Originally Posted by An Thropologist:
“I wonder if one of the enthusiasts on this thread can help me idenitify a group of stars or a constellation. I saw this in the Canaries last week where there is less light pollution than I have here. These stars are located near Orion. If one was looking at Orion's belt with the star below the three of the belt below the belt. and the thought of the four main stars surrounding them as hands and feet, the starting point woudl be his right hand. Moving out from there a 'short distance' away (visually speaking) is a cluster of stars, not very bright that in moderate conditions appear as a smudge in the sky.
Any idea what they are or where I can find a good map of the sky to try to figure it out? I have looked at lots of star maps in the last week and few of them show Orion and if they do it seems to be on the edge of the map area.”
Not being an expert on this subject by any means but I too have been fascinated by a "smudge" in the night sky and after a bit of research online discovered it was The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters.
On looking it up again,if it was in Orion, as the previous poster suggested it sounds like M42(Orion Nebula) which also a bit smudgy!
Last edited by paulsh1 : 22-12-2015 at 19:13
I would have called Taurus the tuning fork had I been around then (although I wouldn't have known what a tuning fork was) I think Leo looks like a rocking horse and I would have described Aries as 4 stars in a row!
