Monday 9th to Sunday 15th September 2024
If you look towards the north east a little after midnight, in the early morning hours of Tuesday 10th, Mars will have just risen over the horizon, with Jupiter above and to the right of it.
Mars will have a magnitude of about +0.6 and Jupiter will be noticeably brighter at around -2.3 (remember the magnitude scale works back to front, so the brighter an object is, then the more negative the number). Both of these targets will be easy to spot without a telescope.
However if you're itching to dig that tripod out, directly above Mars you will find the open cluster of stars known as Messier 35. This has a magnitude of +5.0 so you will need your telescope.
Once your eyes have become accustomed to the dark, you might notice another open cluster to the right of M35. This time you'll be looking at NGC2158 that only has a magnitude of +8.0
It doesn't have a Messier number because Charles Messier never found it back in the 1700s. NGC refers to the New General Catalogue that was compiled by John Dreyer in the 1800s.
M35 is about 3000 light years away and has been estimated as being 175 million years old. NGC2158 is completely separate and much further away at around 11,000 light years.....that's why it's much fainter. Also NGC2158 is a bit older.....around 2 billion years.
If you do get to see NGC2158, you will be observing the cluster how it was 11,000 years ago because the light from it has taken that long to reach us!
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
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