Super-Constellation of the Month: the Good Ship Argo

 

I'm planning on viewing the ancient Greek super-constellation Argo on my cruise trip down to the western Caribbean, at a latitude where hopefully I can capture the full scope of these interesting star patterns of which I knew from childhood but never had the opportunity to just go out and observe.  Because Argo was so big, it was later divided into the "official", smaller constellations of Puppis (the Deck), Carina (the Keel) and Vela (the Sails). My only real connection with Argo has been with Canopus, my favorite star of the night sky and the second brightest after Sirius.  There are also four stars on the above map, two in Vela and two in Carina, that if you looked at them a certain way you could make out a cross...it's the "False Cross" that for centuries has fooled observers looking for the Southern Cross, which is far east of Argo and constitutes the constellation Crux.  My success in observing Argo will depend, of course, on the cooperation of the weather: fog and overcast skies, or annoying shipboard lights for that matter, could present issues...but I'm remaining optimistic...

Constellations of the Month: Scutum (the Shield) and Serpens Cauda (the Serpent's Tail)

 

Before August ends, I'd better get in another "constellation of the month".  I'm running out of the more prominent northern ones...this time I decided to combine two of them, although technically Serpens Cauda is only half a constellation.  Serpens Cauda, representing a serpent's tail, along with its counterpart Serpens Caput (the head), sandwich the large July constellation Ophiuchus, which plays the role of serpent handler.  But I'd rather group "Cauda" with a neighboring constellation, namely neighboring Scutum, and discuss the snake's other half next June (if I'm still doing this blog feature, that is).  Neither Serpens Cauda nor Scutum are distinguished by any bright stars, although the latter does contain two deep-sky Messier objects, M11 and M26...both open star clusters.  This relatively dim sector of the sky, however, does have two prominent constellations bordering it: Sagittarius to the south and Aquila to the east.  On a clear night, making out the above connected patterns of Serpens Cauda and Scutum should serve as a good vision test...maybe I'll do so myself if these damned tropical storms will just leave me alone.  

Constellation of the Month: Vela (the Sails)

 

Vela is a southern constellation, one that I, as a stargazer, have never seen in the night sky in its entirety due to its low latitude as it peaks during the early April evening hours, often obscured by trees, buildings and city lights.  Originally, with Puppis (the Deck) and Carina (the Keel) the three constituted the mega-constellation Argos, representing the ship from Greek mythology carrying Jason in his pursuit of the Golden Fleece.  The star designations are still the same although the constellation was split up...hence no Alphas or Betas with Vela, the brightest star being second-magnitude Gamma on its west end.  The rest of "Argo" is on Vela's west and south sides (right and down on the above star map).  If you look at the bottom of the map I drew, you'll see a figure of a cross with broken lines...that's the famous "False Cross" that observers sometimes mistake for the Southern Cross (aka the constellation Crux) which lies further eastward...those two most southerly stars in the False Cross are actually a part of Carina.  Some time I'd like to get myself south of the equator in a place unobstructed by city lights and relatively clear much of the year and just stand there taking in all the southern constellations I cannot see from my latitude here at 30 degrees North...the ancient constellation Argo, with its components Vela, Puppis and Carina, would be one of my top priorities...

Next month: another constellation...

Constellation of the Week: Cancer (the Crab)

 

Cancer, the springtime evening Zodiac constellation east of Gemini and west of Leo...and representing a crab...is perhaps the faintest of the Twelve.  As a matter of fact, because of the dimness of even its brightest stars, the best way to locate Cancer is to find the gap in the sky between its Zodiac neighbors and going straight north from the more visible head of Hydra.  I guess in a completely dark sky away from city lights you can make it out, but I have never seen for myself the constellation other than on star maps.  It does feature two deep-space Messier objects. M44 "Praesepe" or the Beehive, is an open star cluster relatively close to us at 590 light years, located in the constellation's center. M67, in the south of Cancer, is another open cluster.  I think I'll make a promise to myself and one clear night in the next week or so pull out my binoculars and check it out...lugging that big old telescope out from the back is too much trouble and, besides, I never could figure out how to pinpoint stars with it. Hey, maybe that can be my next project after I see Cancer with the field glasses...

Next month I'll try to dish up another constellation to discuss...

