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September evenings for a famous binocular object. This object is called the "Double Cluster" in the constellation Perseus. These are open star clusters, each of which consists of young stars still moving together from the primordial cloud of gas and dust that gave birth to the cluster's stars. These clusters are familiarly known to stargazers as H and Chi Persei. • Double Cluster in Perseus: Two star clusters • Stargazers smile when they peer at them through their binoculars, not only because they are beautiful, but also because of their names. They are named from two different alphabets, the Greek and the Roman. Stars have Greek letter names, but most star clusters don't. Johann Bayer (1572-1625) gave Chi Persei - the cluster on the top - its Greek letter name. Then, it's said, he ran out of Greek letters. That's when he used a Roman letter - the letter H - to name the other cluster. • After midnight, Cassiopeia swings above Polaris, the North Star. Before dawn, she is found in the northwest. But during the evening hours, Queen Cassiopeia lights up the northeast sky. •
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