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 May 25 2009  A Casket Of.......Precious Stones. |
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I'm pretty sure that I like the name of "Jewel Box" better than Herschel's description of "a casket of variously coloured precious stones". That sounds just....uumm....scarey.
But even if you don''t like either, you can still choose from NGC4755, Kappa Crucis Cluster, Mel-114, or Caldwell94. All of them point to this beautiful star cluster in Crux, the Southern Cross, our tiniest constellation.
The "beacons" of the cluster are Kappa Crucis on one side, & HR4887 on the other, both shining just brighter than 6th magnitude. Almost exactly mid-way between is a contrasting pair of orange & blue 7th magnitude stars. Scattered all around these 4 corner-stones are several dozen, usually blue stars, averaging about 9th magnitude.
No trip into the southern heavens can be called truly complete until you settle the telescope onto to this beauty. |
| Submitted by: DavidLee | Location: Slooh - Chile - HM | Date: April 06 2009 |
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May 25 2009
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