Constellations,

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Constellations, Part II
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Taurus, the bull, is marked by a V-shaped pattern
of stars that outlines the bull's face. Bright
red Aldebaran, the "eye" of the bull, stands at
one point of the V. This pattern is part of a
cluster of stars called the Hyades the
second-closest star cluster to Earth. It consists
of several hundred stars that lie about 130
light-years away. Aldebaran is a red-giant an
old, bloated star that's used up most of its
nuclear fuel. It's much larger and much brighter
than our own middle-aged Sun.
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What are the small objects within the
constellations that are marked with M numbers?
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M1, the Crab Nebula
M45, the Pleiades
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"M" is for Messier Charles Messier was a French
astronomer who lived in the eighteenth century.
His passion was searching for comets. During his
searches, he came across many objects that were
not comets. He made a list of these objects and
put them into a catalog.
The objects in this catalog were identified by
his initial M and a number indicating the order
in which he cataloged them. This catalog, called
the Messier Catalog, is still in use today. His
first published catalog included objects up to
M45. His last published catalog included objects
up to M103.
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Ursa Major, The Great Bear
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Ursa Major the great bear is always above the
horizon in the northern latitudes, but the best
time to see it is in the spring when its high
above the northeastern horizon. Ursa Major is
best known as the home of the Big Dipper. Of all
the star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper is
the most universally recognized. The dipper's
seven bright stars form a portion, known as an
asterism, of the great bear. It's hard to see the
rest of the bear, especially from light-polluted
cities.
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The middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper
is actually a double star. The Larger star is
Mizar and the companion is named Alcor. The
ancient Greek and Arab armies used these stars as
an eye test. But wait there's more! When you put
a telescope on these two you'll see that Mizar is
really a double star itself! So these three form
a triple star. But wait... that's right...
there's MORE! In reality each of the two stars
that make up Mizar is a double star, too close
for us to see even with a big telescope. So Mizar
Alcor comprise a quintuple star -- a FIVE STAR
SYSTEM!!
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In the constellation Orion, two of the brightest
stars in the evening sky lie at opposite corners
of this grouping bright red Betelgeuse at the
northeastern corner and even brighter Rigel at
the southwest corner. Near the center of the
rectangle, look for a short diagonal line of
three stars Orion's belt. And extending south
from the belt, you'll see another, fainter line
of stars that forms Orion's sword. One of the
objects in Orion's sword isn't a star at all.
It's a nebula a cloud of gas and dust that's
like a giant fluorescent bulb. Hot young stars
inside the nebula pump energy into its gas,
causing the gas to glow.
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M42
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In which constellation do you find Sirius, the
brightest star in the sky?
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Canis Major loyally follows its mythical master,
Orion, across the southern skies of winter. The
brightest star in Canis Major also is the
brightest in the entire night sky brilliant
Sirius, which is just 8.6 light-years away.
That's only twice as far as our closest stellar
neighbor. It has recently been speculated that
Sirius may be a binary companion to our Sun,
traveling in a 24,000 year orbit!
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M41, an open star cluster in Canis Major
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Auriga, the celestial charioteer, has neither
chariot nor horse. Instead, he's drawn as a man
holding the reins in his right hand, with a goat
on his left shoulder the star Capella and two
baby goats in his left arm. Capella is one of the
few bright stars that is yellow, like our Sun.
Both Capella and the Sun are yellow because they
have roughly the same surface temperature. But
the light from Capella actually comes from two
separate stars. Both are yellow, and both lie
about 43 light-years from Earth. Each star emits
dozens of times more light than the Sun. The
small triangle asterism near Capella is known as
the kids.
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Open Star Clusters In Auriga M36, M37, M38
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Stars are labeled by size from largest to
smallest using the Greek alphabet.
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Boötes trails the Big Dipper as it wheels around
the North Star. The name Boötes comes from a
Sumerian word that means "Man Who Drove the Great
Cart." The "Great Cart" was the Big Dipper. The
brightest stars of Boötes form a cone shape, with
brilliant yellow-orange Arcturus at the base of
the cone. Arcturus, a red super giant, is the
fourth-brightest star in Earth's night sky. It is
about 20 times larger than the Sun. It produces
about a hundred times as much energy. At a
distance of about 35 light-years, it's closer to
us than any other stellar giant. You can find
Arcturus by following the arc of the handle of
the Big Dipper to this very bright star.
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Leo's brightest star is blue-white Regulus, one
of the brightest stars in the night sky. Regulus
rises almost due east, with the body of the lion
following it into the sky over the next couple of
hours. Once Regulus climbs into the sky, look to
its left toward the north for a group of
stars forming a backward question mark. These
stars outline Leo's head and mane. During the
next few months look for a large yellow star
that doesnt twinkle, located to the right of the
head of the lion. It is the planet Saturn!
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And now, on to the Stellarium