M38, in the constellation of Auriga, was first observed by Giovanni Batista Hodierna. astronomer to the court of Montechiaro, and recorded by him in 1654. However, these notes were not widly publicised at the time and M38 was independently discovered by Le Gentil in 1749 and Messier included it in his catalogue on 25th September 1764. It subtends about 21 arc-minutes in the sky which corresponds to a diameter of about 25 light-years at an estimated distance of 4,200 light-years. It is estimated to be 220 million years old. It lies within the disc of the Milky Way.
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M38 captured with my LX200 fitted with a 0.33 focal reducer (focal length 800 mm). The diameter of the cluster is about 21 minutes of arc. The cluster as a whole has a magnitude of 7.4 which is too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but it can be seen with binoculars. Date and Time: 10th February 2008 19.35 - 21:33 UT Camera: Atik 16ic colour Telescope: LX200 with 0.33 focal reducer Capture: ArtemisCapture. Exposure 4 min. Processing: K3CCDTools. 23 frames stacked, histogram 15-255, unsharp mask 3,0,100 |
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