Explanation:
An asterism
is just a recognized pattern of stars that is not
one the 88 official constellations.
For example, one of the most famous (and largest) asterisms
is the Big Dipper
within the constellation Ursa Major.
But this pretty chain of stars, visible with
binoculars towards the
long-neckedconstellation of
Camelopardalis,
is also a recognized asterism.
Known as
Kemble's Cascade, it
contains about 20 stars nearly in a row, stretching
over five times the width of a
full moon.
Tumbling from the upper right to lower left in the picture,
Kemble's Cascade was made popular by astronomy enthusiast
Lucian
Kemble.
The bright object at the lower left is the relatively compact
open cluster of stars,
NGC 1502.
digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100128.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';
