Orion's Milky Way Scavenger Hunt is on! Take a stab at figuring out this week's clue, and send in your image or sketch of the mystery object in order to be entered to win a StarShoot AutoGuider Pro Mono Astrophotography Camera!
Join the scavenger hunt any time-we're now in our second week. The clues are posted each week on our Facebook page. But first, please make sure to:
In looking for objects along the Milky Way, you will see stars, open clusters, globular clusters, and nebulae. You might even see exotic objects, such as supernova remnants, or areas glowing from the intense radiation of extremely hot stars called Wolf-Rayet stars. There is much to see, enjoy, and stimulate the mind. We will visit several of these objects, and may even stray far afield, to the galaxies beyond!
Each week's clues begin at Messier 39, or M39, in honor of Orion's 39th Anniversary, which we're celebrating this July. M39 is marked with the yellow cross in the image below.
Locate the constellation Cygnus, the Swan above the eastern horizon. The main stars in Cygnus are also known as the Northern Cross, as shown in white. The brightest star in the cross is Deneb. Find the middle star of the cross (Gamma Cygni), then the cross star nearest the horizon. From there, note two chains of stars. These chains end at two stars of near equal brightness. The cross marked in yellow is M39's location.
Once you've found M39, you're ready to begin the hunt!
Send in your guess, with a sketch or image of the object, via a Facebook message to Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.