In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory, we'll look at the Andromeda
region, and show you how to find these beautiful
deep sky objects:
Messier 76
NGC 752
And the PacMan Nebula, NGC 281
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!

Hey 
Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 40 of Star
Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory!
I'm Dave Hearn, and I'm just thrilled 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, we're back to our spaceship set after
returning from KPO's European Astronomy Tour.
It was a fantastic tour for me and my family.
I hope you all enjoyed that series as we trekked
around Europe visiting all the interesting
observatories and astronomical destinations.
I'd really love to hear your feedback on that
series and the Star Hopping series in general;
your comments let me know if I am on the right
track with the content for the show, and it
keeps me excited about making more like it,
so it's really important to me.
Please let me know what you think.
Feel free to leave a comment on our website,
on our Facebook page, or here on YouTube.
The links to all these places in cyberspace
can be found at the end of this and every
Star Hopping Episode.
So now we’re actually shooting these episodes
in the observatory itself, so you might notice
an improvement in the acoustics.
It’s definitely a change from our last studio
in Jacksonville, FL.
Also, Now that I’m back to St. Cloud, I’ll
be slowing down the pace of creating new YouTube
episodes to one every two weeks.
On the off weeks, I will be posting what will
be called "Replays" on our Facebook page.
These will be the corresponding episodes from
the same time last year.
So with this method you'll still get weekly
celestial goodness from Star Hopping.
You can watch our Facebook page at Facebook.com/kpobservatory.
Please feel free to join in the discussions
there.
So onward and upward with Star Hopping.
As we've now completed an entire yearly cycle
on the show, I'll be starting to cover some
of the lesser known targets in the evening
sky, since we've already presented the majority
of the showpiece deep sky objects.
But with that said, in each new Star Hopping
episode, I'll also make sure to reference
the previous episodes for the same part of
the sky, so you can check out everything in
the area.
So we're focusing in on the constellation
of Andromeda and the surrounding area this
week, with a planetary nebula, an open cluster,
and a fairly bright emission nebula.
We'll check out the first target, the planetary,
right after this break.
Star Hopping Target #1
Messier 76, otherwise known as the Little
Dumbbell Nebula, or Apple Core Nebula, is
a small planetary nebula located just off
the end of the upper arm of Andromeda, just
over the border in the constellation of Perseus.
It is one of only four planetary nebulae in
Messier's famous catalog and is also one of
the faintest, glimmering at magnitude 10.1.
This is a very easy star hop, as we can just
traverse the stars in the upper arm of Andromeda.
We’ll start at the bright second magnitude
star Alpheratz, which is alpha Andromedae,
the brightest star in the constellation.
Start out by moving about 7 degrees to the
lower left, to 4th magnitude Pi Andromedae.
Now continue about 6 degrees in the same direction,
to 4th magnitude Mu Andromedae.
Now this is a larger hop; move 12 degrees
in the same direction, across the border into
Perseus, to 3rd magnitude Upsilon Persei.
We’re almost there.
Move about 2 1/2 degrees to the lower left
to 4th magnitude Phi Persei.
Now move about a degree to the upper left,
and look for an enlarged blue star - you’ve
found the Little Dumbbell nebula.
The distance to M 76 is not well known; estimates
range from 1700 to 15,000 light years.
Consequently, its dimensions are also not
well known.
That makes it even more interesting and kind
of mysterious to observe!
After this break we’ll check out our next
target, a large open cluster with some surprises
contained within it.
We’ll be back in a few seconds.
Star Hopping Target #2
NGC 752 is a very large Open Cluster in the
constellation of Andromeda.
This is a great target for binoculars, although
you can scan around it with your telescope
with your lowest power eyepiece.
This cluster is very large; about the size
of two full moons - a full degree across.
The cluster is a loose collection of 60 to
70 stars of magnitude 9 and fainter, with
a total magnitude of 5.7, so it’s fairly
easy to spot.
It’s full of short chains of stars, and
also has a large number of double stars within
it.
In astrophotos, you’ll find a few unexpected
surprises - it’s easy to see a good number
of small galaxies within the same field.
To find NGC 752, we’ll be starting from
the bright 2nd magnitude star, Almach, found
at the end of the lower arm of Andromeda.
From this bright star, just look with your
binoculars to the right and slightly down,
about 5 degrees.
You’ll pick up this fine cluster easily.
If you have your telescope, pop in that low
power, wide field eyepiece and check out the
interesting patterns and groups of stars.
NGC 752 is an extremely old cluster, estimated
to be over 2 billion years old!
The age of the cluster can be detected by
the color of the stars and how tightly they
are grouped.
Younger clusters have lots of hot blue stars.
NGC 752 is composed of older, redder stars,
and is relatively spread out, with many of
its larger stars having burned out hundreds
of thousands of years ago.
Well right after this break, we’ll look
at an amazing and familiar-shaped emission
nebula.
We’ll be right back after this.
Star Hopping Target #3
Those of us that were kids or young adults
in the 80s will recognize the shape of NGC
281, otherwise known as the PacMan Nebula.
This moderately bright emission nebula is
shaped like the infamous video game character
that went along munching video balls as it
moved along its path.
NGC 281 lies in the constellation of Cassiopeia,
near the bright star Schedar.
The nebula is visible in medium-sized telescopes
from dark sky locations.
With a light pollution filter such as an Oxygen
3 filter, NGC 281 appears fairly bright, large,
and irregular.
Several dozen stars are strewn throughout
the nebula, and some are concentrated at its
center.
It’s easy to move your telescope to locate
our video game friend in the sky.
Starting at the bright 2nd magnitude star
Schedar, move about 2 degrees to the lower
left, to Eta Cassiopeiae, also known as Aschird.
From Aschird, make a hard right turn, about
a degree to the lower right, and the wispy
lines of the PacMan Nebula will come into
view.
In astrophotos, you can see the presence of
Bok Globules which are essentially cocoons
of baby stars, so a lot of star formation
is going on in this nebula.
NGC 281 lies about 10,000 light years distant,
in the Perseus spiral arm of our galaxy.
So we’ve again seen three great deep sky
objects this week on Star Hopping.
We started out with the interesting planetary
nebula, Messier 76, better known as the Little
Dumbbell, The Apple Core, or the Cork Nebula.
We found it right at the end of the upper
arm of Andromeda, just across the border into
Perseus.
Next we found the large open cluster NGC 752,
with its chains of stars and hidden galaxies
within it.
Lastly we jumped back to the 80s and found
the hero on the video game screen, the PacMan
Nebula, in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
Remember to use a light pollution filter on
this one with your wide field eyepiece; it
will really help.
And as a reminder, you can get more star hopping
tips for other targets in the area on the
very early episode 2 of Star Hopping, found
here on our YouTube channel or on our blog
at kpobservatory.org/SH002.
So that does it for this week’s episode.
You can find the show notes for this episode
on our website at kpobservatory.org/SH040,
where you can comment and leave any questions
that you may have.
Well thank you very much for joining me here,
and I’ll see you in two weeks 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 and the associated podcast every
other week on Thursdays.
They’ll 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.

