November 16, 2025: The waning crescent moon provides a view of the Double Cluster — two starry gatherings between Cassiopeia and Perseus, shining in the autumn evening sky.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:42 a.m. CST; Sunset, 4:29 p.m. CST. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times.
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Today’s sunset in Chicago is less than ten minutes later than the earliest sunset at 4:20 p.m. Central Time, which runs from December 2 through December 13.
Look for Double Cluster
On another adventure outside with the moon as a waning crescent, look for a double treasure of stars in the northeast. Commonly named the Double Cluster, the two stellar collections appear between the familiar figures of Cassiopeia and Perseus.
At two hours after sunset, begin by finding the bright star Capella, about 20° up in the east-northeast. Cassiopeia, the Queen, resembling a number 3, is high in the sky. She is circumpolar, meaning that the constellation never sets. It is visible in the northern sky throughout the night every night of the year. During autumn, she begins the night in the northeast.
Perseus, the Hero, resembles a fishing hook with a line wrapped around it. Its brightest star, Mirfak, is about the same brilliance as the Big Dipper’s brightest stars and halfway up in the sky.
In the Milky Way
The star clusters, identified as h Persei and Chi (χ) Persei on some star charts, are nearly between the Queen and the Hero. They lie in the plane of the Milky Way and appear as bright clouds from rural locations. They appear higher during the night and begin each night slightly farther westward.
The stellar bundles are known as galactic or open clusters that lie in the plane of the Milky Way. The Pleiades and Beehive have similar characteristics. Individual stars have chemistries similar to our sun. The open clusters seem to have open spaces between the stars.
In comparison, densely packed globular clusters revolve around the galaxy, outside the plane of the Milky Way. Their mapping over a century ago indicated that our solar system is not near the center of the galaxy.
Through a Binocular
The clusters are also entries 869 and 884 in the New General Catalog (NGC), a listing of nearly 8,000 non-stellar bodies such as galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, first published in the 19th century. This was about the first time the moniker “Double Cluster” appeared in astronomy guides.
The Double Cluster is made of two stellar bundles, each containing a few hundred stars, that appear along the same line of sight, though they are about 1,000 light-years apart. Their ages are estimated to be around 10 million years.
Each star cluster is about the apparent size of the moon, and they nicely fit into the same binocular field of view. A spotting scope provides a cluster view where the stars spread out like jewels on the velvet of the night.
Take a look for the Double Cluster until the moon returns to brighter phases in several nights.
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