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By: Steve Goldberg

Asterism: a grouping of stars that form a recognizable pattern.

Constellation: Orion
Right Ascension: 04h 48m 27.0s
Declination: +10° 56' 12"
Magnitude:  9 to 10

 

This month’s asterism is NGC 1662 which can also be looked at as a “Klingon Battlecruiser” from the Star Trek series. It is located near the bow that Orion is holding, aimed at Taurus the Bull.

In this picture, the inner circle is the NGC object, the outer circle is a 13mm eyepiece in 14.5” telescope. So it will take some power to see this one. Now, imagine the 4 bright stars in the middle as the main section of the battlecruiser with the close pair on the right as one wing tip, and the wide pair on the left as the other wing tip.

Russell Sipe (Sky&Telescope, February 2005) was first to spot that the stars fitted the running lights of the battlecruiser (D7 Class).