                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 January 3
      The featured image shows a line of bright stars strewn diagonally
      across a starfield of more dim stars. A cluster of stars is also
   visible near the top left of the image. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                          Kemble's Cascade of Stars
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Tommy Lease

   Explanation: This line of stars is real. A little too faint to see with
   the unaided eye, Kemble's Cascade of stars inspires awe when seen with
   binoculars. Like the Big Dipper though, Kemble's Cascade is an
   asterism, not a constellation. The asterism is visible in the northern
   sky toward the long-necked constellation of the Giraffe
   (Camelopardalis). This string of about 20 unrelated stars, each of
   similar brightness, spans over five times the angular width of the full
   moon. Stretching diagonally from the upper left to the lower right,
   Kemble's Cascade was popularized last century by astronomy enthusiast
   Lucian Kemble. The bright object near the top left of the image is the
   relatively compact Jolly Roger open cluster of stars, officially
   designated as NGC 1502.

                      Tomorrow's picture: big appetite
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

