A Few More Messier Objects

So recently when the skies have been clear I have been undertaking a fair bit of Astrophotography. However, I have not forgotten about visual astronomy as well and recently I decided to spend some time looking at a few Messier objects I had previously not seen before. The objects I ended up looking at were two Open Clusters in Auriga, Messier 36 and Messier 38 (Starfish Cluster).

Messier 36
RA: 5 36 Dec: +34 08
Type: Open Cluster
Magnitude: 6.3

Messier 36 is an Open Cluster approximately 4,100 light years away and 14 light years wide. This cluster was rather small in the eyepiece and despite there being up to 60 members I could only make out about 4 or 5. I did struggle a bit with the rather full Moon that was present as it really washed out the view making it hard to see any of the dimmer stars. The biggest surprise however was that I actually managed to pick up the cluster in my finder scope as a faint fuzzy patch.

Starfish Cluster (Messier 38)
RA: 5 29 Dec: +35 51
Type: Open Cluster
Magnitude: 7.4

At 4,200 light years away, the Starfish Cluster (Messier 38) is similar in distance from Earth as Messier 36. However, at 25 light years across it is bigger and this ensured it did appear as being bigger in my eyepiece. To my eyes the cluster had a definite X shape that gave the cluster a very interesting appearance. Again, the Moon did affect my ability to properly see it in all its glory but it was nice to still make it out.

I did also attempt to view Messier 37, which is another open cluster in the same area of the sky but due to how I had set up my telescope, the view was blocked by my house. Next time I will need to pay more attention to how I set up the telescope!