Constellations and bright stars. What are the constellations

A constellation is a section of the celestial sphere with all celestial objects projected onto it from the point of view of an earthly observer. Modern astronomers divide the entire sky into 88 constellations, the boundaries between which are drawn in the form of broken lines along the arcs of celestial parallels (small circles of the celestial sphere parallel to the celestial equator) and declination circles (large semicircles perpendicular to the equator) in the system of equatorial coordinates of the 1875 era. Modern names constellations and their boundaries were established by the decisions of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1922-1935. Henceforth, it was decided to consider these boundaries and names of constellations unchanged (Table 1).

The word "constellation" (from Latin constellatio) means "a collection (or group) of stars." In ancient times, expressive groups of stars were called "constellations", which helped to memorize the pattern of the starry sky and use it to navigate in space and time. Each nation had its own traditions of dividing the stars into constellations. The constellations used by modern astronomers are mostly named and include bright stars traditional for European culture.

It should be understood that a constellation is not a specific area in outer space, but only a certain range of directions from the point of view of an earthly observer. Therefore, it is wrong to say: " The spaceship flew into the constellation Pegasus"; it would be correct to say: "The spacecraft flew in the direction of the constellation Pegasus." The stars that form the constellation pattern are located at very different distances from us. In addition to stars in a particular constellation, very distant galaxies and nearby objects of the solar system can be seen - all of them belong to this constellation at the time of observation. But over time, celestial objects can move from one constellation to another. This happens most quickly with close and fast moving objects: the Moon spends no more than two or three days in one constellation, the planets - from several days to several years; and even some nearby stars have crossed constellation boundaries over the past century.

The apparent area of ​​a constellation is determined by the solid angle it occupies in the sky; usually it is indicated in square degrees (Table 2). For comparison: the disks of the Moon or the Sun occupy an area of ​​\u200b\u200babout 0.2 square meters in the sky. degrees, and the area of ​​the entire celestial sphere is about 41253 sq. deg.

The names of the constellations are given in honor of mythical characters (Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, etc.) or animals (Leo, Dragon, Ursa Major, etc.), in honor of remarkable objects of antiquity or modernity (Libra, Altar, Compass, Telescope , Microscope, etc.), as well as simply by the names of those objects that resemble figures formed by bright stars (Triangle, Arrow, Southern Cross, etc.). Often one or more of the brightest stars in a constellation have their own names, such as Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, Vega in the constellation Lyra, Capella in the constellation Auriga, and so on. As a rule, the names of the stars are associated with the names of the constellations, for example, they denote parts of the body of a mythical character or animal.

Constellations are monuments of the ancient culture of man, his myths, his first interest in the stars. They help historians of astronomy and mythology to understand the way of life and thinking of ancient people. Constellations help modern astronomers navigate the sky and quickly determine the position of objects.

Table 1. Constellations in alphabetical order of Russian names

Table 1. CONSTELLATIONS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF RUSSIAN NAMES
Russian name	Latin name	Short designation
Andromeda	Andromeda	And
Twins	Gemini	Gem
Big Dipper	Ursa Major	Uma
Big Dog	Canis Major	CMa
Scales	Libra	Lib
Aquarius	Aquarius	Aqr
Auriga	Auriga	Aur
Wolf	Lupus	loop
Bootes	boots	Boo
Veronica's hair	Coma Berenices	Com
Crow	Corvus	crv
Hercules	Hercules	Her
Hydra	Hydra	Hya
Pigeon	Columba	Col
Hounds Dogs	Canes Venatici	CVn
Virgo	Virgo	Vir
Dolphin	Delphinus	Del
The Dragon	Draco	Dra
Unicorn	Monoceros	Mon
Altar	Ara	Ara
Painter	Pictor	Pic
Giraffe	camelopardalis	Cam
Crane	Grus	Gru
Hare	Lepus	Lep
Ophiuchus	Ophiuchus	Oh
Snake	Serpens	Ser
golden fish	Dorado	Dor
Indian	Indian	Ind
Cassiopeia	Cassiopeia	Cas
Centaur (Centaurus)	Centaurus	Cen
Keel	carina	car
Whale	Cetus	Set
Capricorn	Capricornus	Cap
Compass	Pyxis	Pyx
Stern	Puppies	Pup
Swan	Cygnus	Cyg
a lion	Leo	Leo
Flying fish	Volans	Vol
Lyra	Lyra	Lyr
Chanterelle	Vulpecula	Vul
Ursa Minor	Ursa Minor	UMi
Small Horse	Equuleus	Equ
Small Lion	Leo Minor	LMi
Small Dog	Canis Minor	CMi
Microscope	microscopium	Mic
Fly	Musca	Mus
Pump	Antlia	Ant
Square	Norma	Nor
Aries	Aries	Ari
Octant	Octans	Oct
Eagle	Aquila	Aql
Orion	Orion	Ori
Peacock	Pavo	pav
Sail	Vela	Vel
Pegasus	Pegasus	peg
Perseus	Perseus	Per
Bake	Fornax	For
Bird of paradise	Apus	Aps
Cancer	Cancer	cnc
Cutter (sculptor)	Caelum	Cae
Fish	Pisces	psc
Lynx	Lynx	Lyn
Northern Crown	Corona Borealis	CrB
Sextant	Sextans	sex
Net	Reticulum	Ret
Scorpion	Scorpius	sco
Sculptor	sculptor	scl
table mountain	Mensa	Men
Arrow	Sagitta	Sge
Sagittarius	Sagittarius	Sgr
Telescope	Telescopium	Tel
Taurus	Taurus	Tau
Triangle	Triangulum	Tri
Toucan	Tucana	Tuc
Phoenix	Phoenix	Phe
Chameleon	Chamaeleon	Cha
Cepheus	Cepheus	cep
Compass	Circinus	cir
Watch	Horologium	Nor
Bowl	crater	crt
Shield	Scutum	Sct
eridanus	Eridanus	Eri
Southern Hydra	Hydrus	Hyi
South Crown	Corona Australis	CrA
Southern Fish	Piscis Austrinus	PsA
South Cross	Crux	cru
Southern Triangle	Triangulum Australe	TaA
Lizard	Lacerta	Lac

