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In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory, we'll look at the Ursa Major
and Cancer regions, and show you how to find these beautiful deep sky objects:
Messier 81 Messier 82
And the Beehive Cluster in Cancer
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!
Hey Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 12 of Star Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory!
I'm Dave Hearn, and I'm just tickled pink to be your host. In this series of programs
we'll show you the most beautiful sights in the night sky, and explain exactly how to
find them with your binoculars or telescope.
A couple of episodes ago, we talked about the second most recognizable constellation
in the Winter Sky: Orion. This week we’re focusing on two constellations in the northeastern
sky, and one of them is the number one best known constellation, Ursa Major, due to its
famous “asterism”, The Big Dipper.
So what is an asterism? It’s a well known grouping or pattern of stars that is not necessarily
a formal constellation. The Big Dipper, a pattern of bright stars in the sky that many
of us first learned when we were very young, is not really a constellation in itself. It’s
just a part of the much larger constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Ursa Major
is a huge constellation; in fact it’s the third largest in the sky, covering 1,279 square
degrees. It is only 3 square degrees short of the largest constellation of Hydra, the
water snake.
At 10:30 at night you can see the entire “bowl” of the big dipper rising above the northeastern
horizon. The two bright stars that form the top line of the Bowl are Merak and Dubhe,
which are also known as the “Pole Pointers”. If you draw a line from Merak through Dubhe,
and proceed approximately 30 degrees, you’ll encounter the bright star Polaris, also known
as the North Star. Polaris is located in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Small Bear.
So if you can see the bowl of the Big Dipper in the sky, you can always use the Pole Pointers
to find due North, and Polaris. This trick has been used by sailors and navigators for
thousands of years.
Actually by this time, a very large portion of Ursa Major is well up into the sky. High
above the bowl of the Big Dipper lies two magnificent galaxies, Messier 81, also known
as Bode’s Spiral, and Messier 82, nicknamed the Cigar Galaxy. Both of these galaxies were
discovered by Johann Elert Bode in 1774, and Charles Messier added them to his famous list
in 1781. You can actually see these two in binoculars, but a telescope will do the best
to help you see them clearly. When you’re on hunt for any galaxy, a larger reflector
will allow you to see details; I would suggest a scope with a mirror of 8 inches or more
for this particular galaxy hunt.
So let’s check out Messier 81 first. One of the most beautiful spiral galaxies in the
sky, this deep sky object is both large and bright, shining at magnitude 6.9. This a striking
example of a "grand design" spiral galaxy, where the spiral arms are long and consistently
curl around the galaxy core. In this image of M81 taken with the KPO Reflector, you can
easily see the gorgeous curving spiral arms. M81 is one of the easiest and most rewarding
galaxies for amateur astronomers to find in the northern hemisphere.
M81’s closest neighbor in space is M82, but kinda like the weird guy that lives down
the street, this galaxy is very odd looking, and is one of the most mysterious galaxies
in the sky. There is an unknown object in the core of M82 that is generating odd radio
emissions that radio astronomers are continuing to study.
M82 was originally thought to be an “irregular” galaxy, one that doesn’t really have a distinct
regular shape, like you would see in a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Recently astronomers
have discovered faint spiral arms, far out from the core. M82 is also considered a Starburst
galaxy, in that astronomers see a very large amount of new star formation. This is probably
caused by gravitational forces from it’s larger neighbor, M81. In January 2014, a supernova,
which is a massively huge stellar explosion ,was seen in M82. You can see the supernova
in this image from KPO.
These two amazing galaxies lie less than a degree apart in the sky, so once you’ve
found then you get a double reward. However, the star hop is a difficult one. Most of the
stars we’ll be hopping over are between 5th and 6th magnitude. So are you ready for
a challenge? Let’s go!
So let’s start on the bright first magnitude star that we just discussed, Dubhe. Move about
3 degrees to the upper left to 5th magnitude 38 Ursa Majoris. Now move about 4 degrees
to a pair of 5th magnitude stars, where the one on the left is the brighter of the two.
