Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38) (Massimo Di Fusco)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Auriga (Aur) · Contains: B226 · HD244640 · HD244689 · HD244753 · HD244765 · HD244788 · HD244822 · HD244859 · HD244889 · HD244890 · HD244931 · HD245005 · HD245121 · HD245333 · HD245348 · HD245439 · HD245469 · HD245493 · HD245617 · HD245681 · HD36499 · HD37011 · HD37032 · HD37071 · HD37266 · HD37268 · LBN 789 · LBN 797 · LBN 802 · LBN 803 · And 5 more.

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Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38)

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Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38)

In the constellation Auriga we can observe 3 objects cataloged by Messier, namely the open star clusters M36, M37 and M38, which are almost on an apparent line that goes from the outside to the inside of the hexagon-shaped asterism formed by the brighter stars of Auriga.
These three attractive clusters present interesting variations in size and appearance.
All the three clusters were discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and re-discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1749 (except for M37). Then, they were catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764.

Messier 36 (also known as the Pinwheel Cluster, M36 or NGC 1960) is the smallest, about 12 arcminutes in the sky, corresponding to a linear extension of 14 light years. It has an apparent magnitude of 6,3 and lies at a distance of about 4300 light years from Earth. Moreover, it is one of the most distant and fainter open clusters catalogued by Messier.

Messier 37 (also known as M37 or NGC 2099) is the brightest, richest and largest of the three open clusters in this constellation. It has an apparent magnitude of 6,2 and lies at a distance of about 4500 light years from Earth.

Messier 38 (also known as the Starfish Cluster, M38 or NGC 1912) lies at a distance of about 4200 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 7,4. It is about as large as M37 but its stars are more widely spaced.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	6420094
PixInsight job	3TW0DC1OXOCZ1JQFLFAXJL0XMAIBV6VB
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	05h36m54s.39
RA (top/left)	05h39m00s.81
RA (top/right)	05h41m00s.67
RA (bottom/right)	05h34m49s.90
RA (bottom/left)	05h33m20s.62

Dec (center)	+35°39′29″.9
Dec (top/left)	+33°42′40″.1
Dec (top/right)	+38°06′22″.0
Dec (bottom/right)	+37°44′34″.5
Dec (bottom/left)	+33°27′13″.3

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Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38)

Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38)

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Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38)

Messier triptych in Auriga (M36, M37 and M38)

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