M37 Condensed Open Cluster in Auriga

Uploaded 4/16/11

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 The middle of a line of three open clusters in Auriga, and by far the best of the three. This rich open cluster spans 25 arc minutes, occupying nearly this full field here, and is bright at a whopping magnitude 5.6. 150 stars are listed as cluster members in Megastar. The color variations of the stellar members is striking. With a background of hordes of blue super giants setting the stage, a score of yellow to orange K type super giants super impose themselves all across the clusters face.

No other deep sky objects appear in this field to about 18th magnitude and the reason is clear when you look at the colors of the faint stars - all very yellow or reds from obscuring Milky Way dust. We are in fact right in the path of the "Zone of Avoidance" of galaxies in this field.

Optics: 12.5" f/5 Newtonian - Lumicon Coma Corrector Platform: Astrophysics AP1200 Camera: Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO800 Exposure: 3 x 5m Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 8/10, Transparency 8/10 Outside Temperature: 35F Processing Tools: Photoshop CS2, Images Plus 3.82 HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS