adjacent Cone Nebula.
We finished up by traversing the stars of
Gemini and located the pretty open star cluster
Messier 35. There are tons more great deep
sky objects in the area that we can look at,
in the coming weeks.
We'd like to wish you and yours a happy and
star filled Thanksgiving. Step out and look
at the stars tonight after your carbohydrate
rush wears off!
Trailer
I hope you've enjoyed star hopping around
the Milky Way. We'll continue to bring you
these astronomy tutorials every week on Thursday.
They will be designed to help you find deep
sky objects that are up in the sky at the
time we post them to YouTube.
Our main reason for creating these videos
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 here, just let us know down
in the comment section below.
If you found this video useful, please consider
Subscribing to our Channel down there, click
the Thumbs Up, and please share it 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 couple dollars 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.