Constellation of the Month: Taurus (the Bull)

 

If you're looking at the above star map of the evening wintertime Zodiac constellation Taurus, representing a bull, the planet Mars stands out sharply.  But it's only in that position in the night sky if you happen to go outside and view it tonight or in the next few days...don't expect to see it there if you're reading this in, say, 2024...or even just a few weeks from now, for that matter.  Aldebaran is the standout first magnitude star in Taurus, in proximity to the open star cluster Hyades, represented by some of the constellation's fainter stars.  The famous cluster Pleiades is situated on the constellation's western end, at first glance a smudge in the night sky. But with more intense inspection the brightest stars within it can be visually detected...if you have 20/20 eyesight, that is.  Near the tip of the "lower horn" lies M1, aka the Crab Nebula, remnant of a renowned supernova explosion in 1054...you need a good pair of binoculars or a telescope to view it.  Taurus is one of the more prominent constellations in the winter evening sky as well as being one of the northernmost in the Zodiac, passing the meridian around 9 pm local standard time.  But to its immediate south is easily the most brilliant constellation of all, Orion, and sometimes Taurus gets unfairly passed over.  If the sky is clear, why not step outside and see if you can see the Bull?  My suggestion is twofold: either look for the "smudge" (the Pleiades) and go eastward from that or identify Orion and go northward.  Oh, and right now Mars is pretty prominent and red: that's a good "skymark" as well...

Constellations of the Month: Aries and Triangulum

Even since I learned the constellations, their star patterns and locations back in 1964, I have always grouped small Aries (representing a ram) and even smaller Triangulum (representing, er...uh, a triangle) together as a combo deal.  They're just east of the dismally dim Zodiac constellation Pisces, although the two aren't endowed with bright stars, either.  They also tend to get overshadowed by the brilliant display of stars to their east, with Taurus (including the nearby beautiful cluster the Pleiades, visible to the naked eye as a smudge in the night sky) and spectacular Orion drawing the star gazer's attention away from them.  Triangulum does have a deep space object, M33, which is a spiral galaxy visible without binoculars, but only when the sky is very dark.  The three main stars in Aries also form a triangle, duh...I don't know why they didn't just graft what is Triangulum onto the Ram and make one more substantial star group, but I didn't live way back in ancient times when they came up with these designations.  As a kid watching the night sky, I always regarded making out Triangulum and Aries as a sort of visual test...this task is made easier when they pass nearly overhead this time of the year around 9 pm Standard Time, making them less susceptible to city lights.  Triangulum has a southern counterpart constellation, dubbed "Triangulum Australe"...I've actually seen star maps with it represented by a crude quadrilateral of connected stars...really???   And I can't finish this article without mentioning what you probably already know: Aries is a Zodiac constellation, so the elliptic, the imaginary celestial "line" representing the plane of our solar system through while the sun, moon, and planets seem to travel, passes through it...

Next month I'll pick another constellation (or two) to discuss...

Constellation of the Month: Cepheus (the King)

 

Cepheus, which crosses the meridian just above Polaris (the North Star) around 10 pm in October (Daylight Savings Time), is a prominent northern hemisphere constellation although it boasts of no prominent stars. Alderamin is its brightest, barely dimmer than 2nd magnitude.  Cepheus represents an ancient king, the husband of Queen Cassiopeia in the Perseus mythology.  In this region of the sky the Perseus myth is strongly represented by several constellations: the hero Perseus, the fair maiden Andromeda, the winged horse Pegasus, the sea monster Cetus...and Andromeda's parents Cepheus and Cassiopeia, side by side in the night sky.  I probably should have inverted the above depiction of Cepheus as that is its position when it is highest in the sky.  It possesses several deep-space objects although none are from the traditional Messier catalogue.  According to Wikipedia, the constellation contains a very powerful quasar powered by a supermassive black hole as well as a hypergiant star, Mu Cephei, whose surface would extend beyond Jupiter's orbit were it situated in our Sun's place...

If it's not cloudy, I think I'll go out tonight and check out Cepheus.  By the way, that bright "star" you see rising high in the southeast sky during the evening is really the planet Jupiter...

Next month: another constellation...

