Sky & Telescope - December 2021 - 26

Wide-field Vistas
Across the border into the constellation Taurus, the Bull,
we find perhaps the single best star cluster for a small telescope,
the Pleiades. If only there were more objects like this
in the night sky! By chance, this 100-million-year-old cluster
is embedded in an interstellar dust cloud. It fits into a 2°
to 3° field and presents a delicate lacework of nebulosity to
observers with clean optics and a dark sky. The most accessible
patch of haze lies largely south of Merope, where NGC 1435
(the Merope Nebula) appears frosty-white and barely brighter
than the background sky. The nebulosity surrounding Maia
(NGC 1432) is also within reach of a small scope.
Many multiple stars lie within the Pleiades cluster, which
is ideal for low-power viewing. Look for a little triplet of 6thto
9th-magnitude stars just northwest of Alcyone. Sterope
(sometimes called Asterope) splits easily into a pair of 6thmagnitude
stars. Fourth-magnitude Taygeta has an 8th-magnitude
secondary a little more than 1′ to the north-northwest.
Vistas in Orion and Monoceros
Spoiler alert: This next view is likely the best on the tour, and
one of the most beautiful in the entire night sky. It's the grand
Sword of Orion, where a small telescope lets you take in half
a dozen deep-sky sights at a glance, including the magnificent
Orion Nebula, M42, where cold gas and dust - with a little
help from gravity - turns into newly minted stars.
Most of Orion's Sword fits into a 2° field, but 3° frames
it better. The showpiece of this field, M42, appears as a
batwing-shaped glow with a mottled appearance even at low
magnification. Most scopes resolve four of the stars in the
Trapezium cluster embedded within the nebula. The sight of
its faint outer wings forming a closed loop around the bright
inner nebula is enough to get a committed stargazer out on
a cold winter's night. Sky & Telescope's Walter Scott Houston
memorably wrote of the Orion Nebula, " No amount of intensive
gazing ever encompasses all its vivid splendor. "
Just north of M42 lies more nebulosity, including the
comma-shaped M43. Half a degree farther north you'll find a
nest of blue-white stars enmeshed in the " 1970s, " the nebulae
NGC 1973, NGC 1975, and NGC 1977. Together they comprise
Sh 2-279, also known as the Running Man Nebula.
UNKNOWN UNICORN December nights are a good opportunity to visit this oft-overlooked constellation. Monoceros might not abound with targets
for small scopes, but what it does offer is worth the effort. Several Collinder clusters decorate the constellation's jewel, the Rosette Nebula (see inset).
Cr 106
Cr 97
Cr 107
NGC 2237
NGC 2238
NGC 2246
Cr 104
NGC 2244
18
δ
13
ε
Rosette
Nebula
ε
ς
Monoceros
β
α
γ
26 DECEMBER 2021 * SKY & TELESCOPE
INSET: POSS-II / STSCI / CALTECH / PALOMAR OBSERVATORY

Sky & Telescope - December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - December 2021

Contents
Sky & Telescope - December 2021 - Cover1
Sky & Telescope - December 2021 - Cover2
Sky & Telescope - December 2021 - 1
Sky & Telescope - December 2021 - Contents
Sky & Telescope - December 2021 - 3
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