Table 2. Constellations: Area and number of stars visible to the naked eye

Table 2. CONSTELLATIONS: AREA AND NUMBER OF STARS VISIBLE WITH THE NAIL EYE
Russian name	Square sq. deg.	NUMBER OF STARS
		brighter 2.4	2,4–4,4	4,4–5,5	complete
Andromeda	722	3	14	37	54
Twins	514	3	16	28	47
Big Dipper	1280	6	14	51	71
Big Dog	380	5	13	38	56
Scales	538	0	7	28	35
Aquarius	980	0	18	38	56
Auriga	657	2	9	36	47
Wolf	334	1	20	29	50
Bootes	907	2	12	39	53
Veronica's hair	386	0	3	20	23
Crow	184	0	6	5	11
Hercules	1225	0	24	61	85
Hydra	1303	1	19	51	71
Pigeon	270	0	7	17	24
Hounds Dogs	465	0	2	13	15
Virgo	1294	1	15	42	58
Dolphin	189	0	5	6	11
The Dragon	1083	1	16	62	79
Unicorn	482	0	6	30	36
Altar	237	0	8	11	19
Painter	247	0	2	13	15
Giraffe	757	0	5	40	45
Crane	366	2	8	14	24
Hare	290	0	10	18	28
Ophiuchus	948	2	20	33	55
Snake	637	0	13	23	36
golden fish	179	0	4	11	15
Indian	294	0	4	9	13
Cassiopeia	598	3	8	40	51
Centaur (Centaurus)	1060	6	31	64	101
Keel	494	4	20	53	77
Whale	1231	1	14	43	58
Capricorn	414	0	10	21	31
Compass	221	0	3	9	12
Stern	673	1	19	73	93
Swan	804	3	20	56	79
a lion	947	3	15	34	52
Flying fish	141	0	6	8	14
Lyra	286	1	8	17	26
Chanterelle	268	0	1	28	29
Ursa Minor	256	2	5	11	18
Small Horse	72	0	1	4	5
Small Lion	232	0	2	13	15
Small Dog	183	1	3	9	13
Microscope	210	0	0	15	15
Fly	138	0	6	13	19
Pump	239	0	1	8	9
Square	165	0	1	13	14
Aries	441	1	4	23	28
Octant	291	0	3	14	17
Eagle	652	1	12	34	47
Orion	594	7	19	51	77
Peacock	378	1	10	17	28
Sail	500	3	18	55	76
Pegasus	1121	1	15	41	57
Perseus	615	1	22	42	65
Bake	398	0	2	10	12
Bird of paradise	206	0	4	6	10
Cancer	506	0	4	19	23
Cutter	125	0	1	3	4
Fish	889	0	11	39	50
Lynx	545	0	5	26	31
Northern Crown	179	1	4	17	22
Sextant	314	0	0	5	5
Net	114	0	3	8	11
Scorpion	497	6	19	37	62
Sculptor	475	0	3	12	15
table mountain	153	0	0	8	8
Arrow	80	0	4	4	8
Sagittarius	867	2	18	45	65
Telescope	252	0	2	15	17
Taurus	797	2	26	70	98
Triangle	132	0	3	9	12
Toucan	295	0	4	11	15
Phoenix	469	1	8	18	27
Chameleon	132	0	5	8	13
Cepheus	588	1	14	42	57
Compass	93	0	2	8	10
Watch	249	0	1	9	10
Bowl	282	0	3	8	11
Shield	109	0	2	7	9
eridanus	1138	1	29	49	79
Southern Hydra	243	0	5	9	14
South Crown	128	0	3	18	21
Southern Fish	245	1	4	10	15
South Cross	68	3	6	11	20
Southern Triangle	110	1	4	7	12
Lizard	201	0	3	20	23
TOTAL NUMBER		88	779	2180	3047

Ancient constellations.

The first ideas of people about the starry sky came to us from the pre-literate period of history: they were preserved in material cultural monuments. Archaeologists and astronomers have found that the most ancient asterisms - characteristic groups of bright stars - were identified in the sky in the Stone Age, more than 15 thousand years ago. Some researchers believe that the first celestial images appeared simultaneously with the birth of the first drawings embodied in rock art, when the development of the left (logical) hemisphere of the human brain made it possible to identify an object with its flat image.

Two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, played a vital role for ancient man. Watching their movement, people discovered some important phenomena. So, they noticed that the day's path of the Sun across the sky depends on the season: it rises to the north in spring and sinks to the south in autumn. They also noticed that the Moon and the bright "moving stars," which the Greeks later called "planets," move among the stars along roughly the same path as the Sun. And they also noticed that in different seasons of the year, different, but quite definite stars rise shortly before the onset of morning, and other stars set just after sunset.

To remember the movement of the Sun, Moon and planets, people noted the most important stars that lay in the path of moving bodies. Later, having created gods for themselves, they identified some of them with the stars in the sky. The ancient Sumerians, who lived in the Middle East 5,000 years ago, gave names to many famous constellations, especially in the Zodiac, the region of the sky through which the paths of the Sun, Moon, and planets pass. Similar groups of stars were identified by the inhabitants of the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, Phoenicia, Greece and other areas of the Eastern Mediterranean.

