The Caldwell Objects

inch the cluster shows a pyramid of starlight
encompassing an ice blue gem (namely Tau
Canis Majoris, which also is known as 30 Canis
Majoris). To see the "liquid" you'll first have to let
your eyes become dark adapted. Now stare
directly at Tau Canis Majoris through your telescope
at its lowest power; you should see a bright
star surrounded by a half dozen or so faint suns
that form a cube of icy starlight. Next, look at the
region out of the corner of your eye and a
multitude of dimmer suns will ooze into view. In
other words, the cube of icy starlight appears to
be melting, forming a liquid of faint starlight that
surrounds the pyramid. Look directly at Tau
Canis Majoris, though, and the "liquid" will
evaporate.
Using my imagination, the 72 x view of NGC
2362 reminds me of a night flight over a Mayan
temple whose sides glitter with decorative lights
while a blue beacon shines on top. A mist of
unresolved starlight hugs the pyramid's base like
fog, though I can see some stray lights trickling
away through the "fog" to the north. At high
power the view is magnificent. The brightest
stars suddenly greet the eye with a visual punch.
Fainter stars pop out from the background,
though averted vision still reveals a nagging mist
of unresolved starlight. Close inspection of Tau
Canis Majoris reveals it to be caged by rows of
stars (oriented roughly along a north-south axis),
while sinuous arms of starlight spiral beyond
these "bars" toward the cardinal points. Look for
a very faint diamond
The Caldwell Objects
64
of stars due south of Tau Canis Majoris. In the 4inch
it appears to have an almost nebulous
nature, but that is a visual artifact caused by the
closeness of these dim suns.
Bill Arnett shares the following fun experience,
which he had during an observing party at
California's Fremont Peak Observatory on
December 7, 1996. " nearby A observer discovered
an interesting phenomenon. While viewing [the
Tau Canis Majoris Cluster] through a 14-inch, he
commented that when the wind jiggled the
telescope, [Tau] appeared to move in a different
direction from the [other] cluster stars. This
announcement, predictably, was greeted with
jeers — until the jeerers looked themselves, and
discovered that everyone could see the effect.
Most interesting! Presumably the effect has
something to do with persistence of vision
causing the perceived image of the bright star to
remain in place longer than the perceived images
of the much fainter cluster stars. Tau [Canis
Majoris] was immediately dubbed 'The Mexican
Jumping Star.'"
Another open cluster, NGC 2354, lies only
1½° southwest of Tau Canis Majoris. The Genesis
offers nearly a 3° field of view at 23x, so placing
the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster at the northeastern
edge of the field centers NGC 2354 in the
eyepiece. Now sweep your scope around, as you
did earlier with binoculars, and see if the entire
region doesn't look studded with stellar patterns.
It's a proving ground for those with fertile
imaginations.
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