Astronomers and night-sky observers tracking the October Hunter’s Moon can trace Kemble’s Cascade in Camelopardalis. This northern constellation features a snaking asterism ending at the 6th-magnitude open cluster NGC 1502, offering a striking target for binoculars and small telescopes this week.
Despite the bright light of a waning gibbous Moon washing out dimmer cosmic targets, deep-sky observers can still locate celestial highlights in the northern sky. Late in the evening, the constellation Camelopardalis sits to the right, or east, of the Little Dipper, neatly sandwiched between Cassiopeia and Ursa Major, according to Astronomy magazine.
Tracing Kemble’s Cascade to NGC 1502
In the southwestern region of Camelopardalis lies a 6th-magnitude open cluster designated as NGC 1502. Stretching approximately 8’ across, this compact group of young stars is situated about 9° south of magnitude 4.6 Gamma Camelopardalis and remains easily visible through binoculars or any telescope. However, Astronomy reports that this cluster serves as merely the termination point for a much longer stellar pattern.
NGC 1502 rests at the base of Kemble’s Cascade, an asterism that resembles a flowing waterfall with the cluster acting as the spray rising from the pool. Observers can spot a snaking line of nearly two dozen stars roughly 2.5° long, shining between approximately 7th and 10th magnitude while stretching northwestward. Astronomers recommend using binoculars or a finder scope to take in the full formation at once, or slowly sliding along the alignment within a telescope’s narrower field of view.
The distinctive asterism is named for Father Lucian Kemble, who first described the pattern in a correspondence with astronomy popularizer Walter Scott Houston.
Locating Uranus Near the Pleiades
For those tracking planetary movements, the Moon passes 5° north of Uranus at 6 A.M. EDT on the morning of October 28. Observers looking west around 6 A.M. local daylight time can find our satellite hanging above the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, resting roughly 45° high in the west. Together, the Moon, Uranus, and the Pleiades form a triangle that gradually sets as morning twilight approaches.
While Uranus technically sits within naked-eye range with a magnitude of 5.6, the nearby bright Moon washes it out, requiring observers to use binoculars or a telescope. The ice giant can be found positioned 5° to the lower left of the Moon as both bodies sink, or roughly halfway along an imaginary line drawn from the Pleiades toward the upper left, ending at Aldebaran.
Observing Aldebaran in Taurus
Magnitude 0.9 Aldebaran, designated Alpha Tauri, serves as the glowing red eye of Taurus the Bull. Astronomy notes that this red giant ranks as the 14th brightest star in the sky, shining with a luminosity exceeding 400 times that of the Sun from a distance of roughly 67 light-years. Despite its high brightness, the star maintains a cool surface temperature, which generates its distinct reddish hue, inviting comparisons with Mars shining in the east.