As you know, the gravitational influence of the Moon and the Sun on our planet causes a slow cone-shaped movement of the earth's axis, which leads to the displacement of the vernal equinoxes along the ecliptic from east to west. This phenomenon is called precession, i.e. pre-equinox ( cm.: Earth - Movement of the Earth - Precession). Under the influence of precession, over several millennia, the position of the earth's equator and the celestial equator associated with it change noticeably relative to the fixed stars; as a result, the annual course of the constellations across the sky becomes different: for residents of certain geographical latitudes, some constellations eventually become observable, while others disappear under the horizon for many millennia. But the Zodiac always remains the Zodiac, since the plane of the earth's orbit is practically unchanged; The sun will always move across the sky among the same stars as it does today.

In 275 BC Greek poet Aratus in a poem Phenomena described the constellations known to him. As studies by modern astronomers have shown, Arat in Phenomena used a much earlier description of the celestial sphere. Since the precession of the earth's axis changes the visibility of the constellations from epoch to epoch, Arata's list of constellations makes it possible to date the original source of the poem and determine the geographical latitude of observations. Independent researchers came to similar results: E. Maunder (1909) dated the original source to 2500 BC, A. Cromellin (1923) - 2460 BC, M. Ovenden (1966) - approx. 2600 BC, A. Roy (1984) - c. 2000 BC, S.V. Zhitomirsky - approx. 1800 BC The location of the observers refers to 36 degrees north latitude.

Now we call the constellations described by Arat "ancient". Four centuries later, in the second century AD, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy described 48 constellations, indicating the positions of the brightest stars in them; of these constellations, 47 have retained their names to this day, and one large constellation, Argo, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, was divided into four smaller constellations in the 18th century: Carina, Korma, Sails and Compass.

Of course, different peoples divided the sky in different ways. For example, in ancient China, a map was distributed, on which the starry sky was divided into four parts, each of them had seven constellations, i.e. there are 28 constellations in total. And the Mongolian scientists of the XVIII century. numbered 237 constellations. In European science and literature, those constellations that were used by the ancient inhabitants of the Mediterranean were entrenched. From these countries (including Northern Egypt), about 90% of the entire sky can be seen during the year. However, for peoples living far from the equator, a significant part of the sky is inaccessible for observation: only half of the sky is visible at the pole, and about 70% at the latitude of Moscow. For this reason, even for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, the southernmost stars were not available; this part of the sky was divided into constellations only in modern times, in the era of geographical discoveries.

As a result of the precession, the vernal equinox point has moved from the constellation Taurus through Aries to Pisces over the past 2 millennia since ancient times. This led to an apparent shift of the entire zodiac series of constellations by two positions (since the countdown traditionally starts from the constellation in which the vernal equinox is located). For example, Pisces was at first the eleventh constellation of the zodiac, and now it is the first; Taurus was the first - became the third. At about 2600, the vernal equinox will move from Pisces to Aquarius, and then this constellation will become the first in the Zodiac. notice, that zodiac signs, which are used by astrologers to designate equal parts of the ecliptic, are rigidly connected with the equinoxes and follow them. Two thousand years ago, when the classic manuals that astrologers still use today were written, the zodiac signs were located in the constellations of the zodiac of the same name. But the shifting of the equinoxes has led to the fact that the zodiac signs are now located in other constellations. The Sun now enters a specific zodiac sign 2-5 weeks earlier than it reaches the constellation of the same name. ( Cm. ZODIAC).

Constellations of the New Age.

The constellations described by Ptolemy have faithfully served sailors and caravan guides in the desert for many centuries. But after the circumnavigations of Magellan (1518–1521) and other navigators, it became clear that sailors needed new guiding stars for successful orientation in the southern latitudes. In 1595–1596, during the expedition of the Dutch merchant Frederik de Houtman (Frederik de Houtman, 1571–1627) around the Cape of Good Hope to the island of Java, his navigator Peter Dirkszoon Keyzer (Pieter Dirkszoon Keyzer; also known as Petrus Theodori, Petrus Theodori) singled out in the sky 12 new southern constellations: Crane, Golden Fish, Indian, Flying Fish, Fly, Peacock, Bird of Paradise, Toucan, Phoenix, Chameleon, Southern Hydra and Southern Triangle. These star groups took their final form a little later, when they were marked on celestial globes, and the German astronomer Johann Bayer (1572–1625) depicted them in his atlas Uranometry (Uranometria, 1603).

The appearance of new constellations in the southern sky prompted some enthusiasts to start redistributing the northern sky. Three new northern constellations (Dove, Unicorn and Giraffe) were introduced in 1624 by Jacob Bartsch, son-in-law of Johannes Kepler. Seven more, mostly northern constellations (Hounds Dogs, Chanterelle, Lesser Lion, Lynx, Sextant, Shield and Lizard) were introduced by the Polish astronomer Jan Hevelius, using stars in areas of the sky not covered by the constellations of Ptolemy. Their description is published in the atlas Uranography (Prodromus astronomiae, 1690), published after the death of Hevelius. The French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1713–1762), making observations at the Cape of Good Hope in 1751–1753, singled out and cited in his Catalog of stars in the southern sky (Coelum australe stelliferum, 1763) 17 more southern constellations: Painter, Carina, Compass, Stern, Microscope, Pump, Square, Octant, Sails, Furnace, Cutter, Grid, Sculptor, Table Mountain, Telescope, Compasses and Clock, naming them after the instruments of science and art. They were the last of the 88 constellations used by astronomers today.

