NGC 2395 -- Open Cluster in Gemini
The eighth-magnitude Open Cluster, NGC 2395, sits only about 1/2 degree from the Medusa
Nebula. It was the logical celestial object to view while I waited for the moon to set below the
horizon. Although the moon was well behind trees, on my western horizon, as I viewed the
Open Cluster, I wanted it to get as dark as it could before I tried for the Medusa Nebula (my
main target for the early morning).
NGC 2395 is a quaint but pretty smattering of faint stars, of which I could only resolve about a
third of them. The fainter ones flickered in-and out-of view, appearing first as pinpoints of light,
taxing the limits of visibly, before once again returning to the defuse fog of unresolved stars.
Nebula. It was the logical celestial object to view while I waited for the moon to set below the
horizon. Although the moon was well behind trees, on my western horizon, as I viewed the
Open Cluster, I wanted it to get as dark as it could before I tried for the Medusa Nebula (my
main target for the early morning).
NGC 2395 is a quaint but pretty smattering of faint stars, of which I could only resolve about a
third of them. The fainter ones flickered in-and out-of view, appearing first as pinpoints of light,
taxing the limits of visibly, before once again returning to the defuse fog of unresolved stars.