Now move roughly 2 degrees to the upper right to 6th magnitude EN Ursa Majoris. Now about
5 degrees straight up is 4th magnitude D Ursa Majoris. Start moving in that direction, and
about halfway there you should run into one of our target galaxies. If you find a large
round hazy patch, it’s most likely Messier 81. If you see a long narrow hazy line, you’re
found M82. They are a little less than a degree apart. M 81 is substantially brighter than
M82, so most likely likely you’ll spy him first. If you have a larger scope, see if
you can determine which way the spiral arms are rotating, then look at the picture and
see if you were right! This kind of exercise really helps you to start to recognize see
details in deep sky objects.
It’s fun to move back and forth the between the two galaxies, and if you practice this
move a couple times it will make the location process easier for you for the next time you
get out under the stars.
Our next and last target for this episode is one of the brightest and largest open clusters
in the sky, Messier 44, otherwise known as the Praesepe or Beehive Cluster, in the faint
constellation of Cancer. This cluster has been known since antiquity, first noted by
the ancient Greeks. Unlike our last set of galaxy targets, the best way to see the Beehive
is with your binoculars.
M44 is just bright enough to see with your naked eye, once you locate the square of stars
in the center of Cancer. Cancer is located about 15 degrees below the bright star Pollux
in Gemini, now positioned about 40 degrees up in the Eastern sky. The challenge is that
pretty much all the stars between Gemini and Cancer are pretty faint. But the Beehive is
so obvious, it’s easy enough to just scan with your binoculars straight down from Pollux.
So, starting at Castor and Pollux in Gemini, slowly scan downwards about 15 degrees, until
you find a mass of stars situated between four 4th and 5th magnitude stars. You have
located the Beehive! The interesting thing about the Beehive is that there are three
little triangles of stars within it, as seen in this image from KPO. The cluster is very
large; about a degree and a half wide (basically the widths of three full moons), and it contains
several hundred stars.
So before we sign off for this episode, we have something exciting to share with you
- Star Hopping will soon be available as a podcast! So if you’d like to listen to these
tutorials as you drive to work, or while you’re out walking, or even working out, you’ll
be able to pipe our episodes through your earbuds! We’ll be making the show available
on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, and possibly SoundCloud. We’re targeting the podcast
launch for early January, and we’re planning a launch party with some neat prizes for listeners
who download, and rate and review the podcast on iTunes and the other podcast directories
I mentioned. Stay tuned for more information! I’m really excited about it.
Also, next week is Christmas! Can you believe it? The year has gone by so fast. We’ll
be traveling to be with our family over the holidays, so there won’t be an episode of
Star Hopping next week. Don’t worry, we’ll be back on New Year’s Eve
with our last episode of 2015.
So with all that said, we’d like to wish you and yours Happy Holidays from all of us
at Kissimmee Park Observatory. I’d also like to thank each and every one of you who
has been supporting Star Hopping and KPO on Facebook and YouTube - the show continues
to gain popularity and we’ve doubled our YouTube subscribers since Thanksgiving. We
really do appreciate all of you and look forward to bringing you more great episodes of Star
Hopping in 2016.
I hope you've enjoyed star hopping around the Milky Way. We'll continue to bring you
these astronomy tutorials every week on Thursday. They will be designed to help you find deep
sky objects that are up in the sky at the time we post them to YouTube.
The reason we create these videos is to help beginning amateur astronomers learn the sky
and get more enjoyment out of their telescopes and astronomy in general. If you have any
requests or suggestions of potential targets in the night sky that you would like to see
us present, just let us know down in the comment section below.
If this is the first time you’re checking out Star Hopping, and if you found this video
useful, please consider Subscribing to our Channel by clicking the Big Yellow Button
down there, click the Thumbs Up on the video, and please share this tutorial out to your
friends who like looking at stars. Also, as I just mentioned, please feel free to leave
any question or comment below, and we will be sure to respond quickly.
Also, please follow KPO on Facebook, where we post all of our astrophotos and keep everyone
informed about upcoming astronomical events. We'd love to hear from you to discuss all
this great stuff up in the sky.
All the links to these places including our website kpobservatory.org, can be found below
in the Episode Notes as well.
And finally, if you feel this video provides you value, and if you'd like to see more,
please consider supporting us on Patreon, where for a couple dollars per video, you
can support our efforts and let us make even more great astronomy tutorials like this one.
Well thanks again for watching, and we'll see you next time on Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory.