Page 71 - BBC Sky at Night Beginners Guide to Astronomy - 2017 UK

WHAT TO SEE

TEN STAR CLUSTERS

YOU MUST SEE

M13 M45
TYPE Globular cluster TYPE Open cluster
WHEN TO LOOK Summer WHEN TO LOOK Winter
WHERE IS IT? Hercules WHERE IS IT? Taurus
Known as the Great Globular Cluster, this is the best of its kind The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, is one of the most splendid
in the northern hemisphere. From a dark site, M13 can just clusters in the night sky. With the naked eye, six stars of the
be seen with the unaided eye, but its bright, round form is a cluster are easy to see, but counting up to 10 is possible. The
stunning sight through a pair of binoculars. It’s also great to look cluster actually contains many hundreds of stars, and a decent
at through a telescope, which will resolve its individual stars. pair of binoculars will be able to reveal many of them.

M7 M5 M35 M22
TYPE Open cluster TYPE Globular cluster TYPE Open cluster TYPE Globular cluster
WHEN TO LOOK Summer WHEN TO LOOK Summer WHEN TO LOOK WHEN TO LOOK Summer
WHERE IS IT? Scorpius WHERE IS IT? Serpens Autumn and winter WHERE IS IT? Sagittarius
Also known as Ptolemy’s This is thought to be one of the WHERE IS IT? Gemini M22 is easily visible with the
Cluster, this appears to be twice oldest of all globular clusters. This cluster contains upwards of unaided eye, and a great
the size of the full Moon. To the It is easily found in binoculars 200 stars and can just be seen object through binoculars. It’s
eye, the 80 stars of the cluster and has a slightly oval-shaped with the unaided eye on good larger than M13, which makes
appear as a bright clump in appearance. What you’ll see clear nights. Binoculars bring it impressive in itself, but sitting
the Milky Way, but through is a fuzzy blob, hinting at the out the brightest 20 or so stars, in the river of stars that is the
binoculars the stars are resolved vast number of stars it contains. while the rest form a diffuse Milky Way makes this a real
against the more distant milky Through a telescope, curving oval wash behind. It sits in a jewel in the crown.
band of the Galaxy, making groups of stars appear to spiral lovely star-spattered area of the
this a fi ne sight indeed. out from the centre. Milky Way. M44
TYPE Open cluster
WHEN TO LOOK Spring
WHERE IS IT? Cancer
Known as the Beehive Cluster,
M44 contains hundreds of stars
and can be seen as a misty
patch with the naked eye. Due
to its large size, binoculars
M15 are the best way to see M44:
TYPE Globular cluster through them you’ll see a dozen
WHEN TO LOOK or so of its brightest stars.
Autumn
WHERE IS IT? Pegasus M3
Looking like a slightly more NGC 869 AND NGC 884 TYPE Globular cluster
compact version of M13 in TYPE Double open cluster WHEN TO LOOK
Hercules, this object is an WHEN TO LOOK Autumn Spring and summer
ideal target to look at with WHERE IS IT? Perseus WHERE IS IT? Canes Venatici
binoculars. It appears as This is the ‘Sword Handle’, a wondrous double cluster with two This is another stunning
a round smudge with quite star clusters sitting side by side. They are both 0.5º in diameter globular cluster. It can just be
a compact central region, and are easily visible to the unaided eye. Try sweeping the area seen with the unaided eye, but
giving this distant star cluster with binoculars – their hundreds of stars make for a fi ne sight, set binoculars will reveal its bright,
a real sense of depth. against the backdrop of the Milky Way. round shape that holds around
500,000 stars.
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