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up and excited.
• It wasn't a comet but very likely was a lovely star cluster called M41. It lies about four degrees almost exactly south of Sirius. So the identification as a comet was wrong, but it is a reasonable mistake. The nuclei of comets look like fuzzy patches, much like M41 in a small telescope.
• The confusion with a comet and this cluster is not a new one. In the late 1700s, Charles Messier gave this object the number 41 on his list of "objects to avoid." He was a comet hunter who wanted others to realize that this object, which looks like a comet, really isn't.
• Giovanni Batista Hodierna is said to have discovered M41 sometime before 1654, but it may have been known to individuals with particularly good vision throughout human history. The cluster - whose true diameter in space covers about 25 light-years - contains about 100 stars including several red giants. Like most open stars clusters of this type, it is relatively young - probably between 190 and 240 million years old. By contrast, our sun is thought to be four-and-a-half billion years old.
• At mid-northern latitudes, Sirius and M41 stay out till roughly 4 to 5 a.m. local time. If you're an early riser, out and about during the predawn and dawn hours on Tuesday, January 8, 2013, look for the waning crescent moon and the star Antares to light up the southeast sky. Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, and the Scorpion never appear in the same sky with Orion. According to star (Continued on page 13)
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