The winter sky is rich with open star cluster. One of the most impressive is M35 in Gemini. Begin your hop at Mu Geminorum, a 2.9 magnitude star at the feet of the twins. Magnitude 3.3 Eta Geminorum is two degrees due west of Mu. Both should be visible in your finder scope. Slide from Mu to Eta, placing Eta at the eastern edge of your finder scope field. M35 should be two degrees due north, about half a finder field. The cluster is visible to the naked eye from a dark site and easily visible in an 8X50 finder even under suburban skies.
| Winter Sky Tour: M35-Open Star Cluster (Gemini) RA: 06h 09.0m / DEC: +24° 21'.0 |
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Revised: December 27, 2003 [WDF]
The sketch at left records this cluster's appearance in my 10-inch at low power. M35 has an integrated visual magnitude of 5.1. The cluster covers an expanse of nearly 30 arc minutes. Four relatively bright stars, 7th to 9th magnitude, are aligned at the center. 5.8 magnitude 5 Geminorum blazes about 35' to the east. Lynga lists a stellar population of approximately 200 for M35. My drawing records some 25 members. NGC 2158, another open cluster, resides about half-a-degree southwest of M35. This 8.6 magnitude cluster is shown as a fuzzy patch about 5' across in my drawing. The smaller NGC 2158 is believed to have about twice as many stars as M35. Its smaller, fainter appearance is due to being more than four-times as far from Earth as the Messier cluster.