Orion's Milky Way Scavenger Hunt & Give Away: Clue 4
Orion's Milky Way Scavenger Hunt is on! If you'd like to participate in the scavenger hunt for your chance to win a StarShoot AutoGuider Pro Mono Astrophotography Camera, please make sure you do two things first:
We've decided to begin each week's clue at Messier 39, or M39, in honor of Orion's 39th Anniversary, which we're celebrating this July. See our Week 1 clue for directions to the M39 starting point.
Week 4:
Orion Scavenger Hunt Target #4:
- From M39 move 18.5 degrees
- And you'll find this giant star
- With naked eye ease.
- It's the last letter in the bird
- But what makes it so great
- Is that it's brighter than 150 suns
- At a magnitude of 3.8
- Move now to a diamond asterism
- In an animal of the sea
- That contains a nice binary star
- Named by an astronomer, most jokingly.
- This constellation has two ancient clusters
- One by the tail, one by the nose
- But the light of these beauties won't give any luster
- Unless a telescope shows the glows.
- Now head toward the border
- Where two celestial equines meet
- And a bright example of what you just saw
- Is our destination, and a treat!
- At magnitude 6.2 your eyes might just see
- A small glowing spot
- Off the flying horse's nose and front knee.
- Hundreds of thousands of stars so quickly condense,
- In 12 minutes of arc
- To a point collapsing (as if it makes sense)
- Into a tiny hole, very dark!
- While binoculars show this as a fuzzy spot
- Telescopes may reveal one small puffy member
- And a real challenge you've got!
- What is this object?
Send in your guess, with a sketch or image of the object, via a Facebook message to Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.