Good Morning. It’s November 20, and today’s photo shows two star clusters in the constellation Perseus.
These two clusters are very close to each other, within a few light years. However, they are much farther from Earth—each about 7,500 light years—so the stars must be very bright to be seen. And indeed they are, as the clusters are mainly young, super-hot stars.
You can see these clusters with the naked eye from a very dark area, but most of us will probably want a good pair of binoculars to spy them out. EarthSky has a helpful guide for their presence in the night sky.
This image was taken by Markus Noga with a 4-inch (100 mm) telescope. “This picture was taken from my backyard near Heidelberg, Germany this year,” he told me. “We had a lovely string of clear nights in late September and early October. Now that I’ve bought extra astro gear, we’re definitely in for some long rains.”
We hope the heavens bless you soon, Markus.
Source: Markus Noga.
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