M38 = NGC1912 ( 5h 28.7m +35°50´, 6.4 mag. ) and NGC1907
This open cluster in Auriga was discovered by Hodierna prior to 1654 and again by LeGentil in 1749. Messier observed it on Sept. 25, 1764.
M38 (NGC 1912)
open cluster
A cruciform-shaped cluster, located near both the Flaming Star and IC 410. Magnitude 7.4; diameter 20'; R.A. 05h 25m, Dec. +35° 48' ...
M38 is the third of the three Auriga clusters. It is about 4,200 light-years away and has a linear diameter of around 21 light-years. The cluster has a total visual magnitude of 7.4 and contains more than 100 stars.
M38 (open cluster)
Auriga was protrayed as a charioteer who was seen carying two to three children on his arm. He was also known as Erechtheus, son of Hephaestus (Called Vulcan by the Romans).
We end the evening with a peek at M38, or NGC 1912. This object lies only 2 1/4 degrees from M37, again, towards the northwest. This cluster is nearly twice the angular size of M36, and is about 30 percent dimmer still.
At about the zenith in winter sky, a trio of open clusters is bathed in the faint Milky Way of Auriga. They are paralleled M37 (NGC2099), M36 (NGC1960), and M38 (NGC1912) from east to west.
Three other open clusters are NGC 2281, lying close to Psi7 Aurigae, NGC 1664, which is close to Epsilon Aurigae, and IC 410 (or NGC 1893), a cluster with nebulosity next to IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula, found a few degrees to the right of M38.
A beautiful group of stars is M38 showing an oval shape. The richest of these three Messier objects is M37. It contains about 150 stars with magnitudes of 12.5 and brighter and about 500 in total.
 See also: Open Cluster, Open, Cluster, Auriga, M36
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