Constellations of the Month: Sagitta (the Arrow) and Delphinus (the Dolphin)

Sagitta, which really does resemble an arrow, and Delphinus...which does not resemble a dolphin...are tiny constellations situated between the larger Cygnus and Aquila in the summertime evening sky.  Altair, in the neighboring constellation Aquila, is the southernmost of the prominent three first-magnitude stars commonly referred to as the "Summer Triangle"...I included it in the above illustration to show where these two pipsqueak constellations are located in the night sky.  Their stars are all dim, but they do form distinct patterns...you should be able to easily make them out in a setting without city light interference.  The Milky Way cuts through them, so this region of the sky is pretty as well.  As for deep space objects...besides the Milky Way galaxy background itself...there is within Sagitta M71, which is a globular star cluster.  Delphinus is also referred to as "Job's Coffin", but it doesn't resemble one any more than a dolphin.  Since this time of year around 10 pm these constellations in northern temperate latitudes pass nearly overhead, as long as it's not cloudy or you're not in the middle of a metropolis, then spotting them might stand as a reasonable test of your vision...

Next month, I'll pick another constellation to discuss...

Constellation of the Month: Lyra (the Lyre)

 

Lyra is a small constellation in the northern night sky, crossing the meridian in mid-evening during the month of August.  It is dominated by the first-magnitude star Vega, which along with Altair (of Aquila) and Deneb (of Cygnus) form the "Summer Triangle" of readily discernible stars.  For those living north of the Equator, Vega is visible in the evening throughout much of the year but it's the summertime in which its constellation, Lyra, is more easily seen as it is highest up from the horizon. The constellation is most easily pictured as a parallelogram of nondescript stars with that very-bright Vega...relatively close to us at only 25 light-years distance...near its northwestern corner.  On the south side of the constellation is the Messier deep-space object M57, also known as the Ring Nebula and one of the more picturesque sights in the night sky...naturally, you need a telescope to see it, so why not just take a gander off the Internet instead?  The fastest way to pinpoint Lyra in the night sky is to find those three stars in the Summer Triangle...Vega is the brightest and is the one north and west of the other two.

Next month I'll pick another constellation to discuss...

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: Leo (the Lion)

 

Leo is one the more easily discernible constellations, high in the southern sky in temperate northern latitudes during the spring evening.  It has a first magnitude star, Regulus (a double star 77 light-years distant), at Leo's southwestern corner...Denebola (36 light-years away), at magnitude two, is on the east end, representing the lion's tail.  You can get a vague idea of what Leo is supposed to picture: a crouching or sitting lion facing the right (west).  Leo is a zodiac constellation, meaning that it is a section of background to the projection of the solar system's orbital planes through which we see the planets, our moon, and the sun...faint Cancer lies to its west and expansive Virgo to the east.  On its southern side are five Messier deep space objects: M65, M66, M95, M96, and M105.  They are all spiral galaxies.  In my memory Leo stands as one of the very first constellations I learned and recognized in the night sky long ago, when I was seven and my father introduced them to me one evening in April of 1964...

Constellation of the Month: Canis Minor (the Lesser Dog)

 

Canis Minor is a small February/March evening constellation, just north of the faint constellation Monoceros (and further north of Canis Major (last month's featured constellation).  It lies just south of the Zodiac, at the junction of Gemini and Cancer.  Although small...only two stars are brighter than 4th magnitude...it is still more prominent than many other constellations, including the aforementioned Cancer and Monoceros.  It features Procyon, the seventh-brightest star in the night sky and one of the nearest, only 11.4 light-years distant.  The other readily visible star is Gomeisa at third-magnitude brightness but much more distant, around 160 light-years.  The easiest way to see Canis Minor from latitudes north of the Equator is to either go straight up from Sirius, the brightest star of the night sky, or fix on Orion and go due East (left) from the star Betelgeuse in the north part of that constellation.  In the evening sky, when spring rolls around the stars above are much dimmer...a look toward the west will reveal all those bright stars and constellations of the winter, now following the sun to the setting horizon.   But I always have a soft place in my heart for the springtime, for it was during this season back in 1964 when my father introduced me, at age seven, to the constellations, pointing them out to me in the sky...what a great memory!  Next month I'll pick another constellation to discuss...

