Salutations celestial sight seers!
I'm David Fuller, welcome to Eyes on the Sky; what's up this week?
An �M� object...
BUT!
This one was NOT one discovered by Charles Messier, or his assistant, Pierre Mechain.
Yet, amazingly, it is one that has been seen and observed by humans for thousands of years.
So which one is it?
A little �history� - ahem... mythology - via Astronomy Theater may help:
In 243 BC, Ptolemy Soter of Egypt left on a dangerous mission to avenge the death of
his sister against the Assyrians.
To ensure his safe return, his new bride Berenice offered to sacrifice her long blonde hair
to Aphrodite.
Upon his return, she cut her locks and left them at the temple... which were promptly
stolen within a day.
The court astronomer appeased the angry king by pointing out a cluster of stars in the
sky, indicating Aphrodite was clearly pleased with the gift, to have Zeus place the hair
of Berenice among the stars.
Under dark skies, this area looks like a hazy patch of sky, within a constellation called
� appropriately enough � Coma Berenices, meaning �Hair of Berenice.� Unfortunately,
most of us are NOT under dark skies � but!
- we can see this patch of sky with simple binoculars, and it looks A-MAZ-ING!
The trick is knowing how to find it, which may not be so simple given that the constellations
brightest stars are only 4-th magnitude, invisible from most cities and suburbs.
Looking between Arcturus to the east and Regulus along the ecliptic towards the south, Denebola
at the tail of Leo is about halfway in-between those two.
Drawing a line up from there towards Alkaid � the end of the handle of the Big Dipper
or Plough - move two full binocular fields of view, or about halfway between Denebola
and Cor Caroli if you can see that one � and, �BAM!� there is this VERY open cluster
known as the Coma Star Cluster, or Melotte 111.
Dark Sky Fact: Have you submitted observations for Globe at Night?
This week, while looking for Melotte 111, check out Leo and submit how many stars you
can see to Globe at Night.
It's super quick, and fun even if its cloudy - please be sure to participate this week!
So why Melotte 111?
Philibert Jacques Melotte � about whom very little is known - found work at the Royal
Observatory in England, working his way up and eventually taking careful photographs
of the sky.
He published a catalog of open star clusters in 1915, and this one was number 111 in his
catalog � which had no Messier or NGC designation at the time, despite being catalogued by the
astronomer Ptolemy in 138 AD as a nebula.
Interestingly, it was not proven to BE a true star cluster until 1938 by Robert Trumpler.
Zooming in we can see most stars in this direction are in fact part of this cluster.
It is one of the closest ones to us at 280 light years � further than the Hyades but
less than the Pleiades distance � and contains 40 or so stars 400 million years old, ranging
from magnitudes 5 through 10, with half or more within easy grasp of binoculars.
The cluster covers a very large area of sky - about 5 degrees, so telescopic viewing of
the entire cluster is out of the question.
Binoculars-only here!
Compare Melotte 111 to 577 light years distant Messier 44, the Beehive Cluster or Prasepe,
the other side of Leo in Cancer the Crab.
I have star hop instructions for that cluster on eyesonthesky.com.
Along The Ecliptic: Jupiter scoots close to the open cluster NGC1746.
And Saturn is visible all night long, especially well-placed for observing two to three hours
after sunset.
That's all for this week.
Keep your eyes on the sky and your outdoor lights aimed down, so we can all see, what's
up.
I'm David Fuller, wishing you clear and dark skies.