Of course, there were significantly more attempts to rename sections of the night sky than the number of new constellations that have survived to this day. Many compilers of star maps in the XVII-XIX centuries. tried to introduce new constellations. For example, the first Russian star atlas by Cornelius Reissig, published in St. Petersburg in 1829, contained 102 constellations. But far from all proposals of this kind were unconditionally accepted by astronomers. Sometimes the introduction of new constellations was justified; An example of this is the division of the large constellation of the southern sky Ship Argo into four parts: Stern, Carina, Sails and Compass. Since this region of the sky is extremely rich in bright stars and other interesting objects, no one objected to its division into small constellations. With the general consent of astronomers, great scientific instruments were placed in the sky - Microscope, Telescope, Compasses, Pump, Furnace (laboratory), Clock.

But there were also unsuccessful attempts to rename the constellations. For example, European monks have repeatedly tried to "Christianize" the vault of heaven, i. expel the heroes of pagan legends from it and populate it with characters Holy Scripture. The constellations of the Zodiac were replaced by images of the 12 apostles, and so on. Literally, the entire starry sky was redrawn by a certain Julius Schiller from Augsburg, who published an atlas of constellations in 1627 under the title " Christian starry sky...". But despite great power churches in those years, the new names of the constellations did not receive recognition.

There were also many attempts to give the constellations the names of living monarchs and commanders: Charles I and Frederick II, Stanislav II and George III, Louis XIV and even the great Napoleon, in whose honor they wanted to rename the constellation Orion. But not a single new name that got “into heaven” for political, religious and other opportunistic reasons managed to stay on it for a long time.

Not only the names of monarchs, but even the names of scientific instruments did not always linger in heaven. So, in 1789, the astronomer of the Vienna Observatory Maximillian Hell (1720–1792) proposed the constellation Tubus Herschelii Major (Herschel's Great Telescope) in honor of the famous 20-foot reflector William Herschel. He wanted to place this constellation between Auriga, Lynx and Gemini, since it was in Gemini that Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. And the second small constellation Tubus Herschelii Minor, in honor of Herschel's 7-foot reflector, Hell proposed to distinguish Taurus from the faint stars east of Hyades . However, even such ideas, dear to the astronomical heart, did not find support.

The German astronomer Johann Bode (1747-1826) proposed in 1801, next to the constellation Argo Ship, to single out the constellation Lochium Funis (Sea Log) in honor of the device for measuring the speed of a ship; and next to Sirius, he wanted to place the constellation Officina Typographica (Typography) in honor of the 350th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. In 1806, the English scientist Thomas Young (1773–1829) proposed that between the Dolphin, the Little Horse and Pegasus, a new constellation “Voltaic Battery” be distinguished in honor of the galvanic cell invented in 1799 by the Italian Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). The constellation "Sundial" (Solarium) did not stay in the sky either.

Some complex constellation names have become simpler over time: "The Chanterelle with the Goose" has become simply the Chanterelle; "Southern Fly" became simply Fly (as "Northern Fly" quickly disappeared); The "Chemical Furnace" became the Furnace, and the "Compass of the Navigator" became simply the Compass.

The official boundaries of the constellations.

For many centuries, the constellations did not have clearly defined boundaries; usually on maps and star globes, the constellations were separated by curved intricate lines that did not have a standard position. Therefore, from the moment of the formation of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), one of its first tasks was the delimitation of the starry sky. At the 1st General Assembly of the IAU, held in Rome in 1922, astronomers decided that it was time to finally divide the entire celestial sphere into parts with precisely defined boundaries and, by the way, put an end to all attempts to reshape the starry sky. In the names of the constellations, it was decided to adhere to the European tradition.

It should be noted that although the names of the constellations remained traditional, scientists were not at all interested in the figures of the constellations, which are usually depicted by mentally connecting bright stars with straight lines. On star maps, these lines are drawn only in children's books and school textbooks; For scientific work they are not needed. Now astronomers call constellations not groups of bright stars, but parts of the sky with all the objects located on them, so the problem of determining the constellation is reduced only to drawing its boundaries.

But the boundaries between the constellations were not so easy to draw. Several well-known astronomers worked on this task, trying to preserve historical continuity and, if possible, prevent stars with their own names (Vega, Spica, Altair, ...) and established designations (a Lyra, b Perseus, ...) from falling into "foreign" constellations. At the same time, it was decided to make the boundaries between the constellations in the form of broken lines, passing only along the lines of constant declinations and right ascensions, since it is easier to fix these boundaries in mathematical form.

At the general assemblies of the IAU in 1925 and 1928, lists of constellations were adopted and the boundaries between most of them were approved. In 1930, on behalf of the IAU, the Belgian astronomer Eugene Delport published maps and a detailed description of the new boundaries of all 88 constellations. But even after that, some clarifications were still made, and only in 1935, by the decision of the IAU, this work was put to an end: the division of the sky was completed.

Constellation names.

The Latin names of the constellations are canonical; they are used by astronomers of all countries in their scientific practice. But in each country these names are also translated into their own language. Sometimes these translations are indisputable. For example, in Russian there is no single tradition of the name of the constellation Centaurus: it is translated as Centaurus or as Centaurus. Over the years, the tradition of translating such constellations as Cepheus (Cepheus, Cepheus), Coma Berenices (Veronica's Hair, Berenice's Hair), Canes Venatici (Sighthounds, Hounds of Dogs, Hounds of Dogs) has changed. Therefore, in books of different years and different authors, the names of the constellations may vary slightly.

Based on the Latin names of the constellations, abbreviated three-letter designations were also adopted for them: Lyr for Lyra, UMa for Ursa Major, etc. (Table 1). Usually they are used when indicating the stars in these constellations: for example, the star Vega, the brightest in the constellation Lyra, is designated as a Lyrae (genitive of Lyra), or briefly - a Lyr. Sirius - a CMa, Algol - b Per, Alcor - 80 UMa, etc. In addition, four-letter constellation designations were also adopted, but they are practically not used.

In addition to the officially approved ones, each country has its own, folk names for the constellations. Usually these are not even constellations, but asterisms - expressive groups of bright stars. For example, in Rus', seven bright stars in the constellation Ursa Major were called Bucket, Cart, Elk, Rocker, etc. In the constellation of Orion, the Belt and Sword stood out under the names Three Kings, Arshinchik, Kichigi, Rake. The Pleiades star cluster, not singled out by astronomers as a separate constellation, nevertheless, many peoples had their own name; in Rus', his name is Stozhary, Resheto, Hive, Lapot, Gnezdo (Duck's Nest), etc.

Names and designations of stars.

There are more than 100 billion stars in our Galaxy. About 0.004% of them are cataloged, and the rest are unnamed and even uncounted. However, all bright stars, and even many weak ones, have their own name in addition to the scientific designation; these names they received in antiquity. Many of the names of stars now in use, for example, Aldebaran, Algol, Deneb, Rigel, etc., are of Arabic origin. Now astronomers know about three hundred historical names of stars. Often these are the names of body parts of those figures that gave the name to the entire constellation: Betelgeuse (in the constellation Orion) - “the shoulder of a giant”, Denebola (in the constellation Leo) - “the tail of a lion”, etc.

Table 3 lists the names, designations, and magnitudes (in visual magnitudes) for some popular stars. Basically, these are the brightest stars; and a group of faint stars in the constellation of Taurus: Alcyone, Asterope, Atlas, Maya, Merope, Pleion, Taygetus and Electra are the famous Pleiades.

Beginning at the end of the 16th century detailed study of the sky, astronomers were faced with the need to have designations for all the stars, without exception, visible to the naked eye, and later to the telescope. In a beautifully illustrated Uranometry Johann Bayer, where the constellations and the legendary figures associated with their names are depicted, the stars were first designated by the letters of the Greek alphabet approximately in descending order of their brightness: a is the brightest star of the constellation, b is the second brightest, etc. When there were not enough letters of the Greek alphabet, Bayer used the Latin. Full designation stars according to the Bayer system consists of a letter and the Latin name of the constellation. For example, Sirius - the brightest star Canis Major (Canis Major) is designated as a Canis Majoris, or abbreviated as a CMa; Algol is the second brightest star in Perseus, designated as b Persei, or b Per.

Later, John Flamsteed (1646–1719), the first Astronomer Royal of England to determine the exact coordinates of the stars, introduced a system of notation that was not related to brightness. In each constellation, he designated the stars by numbers in the order of increasing their right ascension, i.e. in the order in which they cross the celestial meridian. So, Arcturus, aka a Bootes (a Bootis), is designated by Flamsteed as 16 Bootis. On modern maps of the starry sky, the ancient proper names of bright stars (Sirius, Canopus, ...) and Greek letters according to the Bayer system are usually applied; Bayer designations in Latin letters are rarely used. The remaining, less bright stars are designated by numbers according to the Flamsteed system.

With the publication of ever deeper catalogs of the starry sky containing data on fainter stars, new notation systems adopted in each of these catalogs are regularly introduced into scientific practice. Therefore, a very serious problem is the cross-identification of stars in different catalogs: after all, the same star can have dozens of different designations. Special databases are being created to facilitate the search for information about a star by its various designations; the most complete such databases are maintained at the Astronomical Data Center in Strasbourg (Internet address: cdsweb.u–strasbg.fr).

Some outstanding (but by no means the brightest) stars are often named after the astronomers who first described their unique properties. For example, Barnard's Flying Star is named after the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard (1857–1923), who discovered its record-breaking proper motion in the sky. Following it in terms of the speed of its own motion is the “Kaptein star”, named after the Dutch astronomer Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851–1922) who discovered this fact. Also known are the Herschel's pomegranate star (m Cep, a very red giant star), the van Maanen star (the closest single white dwarf), the van Bisbrook star (a luminary of record low mass), the Plaskett star (a record-breaking massive binary star), "Babcock's star" (with a record strong magnetic field) and some more, in general - about two dozen wonderful stars. It should be noted that these names are not approved by anyone: astronomers use them informally, as a sign of respect for the work of their colleagues.

Of particular interest in studying the evolution of stars are variable stars that change their brightness over time ( cm. VARIABLE STARS). A special notation system has been adopted for them, the standard of which is established by the General Catalog of Variable Stars (Internet address: www.sai.msu.su/groups/cluster/gcvs/gcvs/ or lnfm1.sai.msu.ru/GCVS/gcvs/ ). Variable stars are denoted by Latin capital letters from R to Z, and then by combinations of each of these letters with each of the subsequent ones from RR to ZZ, after which combinations of all letters from A to Q with each subsequent one, from AA to QZ (are excluded from all combinations the letter J, which is easily confused with the letter I). The number of such letter combinations is 334. Therefore, if a greater number of variable stars are discovered in a constellation, they are designated by the letter V (from variable - variable) and a serial number, starting from 335. A three-letter designation of constellations is added to each designation, for example, R CrB , S Car, RT Per, FU Ori, V557 Sgr, etc. Designations in this system are usually given only to the variable stars of our Galaxy. Bright variables from among the stars designated by Greek letters (according to Bayer) do not receive other designations.

