The Starfish of Auriga

Suspended in the winter constellation Auriga, Messier 38 (M38), also cataloged as NGC 1912, drifts through the Milky Way like a celestial starfish. Its stellar arms radiate outward from a loose core, a pattern that earned it the poetic nickname the Starfish Cluster—not by myth, but by geometry written in light.

M38 is an open star cluster, approximately 4,200 light-years from Earth, and about 220 million years old. Its stars, born from the same molecular cloud, now slowly migrate apart, shaped by gravity and time. Open clusters like M38 are fragile—cosmic classrooms where astronomers study stellar evolution, motion, and the life cycle of our galaxy’s spiral arms.

This image captures M38 during a quiet technical test—30-second exposures revealing round, patient stars—a reminder that even in calibration and learning, the universe continues to offer beauty. Science progresses not only through grand discoveries, but through moments when the sky gently confirms: you are aligned.

Camera: ZWO-ASI2600MCPRO
Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ-6R Pro Computerized Equatorial Mount S303000
Guide camera OAG & ZWO ASI220 Mini USB 2.0 Mono Guide Camera
Celestron .7x Focal Reducer for 8" EdgeHD Telescopes
Telescope: EdgeHD8
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Color Camera (2025)
USB

Images were stacked in Deepsky stacker, processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop