Downtown Auriga
From NASA’s Astronomy
Picture of the Day
Rich in star clusters
and nebulae, the ancient constellation of Auriga,
the Charioteer, rides high in northern winter night skies. Spanning nearly 24
full moons (12 degrees) on the sky, this
deep telescopic mosaic view recorded in January shows off some of
Auriga's most popular sights for cosmic tourists.
The crowded field sweeps
along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy in the direction
opposite the galactic center.
Need
directions? Near the bottom of the frame, at the Charioteer's boundary
with Taurus the Bull, the bright bluish star Elnath is
known as both Beta Tauri and Gamma Aurigae.
On the far left and
almost 300 light-years away, the busy, looping filaments of supernova remnant Simeis 147 cover about
150 light-years.
Look toward the right to
find emission nebula IC
410, significantly more distant, some 12,000 light-years away. Star forming
IC 410 is famous for its embedded young star cluster, NGC 1893, and tadpole-shaped clouds
of dust and gas.
The Flaming Star Nebula, IC 405,
is just a little farther along. Its red, convoluted clouds of glowing hydrogen
gas are energized by hot O-type star AE Aurigae.
Two of our galaxy's open
star clusters, Charles Messier's M36 and M38 line up in the starfield, familiar to many
binocular-equipped skygazers.