Table 3. Proper names and brightness of some stars

Table 3. PROPER NAMES AND BRIGHTNESS OF SOME STARS
Name	Designation	Shine (sound great)
Acrux	a Cru	0,8
Algenib	g Peg	2,8
Algol	b Per	2,1–3,4
Aliot	e UMa	1,8
Albireo	b Cyg	3,0
Aldebaran	a Tau	0,9
Alderamin	a Cep	2,5
Alcor	80 Uma	4,0
Altair	a Aql	0,8
Alcyone	h Tau	2,9
Antares	a Sco	1,0
Arcturus	a Boo	–0,04
Asteropa	21 Tau	5,3
Atlas	27 Tau	3,6
Achernar	a Eri	0,5
Bellatrix	g Ori	1,6
Benetnash	hUMa	1,9
Betelgeuse	a Ori	0,5
Vega	a Lyr	0,03
Gem	aCrB	2,2
Deneb	a Cyg	1,3
Denebola	b Leo	2,1
Dubhe	a UMa	1,8
canopus	a Car	–0,7
Chapel	aur	0,1
Castor	a Gem	1,6
Mayan	20 Tau	3,9
Markab	a Peg	2,5
Merak	bUMa	2,4
Merope	23 Tau	4,2
Mira	o Set	3,1–12
Mirach	b And	2,1
Mizar	zUMa	2,1
playona	28 Tau	5,1
Pollux	b Gem	1,1
Polar	a UMi	2,0
Procyon	a CMi	0,4
Regulus	a Leo	1,4
Rigel	b Ori	0,2
Sirius	a CMa	–1,5
Spica	a Vir	1,0
Taygeta	19 Tau	4,3
Toliman	a Cen	–0,3
Fomalhaut	a PsA	1,2
Elektra	17 Tau	3,7

Description of constellations (in alphabetical order of Russian names).

A detailed description of the types of celestial objects mentioned below can be found in the articles: GALAXIES, STARS, QUASAR, INTERSTELLAR MATTER, MILKY WAY, NEUTRON STAR, NEW STAR, VARIABLE STARS, PULSAR, SUPERNOV STAR, NEBULAS, BLACK HOLE.

Andromeda.

In Greek myths, Andromeda is the daughter of the Ethiopian king Cepheus and queen Cassiopeia. And Perseus saved Andromeda from a sea monster sent by Poseidon. In the sky, all the characters of this legend are located side by side.

The constellation Andromeda is easy to find if you find 4 bright stars in the south side of the sky on an autumn evening - the Great Square of Pegasus. In its northeast corner is the star Alpheratz (a And), from which, to the northeast, towards Perseus, three chains of stars that make up Andromeda diverge. Its three brightest stars are Alferatz, Mirach, and Alamak (a, b, and g Andromeda), with Alamak being an amazing double star.

The most important object in the constellation is the spiral galaxy Andromeda Nebula (M 31, according to the Messier catalog) with its two satellites, the dwarf galaxies M 32 and NGC 205 (NGC - New General Catalogue, one of the popular catalogs of nebulae, star clusters and galaxies). On a moonless night, the Andromeda Nebula can be seen even with the naked eye, and it is clearly visible through binoculars; you should look for it to the northwest of the star n And. Although in the X century. Persian astronomer al-Sufi observed the Andromeda Nebula, calling it "a small cloud", but European scientists discovered it only at the beginning of the 17th century. This is the nearest spiral galaxy to us, about 2.5 million light years away. Outwardly, it resembles a pale oval the size of the disk of the moon. In fact, its diameter is about 180 thousand light years, and it contains about 300 billion stars.

Other objects of interest in this constellation include open star cluster NGC 752, planetary nebula NGC 7662, and one of the most beautiful edge-on spiral galaxies, NGC 891.

Twins.

The bright stars Castor ("coachman", a Gem) and Pollux ("fist fighter", b Gem), separated by 4.5 degrees, represent the heads of human figures, whose feet are on the Milky Way, adjoining Orion. To the naked eye, Castor looks like a single star, but in reality it is a tiny cluster of six stars, 45 light-years from the Sun. These 6 stars are grouped into three pairs that can be seen with a small telescope or strong binoculars. Two bright white-blue components with apparent magnitudes of 2.0 and 2.7 make up a visual binary with an angular distance of 6І, revolving around a common center of mass with a period of about 400 years. Each of them is a binary system with orbital periods of 9.2 and 2.9 days. The third component is 73I away from them, consists of two red dwarfs and is an eclipsing binary that changes its brightness from 8.6 to 9.1 magnitude with a period of 0.8 days.

The constellation Gemini is known as a very "fruitful" one: in 1781, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus within it, and in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto. Of the objects of interest to observe, it contains the star cluster M 35 and the planetary nebula Eskimo (NGC 2392). In the double star U Gem, the components are located so close to each other that the matter from one of them flows onto the surface of the other, which is a white dwarf (see STARS). With an interval of several months, thermonuclear reactions begin on the surface of the white dwarf, leading to an explosion: for 1–2 days, the brightness of the star increases from magnitude 14 to magnitude 9. Therefore, the star U Gem is called a dwarf nova.

Other objects of interest are the open cluster M 35 and the Eskimo (or Clown, NGC 2392) planetary nebula, which consists of a magnitude 10 star surrounded by a bright shell.

Big Dipper.

