Messier 38 facts for kids
Messier 38 or M38 is a beautiful group of stars called an open cluster. It's also known as NGC 1912. You can find it in the constellation of Auriga, which looks a bit like a house or a pentagon in the night sky. This amazing cluster is about 1,066 light-years away from Earth. That's a super long distance!
Contents
What is an Open Cluster?
An open cluster is like a cosmic family of stars. These stars were all born at roughly the same time from the same giant cloud of gas and dust. They are held together by gravity, but not as tightly as stars in a globular cluster. Over millions of years, open clusters tend to spread out and their stars drift apart. M38 is a great example of one of these star families.
Discovering Messier 38
Messier 38 was first seen by an Italian astronomer named Giovanni Battista Hodierna around the year 1654. He was one of the first people to carefully map and describe objects in the night sky. Later, in 1764, the famous French astronomer Charles Messier added it to his list of objects. This list, called the Messier Catalogue, helps astronomers tell the difference between comets and other fuzzy objects in space. That's why it's called Messier 38!
Stars in M38
This cluster is home to about 100 stars that are brighter than the Sun. The brightest star in M38 is a yellow giant star. It's much bigger and brighter than our own Sun. The stars in M38 are relatively young, probably around 200 million years old. To give you an idea, our Sun is about 4.6 billion years old! Looking at M38, you can see stars of different brightnesses and colors, which makes it a very interesting sight.
Finding M38 in the Sky
If you want to spot M38, you'll need a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope. It's located in the constellation Auriga, which is visible in the northern sky during winter months. You can find it near the bright star Capella, which is one of the brightest stars in the night sky. M38 is often seen alongside two other open clusters, M36 and M37, making Auriga a great place for star gazing!
Images for kids
-
Map showing the location of M38 in the constellation Auriga.
See also
In Spanish: Cúmulo abierto M38 para niños
