NGC 2281 VIC 33
Aur
☀5.2mag
Ø 90' / 90'

Smiley Face

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A relatively large, but at first glance, hardly recognizable asterism located half a degree southwest of the open star cluster M38. It forms two eyes and an arc of around six stars resembling a mouth. The asterism includes the star cluster Stock 8.

VIC: It reminds me of a wide smile of a frog. A cheerful grin :) It took me a while to figure out which stars to connect to make sense of it. But the second time, it's easily visible. Useful when searching for M36 and M38 under less favorable conditions.

10x50: ★★★★☆
15x70: ★★★★☆
25x100: ★★★☆☆