by Dave Mitsky

Here's a shot of one of my favorite open star clusters, NGC 2362 in Canis Major. NGC 2362, the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster, is also known to amateur astronomers as the Mexican Jumping Bean Cluster due to an interesting effect that occurs if the telescope using to observe it is tapped. The cluster's fainter stars will appear to stop moving while the bright triple star Tau Canis Majoris continues to oscillate up and down in the field of view due to a phenomenon known as the persistence of vision. The image was taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR at prime focus using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's Naylor Observatory near Lewisberry, Pennsylvania.