14 DAY TRIAL // If you are interested in looking for star clusters, then the times when the Moon is out of the evening skies, such as the current ones, are the best for observations. Using a pair of good binoculars, amateur astronomers can easily detect several famous structures of this class.
Some interesting star clusters can be seen at around 8 pm EST (0100 GMT) in the southern parts of the evening sky in the Northern Hemisphere. They are located a short distance away from the three stars making up the belt of the constellation Orion.
The Hyades and Pleiades clusters can be seen by looking up and to the right of the famous belt. The two structures are located in the constellation Taurus, Space reports.
Those interested can use the image attached to this article to see how the clusters appear in the night sky overhead. If atmospheric conditions hold, good binoculars or small telescopes should be sufficient to make out at least some details in the two objects
Due to the galactic setup, this period of the year usually exposes structures within the local spiral arm, which enables astronomers to look at star clusters that are located relatively near to our planet.
Star clusters can be classified into main distinct groups – globular and open. Both of them are groups of stellar objects that can vary extensively in age. Open star clusters, such as the ones visible to observers this time of year, tend to be made up of mostly young, newly-born stars.
An interesting thing to note about open star clusters is that they have the general tendency to succumb to the gravitational influences of giant molecular clouds that they meet as they travel through the galaxy.
Even when the members of the cluster stop being gravitationally-bound to even the smallest extent, they will continue to move in the same general direction, even if they are not interacting at all.
When all these conditions are met, these clusters are called stellar associations or moving groups, as a cluster implies the idea of at least some extent of interaction.
Analyses of open star clusters have revealed that these objects prefer to remain confined to the plane of the Milky Way, and also that they are very seldom found at the galactic core. They seem to develop predominately within spiral arms.