Stock 2

I was admiring the star chains in the Double cluster area, and I followed a long chain of stars up towards what became a thick cloud of glittering stars. Nothing was listed on my Cambridge Atlas, so I went to Desktop Universe and pulled up "Stock 2". Not the most memorable name, but the big open cluster looked great in my prototype 9" f4 triplet refractor at 40X and 2 degrees FOV (surplus simulator lens). Does anybody else have any impressions of this cluster ? (shown at the top of the screen) It needs a wide field to look good. Big bino's in a dark sky should work well.

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I don't know where I first learned about this cluster, but it never made much of an impression on me until I got my 4.5" f/4 reflector, which is pretty ideal for these big loose open clusters. Quite beautiful in the right instrument; my 6" f/8 doesn't give enough field of view to view it properly.

Hi David. I have always enjoyed this area. If you enlarge the dotted circle in your picture to the lower left, the cluster looks like the stick figure of a man with an outstretched hand. His legs are to the lower left. The long loop of stars you referred to looks like a fishing line over to the double cluster. I have always referred to this as: "Look Ma, I caught the double cluster." I can see the whole thing in a low power field of view in my TV101 refractor. Steve

Stick man cluster

Dmitri

David,

This is a fairly well-known object, which was christened with the nickname of the Muscleman Cluster by the veteran observer John Davis. Phil Harrington mentions it in a couple of his books I believe.

http://www.europa.com/~telscope/astrbino.txt

Dave Mitsky