Naked eye & binocular targets

Enjoy some celestial treats in Gemini and Orion

As Christmas chaos looms on the horizon, relax by enjoying these celestial treats…

Pollux

Pollux is the second-brightest star in Gemini and the 17th brightest in the sky, shining at a magnitude of 1.14 and making it visible to the naked eye. It is also one of the few naked-eye stars we know has an extrasolar planet orbiting it. Called 'Thestias', it is bigger than Jupiter and orbits Pollux once every 589 days.

Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis)

Betelgeuse is an enormous red star, with a diameter over 650-times that of our Sun. With its distinctive orange-red colour and magnitude of 0.42, the supergiant star is immediately visible to the naked eye rising in the east after sunset during the evenings.

Messier 41

This star cluster is an amazing 2,350 million light years away. Although it is bright enough for the naked eye to see under skies untouched by light pollution, you’ll need binoculars to spot this small but pretty star cluster. This month, you can find it shining just beneath Sirius, because it will be quite low in the sky all night.

Orion Nebula (M42)

This is probably the most famous nebula in the entire sky. It is a vast glowing cloud of gas and dust, a 'stellar nursery' where stars are being born. A 'fuzzy star' to the naked eye, binoculars show it as a small misty-grey smudge on a moonless night.

Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris)

By far the brightest star in the sky at magnitude -1.46, Sirius is just 8.7 light years away, making it the fifth closest star us. To the naked eye, Sirus is a striking blue-white star that shimmers and twinkles dramatically as it shines above the horizon on frosty winter nights.