The Greek myth is widely known about how Zeus turned the beautiful nymph Callisto into a bear in order to save her from the revenge of her wife, Hera. Zeus, who soon died from the arrow of Artemis, raised the bear-Callisto to the sky in the form of the constellation B. Ursa. However, this large constellation is much older than the Greek myth about it: it was probably the first one highlighted in the sky by ancient people. Its seven bright stars form the well-known Dipper; this asterism is known among many peoples under different names: Plow, Elk, Wagon, Seven Wise Men, etc. All the stars of the Bucket have their own Arabic names: Dubhe (a Ursa Major) means "bear"; Merak (b) - "lower back"; Fekda (g) - "thigh"; Megrets (d) - "beginning of the tail"; Aliot (e) - the meaning is not clear; Mizar (z) - "sash". The last star in the handle of the Bucket is called Benetnash or Alkaid (h); in Arabic, "al-Qaeed banat ours" means "the leader of the mourners"; in this case, asterism is no longer conceived by a bear, but by a funeral procession: in front are the mourners, led by the leader, and they are followed by a funeral stretcher.

Bucket of B. Medveditsa is a rare case when the designation of stars in Greek letters is not in descending order of their brightness, but simply in the order of their location. Therefore, the brightest star is not a, but e. The stars Merak and Dubhe are called "pointers" because the straight line drawn through them rests on the North Star. Next to Mizar, the keen eye sees a star of the fourth magnitude Alcor (80 UMa), which in Arabic means “forgotten” or “insignificant”.

One of the largest planetary nebulae Owl (M 97) is visible in Bolshaya Medveditsa, as well as many galaxies and their clusters. Spiral galaxy M 101 is visible flat, while spiral M 81 and peculiar M 82 form the core of one of the closest group of galaxies to us, the distance to which is about 7 million light years.

Big Dog.

In this winter constellation is the brightest star in the night sky - Sirius; his name comes from the Greek. seirios, "burning brightly." The true luminosity of Sirius slightly exceeds the solar one - only 23 times (the luminosity of many other stars is hundreds and thousands of times higher than the solar one). Why, then, does this blue-white star look so bright? The reason is that Sirius is one of the closest stars to us: the distance to it is only 8.6 light years.

IN Ancient Egypt Sirius was called the Star of the Nile, because its first morning rise foreshadowed the flood of the Nile on the days of the summer solstice. In addition, Sirius and the constellation itself was already associated with a dog 5000 years ago; its oldest Sumerian name is the Sun Dog; the Greeks called it simply “dog”, and the Romans called it “dog” (Canicula, hence the summer vacation period).

One of the remarkable discoveries of the 19th century is associated with Sirius: the prediction and discovery of unusual compact stars - white dwarfs. For many years, measuring the position of bright stars with high accuracy, the German astronomer Friedrich Bessel (1784–1846) noticed in 1836 that Sirius and Procyon (a Small Dog) deviate from a straight line in their movement relative to more distant stars. Bessel suspected that these stars exhibited an oscillatory motion, and on this basis he predicted that Sirius and Procyon had invisible satellites. Having learned that he was hopelessly ill, Bessel published his forecast in 1844, indicating that the satellite of Sirius should turn with a period of about 50 years. In those years, the idea of ​​the existence of invisible stars was so unusual that even the highest authority of Bessel did not save him from the harsh criticism of his colleagues. Recall that only in 1845-1846, J. Adams and W. Le Verrier, based on deviations in the motion of the planet Uranus, made a prediction about the existence in the solar system of a planet invisible until then. Fortunately, this planet - Neptune - was immediately discovered exactly where scientists expected to find it. But Bessel's theoretical discovery did not receive confirmation for almost 20 years.

The companion of Sirius was discovered first; it was noticed by the American optician Alvan Clark (1804–1887) in 1862 while testing a new telescope. The satellite was given the name "Sirius B" and the nickname "Puppy". Its luminosity is 10 thousand times weaker than that of the main star - Sirius A, the radius is 100 times smaller than the sun, but the mass is almost the same as that of the Sun. Therefore, Sirius B has a colossal density: about 1 ton per cubic centimeter! And in 1896, Procyon's satellite was also discovered. This is how white dwarfs were discovered - stars that completed their evolution and shrunk to the size of a small planet. The satellite is visible at a distance of 3І to 12І from Sirius A and revolves around it with exactly the period indicated by Bessel.

To the south of Sirius is the beautiful open cluster M 41, 2300 light-years away from us. Another interesting cluster is NGC 2362, with several dozen members surrounding a 4th-magnitude t CMa star. This is one of the youngest star clusters: its age is about 1 million years.

Scales.

In the beginning this constellation represented the altar; then he was depicted as an altar or a lamp, clamped in the giant claws of a scorpion, and therefore in Almagest it is described as "the claws of the Scorpion". Only shortly before the beginning of the Christian era, the Romans gave it its current name, but even now the stars a and b of Libra are called South and North Claws. The eclipsing variable star d Lib changes brightness from magnitude 4.8 to magnitude 6.0 with a period of 2.3 days.

Aquarius.

Among the ancient Sumerians, this constellation was one of the most important, since it personified the sky god An, who gives life-giving water to the earth. According to the Greeks, Aquarius depicts several mythical characters at once: Ganymede, a Trojan youth who became butler on Olympus; Deucalion - the hero of the global flood, and Kekrop - the ancient king of Athens.

A well-known asterism in Aquarius is the Jar, a small Y-shaped group of four stars lying exactly on the celestial equator. The central of these stars, z Aqr, is a charming double. Also of interest are the globular cluster M 2, the planetary nebulae Saturn (NGC 7009) and the Helix (NGC 7293). In Aquarius lies the radiant of the Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which is active in late July.

Auriga.