Constellation of the Month: Canis Major (the Great Dog)

 

If you think dogs are great and that's why the southern February evening constellation Canis Major is translated as "great dog", then you're missing the point that it is so named as to distinguish it from the nearby constellation Canis Minor...the "lesser dog".  Portrayed in the night sky as hunter Orion's dog forever pursuing the adjacent star group Lepus (the hare), Canis Major's greatest feature is Sirius, easily the brightest star in the night sky at -1.46 magnitude, only some 8.6 light years distant making it a celestial neighbor of ours.  Sirius is a binary star, the much dimmer companion a very dense white dwarf star, "the Pup", almost the exact size of Earth but much, much more massive.  The rest of Canis Major contains a number of readily visible stars, making it easy to find in the evening sky, just to the southeast of Orion with that constellation's three-star "belt" roughly pointing in Sirius' direction.  It also contains a Messier object, M41...an open cluster visible to the naked eye at 4.5 magnitude.  It shouldn't be too hard to find this constellation on a clear twilight during February...just look to the southeast (from continental U.S. latitudes) as the sun sets and Sirius should stand out as the first star to become visible as the blue background darkens...

Next month I will examine another constellation...

Constellation of the Month: Auriga (the Charioteer)

 

Auriga is a prominent winter evening constellation to the north of zodiac constellation Taurus, which in turn is just north of dazzling Orion...but its own relatively bright stars, highlighted by Capella...make it nearly as recognizable.  The main part of the constellation is an irregular pentagon and other fainter stars give it...if you see it as the Charioteer's head, that is, a pointed hat and his nose (just southwest of Capella).  The bottom star, El Nath, is technically part of Taurus representing the tip of one of the bull's horns, but it also belongs to Auriga...if unofficially.  Capella is one of the northernmost first-magnitude stars and as such, is usually visible in the evening not only in the winter but also the springtime (in the northwest sky) and the fall (in the northeast)...Vega, a summer evening bright star, is similar on the other side of the sky.  Auriga contains three Messier objects, M36, M37, and M38...all of them open star clusters.  With Capella being the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, Auriga is hard to miss and is an integral part of the winter evening "starscape".  Next month I'll pick a constellation to feature for the February evening sky...

Constellation of the Month: Eridanus (the River)

 

Eridanus is a large constellation in the southern evening December sky, starting at its northeastern end with its "beta" star Cursa near the star Rigel of the prominent constellation Orion and winding around, ending up much further south with the first-magnitude "alpha" star Achernar.  In spite of its size, Eridanus is rather devoid of bright stars besides Achernar, the rest being of third magnitude or dimmer.  Achernar, some 7 times the mass of our sun, is about 140 light-years away. Although technically it should be visible just above the southern horizon here in Gainesville when it crosses the meridian, in reality I cannot see it from this latitude because of trees and buildings almost inevitably blocking my view.  But growing up in south Florida...Hollywood to be exact...I was about 4 degrees further south and could see Achernar back then.  I don't recall having ever experienced a clear enough night when city lights or the moon didn't render Eridanus difficult to observe, but its occupation of a relatively large swath of the celestial sky qualifies it as my constellation of the month for December. The above drawing should make it clear why it represents a river...

Constellation of the Month: Cetus (the Sea Monster)

 

Cetus is a large autumn evening constellation, nearly all of it lying south of the celestial equator, just south of the faint Zodiac constellation Pisces.  The stars in Cetus tend to be brighter than some of those constellations surrounding it, although that's not saying much.  To me the standout star is Beta Ceti, better known as Deneb Kaitos, situated at Cetus' southwest corner at magnitude 2.04, a clear marker in the night sky, especially in juxtaposition to its dim setting.  Mira is a noted variable star whose magnitude dramatically and periodically changes from easily-visible 3 all the way to 10, only viewable through telescopes.  There's a Messier object, M77, on the constellation's northeastern end...it is a spiral galaxy some 50 million light-years distant.  Cetus represents the sea monster that mythical Greek heroic character Perseus had to battle.  Its nearby constellations in the fall sky are elements of Perseus' story: Pegasus, Perseus himself, Andromeda and Cassiopeia.  Sometimes Cetus is referred to as a whale, and Curious George creator H.A. Rey's redrawn constellations from his children's book Find the Constellations (which I used to check out a lot as a kid) depict it that way.  Next month I'll discuss a constellation from December's evening sky...

