Burnham’s Celestial Handbook
- Gulf of Mexico (Wikipedia)
The Gulf of Mexico (Spanish: Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southwest and south by the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo; and on the southeast by Cuba. The Southern U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, which border the Gulf on the north, are often referred to as the “Third Coast” of the United States (in addition to its Atlantic and Pacific coasts).
- How to find and observe the Double Cluster (TOTS#5) (eyesonthesky.com)
NGC 869 and NGC 884 are two open cluster within our own Milky Way galaxy that are very close to each other, creating a “dual” cluster for telescope observers. The two clusters are each about 7,500 light years from Earth, so the photons from it reaching your eye in a telescope left that cluster about the time copper was being used in the Middle East. The estimated age is about 12.8 million years, making it one of the younger star clusters in our galaxy. Here is a detailed guide on how to locate the Double Cluster.
- NGC 869 (Wikipedia)
NGC 869 (also known as h Persei) is an open cluster located 7460 light years away in the constellation of Perseus. The cluster is about 14 million years old. It is the westernmost of the Double Cluster with NGC 884.
