Constellation of the Month: Aquarius (the Water-Carrier)

Aquarius is one of the twelve Zodiac constellations, marking the pathway along our Solar System's plane where you can see the Sun, Moon and planets in their celestial wanderings...with a corresponding astrological sign for those born between January 20th and February 18th.  It's also the name of my "song of the year" from 1969, by the Fifth Dimension, which signaled the advent of a new astrological age...but I digress: back to astronomy and reality.  Aquarius is a constellation a stargazer would see crossing the meridian (the imaginary line running across the sky from the northern horizon to the southern) during mid-evening during the month of October...hence it's my chosen constellation of this month.  Brighter than Pisces, the Zodiac constellation to its east, and dimmer than Capricornus, to its west (and south), the fact remains that all three aren't exactly easy to spot in the sky, especially if you're hindered by city lights as I am here in Gainesville.  I first encountered Aquarius at age seven looking at a star map in the Herbert S. Zim Golden Guide to the Stars handbook, but it was drawn completely omitting the constellation's western half, including its brightest stars.  Aquarius has been drawn a number of ways...I kind of freelanced the above version.  If you're new to reading star maps, take note that Greek letters are used to designate stars and, generally speaking with a number of exceptions, their relative brightness diminishes as you go down the alphabet. There are three deep-sky Messier objects in its western half: M2, M72 and M73, all globular star clusters.  The best way I know to locate Aquarius in the night sky is to find the first magnitude star Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus, which lies south of Aquarius, and go north a bit (upward in latitudes north of the Equator), but not so far as much more prominent Pegasus.  Good luck with that...Aquarius is hard to spot under my conditions, but at least it's not one of those dinky, insignificant constellations I've referred to recently in this monthly feature.  I guess I'll keep doing it until I run out of constellations, possibly combining some of the tinier ones...

Constellation of the Month: Libra (the Scales)

 

Libra, representing measuring scales, is a zodiac constellation, crossing the meridian during mid-evening in June and bounded by Scorpius on its east and Virgo to the west.  In fact, the two brightest stars in it...and with the coolest names out there...are Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi, respectively meaning the "northern claw" and "southern claw", presumably of the neighboring scorpion.  Other than them, though, Libra is pretty nondescript as constellations go, with star maps usually just showing an irregular quadrilateral of faint stars...even the two I just mentioned are only of third magnitude brilliance. Libra doesn't have any Messier objects (usually star clusters, galaxies or nebulae) but in May there is the Librid meteor shower centered here. Although easy to miss in the night sky, Libra is still more conspicuous than other zodiac constellations like Cancer and Pisces, more on a par with Aquarius and Capricornus.  For me personally, besides Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi's ushering in of the much more interesting Scorpius in the southeastern sky, Libra is my birth sign although I thoroughly reject the validity of astrology as a personality indicator or soothsaying device. Next month I'll pick a constellation from the July evening sky to discuss...

Constellation of the Month: Scorpius (the Scorpion)

If you happen to be a follower of that nonscientific field of soothsaying known as astrology, you already know that Scorpio is a sign of the Zodiac, representing people born October 23-November 21...guess what, I think horoscopes are a lot of hooey.  Astronomically speaking, I learned about the celestial Zodiac constellation Scorpius early in life at the age of seven...I remember that late spring night 56 years ago when I got permission to stay up late enough to watch it rise in the southeastern sky, leading with the scorpion's claws (three stars) followed by its highlight, the bright red giant star Antares.  In the United States Scorpius passes low in the southern sky during summer evenings and actually does resemble a scorpion when you connect together the dots (its stars, that is).  It also lies on the elliptic, meaning that our sun, moon, and the planets are seen from our vantage point on Earth to travel through it (and the other 11 Zodiac constellations).  Now to call Scorpius a "July" constellation only means that round 9-10 pm in the evening of that month it crosses the meridian (the imaginary line in the sky that divides east from west).  I could technically call just about any of the 88 official constellations as belonging to July since they all likewise cross that meridian line, most of them at other times of the day or night, however.  So for convention's sake I do as others do and take a mental snapshot of the sky at mid-evening during a particular month...

Although Scorpius is traditionally represented by that scorpion pattern from its brightest visible stars, the constellation is actually a sector of space projected outward from Earth to the farthest regions of the universe, comprising untold numbers of galaxies.  There are four Messier "objects" with Scorpius, all star clusters.  Scorpius lies the furthest south of all the Zodiac constellations, passing low in continental American skies.  It's usually a lot easier to notice the three prominent "claw" stars at the constellation's western end, followed by spectacular Antares.  The upper two claw stars are Graffius and Dschubba, respectively.  Other notable stars in Scorpius are Sargas in its tail and Shaula at the tip where the "stinger" is...

I have a memory from childhood of being with my family at the Golden Glades Drive-In theatre in northern Dade County, between Opa-Locka and Carol City near the Palmetto Expressway.  We were walking outside and I happened to look up toward the south and saw Scorpius in its completeness...it's one of the more spectacular constellations in the sky, definitely the highlight of the summer season...