Andrew Cooper
Jan 11, 2023    Waikoloa, HI (map)
11.4cm f/4 Newtonian, Kinipōpō @ 18x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

A rich cluster 15' in diameter in a spectacularly rich region that includes M36, NGC 1907, and much more, rich, partially resolved, bright and obvious in the RFT

Andrew Cooper
Feb 19, 2018    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 92x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 20%

A nice cluster, large, bright, coarse, fully resolved, about 30' in diameter, an oddly lone star at the center, the body otherwise notably clumpy with groups of a half dozen or more, NGC1907 visible about 30' south

Andrew Cooper
Jan 4, 2015    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" Gypsy @ 80x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

A bright beautiful cluster, rich with a hundred or more memebers in a 20' area, fully resolved, very distinct from a rich Milky Way background

Andrew Cooper
Oct 21, 2006    TIMPA, Avra Valley, AZ (map)
12x36 Canon Image Stabilized Binoculars

Large, bright, just starting to resolve, twice the size of M36 just 3° to the east

Andrew Cooper
Sep 30, 2005    Gila, New Mexico (map)
90mm F/12 APO Violet Haze

Large, rich, a clump crossed with two bars of brighter stars, a faint mist enveloping the brighter stars, NGC1907 clearly visible 32' south

Rev. T.W. Webb
May 19, 1885    Hardwick, Herefordshire, England (map)

Noble cluster arranged as oblique cross: pair of larger stars in each arm; brighter star at centre; not brighter than pairs '71. '77. Larger stars dot it prettily with open doubles. Glorious neighborhood.

― Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes, T. W. Webb, 1917

Captain William Henry Smyth
Oct 19, 1835    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A rich cluster of minute stars, on the Waggoner's left thigh, of which a remarkable pair in the following part are here estimated. A 7, yellow; and B 9, pale yellow; having a little companion about 25" off in the sf quarter. Messier discovered this in 1764, and described it "a mass of stars of a square form without any nebulosity, extending to about 15' of a degree;" but it is singular that the palpable cruciform shape of the most clustering part did not attract his notice. It is an oblique cross, with a pair of large stars in each arm, and a conspicuous single one in the centre; the whole followed by a bright individual of the 7th magnitude [HD 35921?].

The very unusual shape of this cluster, recalls the sagacity of Sir William Herschel's speculations upon the subject, and very much favours the idea of an attractive power lodged in the brightest part. For although the form be not globular, it is plainly to be seen that there is a tendency towards sphericity, by the swell of the dimensions as they draw near the most luminous place, denoting, as it were, a stream, or tide of stars, setting towards a centre. As the stars in the same nebula must be very nearly all at the same relative distances from us, and they appear to be about the same size, Sir William infers that their real magnitudes must be nearly equal. Granting, therefore, that these nebulae and clusters of stars are formed by their mutual attraction, he concludes that we may judge of their relative age, by the disposition of their component parts, those being the oldest which are the most compressed.

To fish up this object, a line from Rigel must be carried northwards through β Tauri, on the tip of the Bull's left horn, and about 7° beyond, where it will be intersected by the ray from Capella to Betelgeuze.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

William Herschel
Nov 23, 1805    Observatory House, Slough (map)
10ft. reflector

A cluster of scattered, pretty large stars of various magnitudes, of an irregular figure. It is in the Milky Way.

Charles Messier
Sep 25, 1758    

Cluster of small stars in Auriga, near the star Sigma, little distant from the two preceding clusters [M36 and M37]; this one is of square shape & contains no nebulosity, if one takes care to examine it with a good telescope. Its extension is about 15' of arc

― Connaissance des Temps, 1781

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

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