Kemble's Cascade of Stars

Explanation: This line of stars is real. A little too faint to see with the unaided eye, Kemble's Cascade of stars inspires awe when seen with binoculars. Like the Big Dipper though, Kemble's Cascade is an asterism , not a constellation . The asterism is visible in the northern sky toward the long-necked constellation of the Giraffe ( Camelopardalis ). This string of about 20 unrelated stars , each of similar brightness, spans over five times the angular width of the full moon . Stretching diagonally from the upper left to the lower right, Kemble's Cascade was popularized last century by astronomy enthusiast Lucian Kemble . The bright object near the top left of the image is the relatively compact Jolly Roger open cluster of stars , officially designated as NGC 1502 .