Messier Marathon Part 2 (Tons of Open Clusters and a Few Nebulae)

Following the early objects comes a very long string of open clusters with a few popular nebulae mixed in.

The first two are in Cassiopeia. M103 is a nice open cluster located next to one of the bright stars in Cassiopeia. Quite colorful. The scale is quite large here, and you can follow the line from the bright star to M103 to reach NGC 663, another open cluster.

M52 is another nice cluster, pretty dense. Just down and left of the cluster is the Bubble nebula.

Next is the first nebula of the evening, M76, the Little Dumbell (or the Corkscrew). It’s the tiny object just below the bright star in the center:

M34 follows, an open cluster in Perseus:

M45, the Pleiades follows, one of the most widely known Messier objects. Visible here is some of the reflection nebula that overlays this cluster:

M79 is next, the first globular cluster of the evening in Lepus:

Then you get to M42 and M43. M42, the Orion Nebula, is another very widely recognized object. I framed this shot to get the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead nebula, just off the belt of Orion. Also visible are the Running Man Nebula and a satellite trail. M42 is the bright part of the nebula and M43 is the small nebula on top.

M78 comes next. This is a reflection nebula near Orion’s midsection. I didn’t plan this, but I caught the Flame and Horsehead here, as well as Barnard’s loop (the very long red nebula at the bottom):

Next is the M1, the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant that erupted in the 11th century:

M35 is an open cluster in Gemini. Next to it is a smaller open cluster:

M37 is a very dense open cluster in Auriga:

M36 and M38 are two nearby clusters in Auriga. Also visible here (bottom left) is the Flaming Star nebula:

Next in M41. This was pretty low when I took it:

Then comes M93 in Puppis:

M46 and M47 are two open clusters in Canis Major. M46 is quite dense and has a planetary nebula in it:

Then M50, the Heart-Shaped Open Cluster:

Next is M48, and open cluster in Monoceros:

Next is the M44, the Beehive Cluster, in Cancer:

And finally, M67, also in Cancer:

That’s it for this portion of the marathon. We’ll hit some more open clusters later, but next comes a very long string of galaxies.