Constellation of the Month: Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish)

 

The constellation Piscis Austrinus...Latin for the Southern Fish...is easily visible in the southern sky for those of us in northern latitudes in mid-evening during October. The constellation's one claim to fame is its first-magnitude star Fomalhaut, which also happens to be the only star this bright in the autumn evening sky...once you get past Deneb in Cygnus. The rest of Piscis Austrinus' "prominent" stars, i.e. the ones that make up the connecting dots of the constellation, are of 4th magnitude or fainter. If you go out on a clear night anytime soon around 10 and look south, you'll see a rather flat triangle there of bright stars: two of them, the ones on the right are the planets Jupiter (in the middle) and Saturn (on the right/west)...Fomalhaut is its left/eastern point.  And if you go out tonight or tomorrow (10/14,15), you'll see the bright moon in the midst of them, just past first quarter phase. Fomalhaut is relatively near, as stars go...only about 25 light-years distant.  It's also been the locale in a number of science fiction tales as well. Even if you discount Fomalhaut's presence, in spite of the other relatively dim stars in it, Piscis Austrinus is easier to pick out of the sky than the Zodiac constellations Aquarius to its north and Pisces to its northeast...

Next month: another constellation...

Constellation of the Month: Capricornus

 

Capricornus is considered a September constellation in that it crosses the meridian in mid-evening, and it's along the Zodiac between Sagittarius and Aquarius.  But you need a location away from city lights to be able to really see it well...its brightest star is only magnitude three and no others are brighter than magnitude four.  Dubbed the "Sea Goat" (whatever that's supposed to be), its shape is like a boat or basket...making it relatively easy to spot in appropriately dark skies.  I misspelled Delta Capricorni's Arabic name Deneb Algedi in the above picture: it's that brightest star I was referring to, on the far eastern (left) end.  On the opposite part of the sky is the constellation Cancer: yes, these two are directly related to Earth's "Tropic of" latitudes that at a time in the past represented the northernmost and southernmost points in the sky where the sun would lie...and on Earth where it would reach the zenith at noon...on the summer and winter solstices.  The constellations fulfilling this function nowadays are Sagittarius and Gemini.  I didn't put the different stars' Greek alphabet designations in the above picture because I prefer their proper names, usually derived from Arabic.  Now that I've written about Capricornus I feel duty-bound to go outside in the evening and try to see it...shouldn't be too hard if the weather cooperates. After Cygnus (which I wrote about in September 2020) there just aren't that many standout constellations for this month...next year should be a challenge to find a third...

Constellation of the Month: Ursa Minor

Lots of interesting objects in our solar system proceed from our terrestrial vantage point across the sky from east to west along the relativity thin strip of the celestial map called the Zodiac and which reflect the disc-like alignment of lunar and planetary orbits...so the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune traverse this ever-changing path along the course of a day.  But if you live in the Earth's northern hemisphere as do I (and most of you) and face north, relatively little changes and you're never going to see any of those celestial objects looking in that direction.  Where I live, the Celestial North Pole is always at the same point, exactly thirty degrees up from the northern horizon. Almost directly on it is the second-magnitude star Polaris of the constellation Ursa Minor (Latin for "little bear").  Technically, I regard this constellation, also known as the Little Dipper, as a June constellation because the rest of its visible stars (Polaris represents the end star in the handle) cross the meridian above the north pole at that time during the evening hours...yet I can actually see it year-round if I want.  Whenever we go to an Atlantic beach like Daytona, Ormond or St. Augustine and look out after sunset...supposedly eastward...from our oceanfront hotel balcony...I can always see Polaris to the left since the beach (and our room) doesn't face directly eastward, but rather east-northeastward, moving the North Star a few degrees to the right and into our view.  Ursa Minor is a small constellation marked by only one other second-magnitude star, Kochab or Beta Ursae Minoris (Polaris is Alpha), the top star in the "dipper" part of the configuration. Once you find Polaris and Kochab you can (unless you're inhibited by city lights) string together the rest of the constellation's fainter stars.  I've never been south of the Equator, but if I ever go there I won't be able to see Polaris...instead the Celestial South Pole will be "visible", continually lying the same number of degrees directly north of the southern horizon as that of my latitude south of the Equator.  I put "visible" in quotes, though, because regrettably the Celestial South Pole is devoid of any bright star to pinpoint it...instead you have to either have an remarkably clear night to see the very obscure constellation Octans on which it lies or interpolate the Pole's location from bright southern stars like Alpha Centuari, Acrux, Achernar, and Canopus.  Not that I've ever had the opportunity to do that, though.  By the way, Polaris is a supergiant triple-star system a whopping 432 light-years distant...

Next month I'll pick another constellation to spotlight...