A star pentagon located north of Gemini. The brightest star (a Aur) is the yellow Capella, which the ancients called the "little goat" - the sixth brightest in the sky. For observers of the Northern Hemisphere living above 44 degrees latitude, it is a non-setting circumpolar star, i.e. visible every clear night.

Against the background of the Milky Way, near the Chapel, three stars stand out as a flat triangle - h, z and e Auriga; they are also called "goats". Closest to the Chapel is e Aur - the most mysterious of the three "goats". Every 27.08 years, its apparent brightness weakens in six months from magnitude 3.0 to magnitude 3.9; it remains in this state for about a year, and then within six months it restores its brilliance to its original level. It is not yet clear what overshadows this star. Mencalinan (b Aur) is also an eclipsing variable with a period of 3.96 days; however, only an experienced eye can notice the weakening of its brightness at the time of the eclipse, since the brightness of the star weakens by only 10%. With good binoculars in this constellation, you can see three amazing open clusters - M 36, M 37 and M 38.

Wolf.

The Sumerians called this mythical figure the “monster of death”, and the Greeks called it the “beast”. The constellation mostly lies in the Milky Way, therefore it contains many bright stars. At the latitude of Moscow, this southern constellation never rises completely above the horizon, so it is practically inaccessible to observation. One of the first identified historical supernovae was the Wolf Supernova of 1006.

Bootes.

This large and beautiful constellation can be observed by residents of the Northern Hemisphere all summer long. Its brightest star, Arcturus ("guardian of the bear"), and several weaker stars form an elongated rhombus figure resembling a giant kite.

Arcturus is easy to find by extending the "tail" of Ursa Major to the south by about 30 degrees. This is the brightest star north of the celestial equator, 37 light years away from us and having a luminosity 110 times higher than the sun. Arcturus belongs to a rather rare type of star - red giants, i.e. very aged stars, in their youth similar to our Sun. The solid age of Arcturus is also indicated by its movement: it moves rapidly relative to the Sun, therefore, it belongs to the spherical halo of the Galaxy. While the Sun and many other stars move in almost circular orbits lying in the plane of the Galaxy, Arcturus revolves around the galactic center in a highly inclined orbit, crossing the galactic plane in our era.

Of particular interest is the star t Boo 4.5 magnitude. This is a very close star (52 light years) similar to the Sun. In the 1990s, a planet was discovered next to it - one of the first found outside the solar system. A very unusual planet: with a mass of almost 4 times that of Jupiter, it orbits a star 8.4 times closer than Mercury around the Sun. Its year (i.e. orbital revolution) lasts only 3.3 Earth days! We can say that this giant planet lives in the crown of its star. Such planets are called "hot Jupiters" by astronomers. The origin of life on them is unlikely.

Veronica's hair.

Eratosthenes called this small and very dim constellation "the hair of Ariadne", and Ptolemy generally attributed its stars to the constellation Leo. But the birth of this constellation has an exact date: it is named after Verenice, the wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes (3rd century BC), who, according to legend, cut off her beautiful hair and placed it in the temple of Venus in gratitude to the goddess for military victory bestowed on her husband. And when the hair from the temple disappeared, the priest-astronomer Konon told Verenice that Zeus took them to heaven. Only in 1602 was this constellation officially included in Tycho Brahe's catalog.

On a moonless night, far from the city lights in this constellation, you can see with the naked eye the open cluster Coma Berenices, about 42 stars of which, 250 light-years away from us, form a delicate lacy pattern. This cluster was known and placed in his catalog by Ptolemy.

A small telescope will make it possible to see nearby globular star clusters M 53 and NGC 5053 in this constellation, as well as the Black Eye galaxy (M 64) with a huge dark dust cloud around the core. It is curious that the northern galactic pole lies within the boundaries of this modest constellation, which means that looking in this direction, perpendicular to the translucent disk of our Galaxy, we have a chance to see the most distant corners of the Universe. It is very fortunate that a large cluster of galaxies Coma-Virgo begins at the southern border of the constellation, not very far from our Local Group of galaxies (42 million light years) and therefore has a large angular diameter (about 16 degrees). This cluster contains more than 3,000 galaxies, including several spiral ones: M 98 strongly inclined to the line of sight, M 99 observed almost flat, large spirals M 88 and M 100. This cluster is usually called Virgo, since its central part lies in the neighboring constellation Virgo, and also because another, much more distant (400 million light-years) and rich cluster of galaxies is observed in the Coma of Veronica, which has been assigned the name Coma.

Crow.

This small constellation lies south of Virgo. The four brightest stars of the Crow form an easily visible figure. The ancient Sumerians called it the "great petrel", and the Babylonians identified it with the bird-god Anzud. Star Algorab (d Crv) is a very beautiful double star, easily visible with binoculars. Among distant objects, a pair of colliding galaxies NGC 4038 and 4039, known as the “Antennas”, is certainly interesting: two long curved “tails” formed under the influence of the gravitational tidal effect diverge in opposite directions from their nuclei.

Hercules.

The not particularly bright stars of this large constellation form an expressive figure. The Greeks still for 5 centuries BC. this constellation was referred to as "Hercules". The Arabic name of the beautiful double star Ras Algeti (a Her) is translated as "the head of the kneeling one." Its main orange component randomly changes its brightness from 3 to 4 magnitude, and its green-blue companion of 5.4 magnitude is itself a close binary system with an orbital period of 51.6 days. This gorgeous orange-green pair can be "split" with a small telescope or powerful binoculars.

The decoration of the constellation is the globular cluster M 13, hardly visible to the naked eye as a hazy speck between the stars h and z of Hercules. But through a telescope, this cluster looks amazing! Its total brilliance is equivalent to one star of magnitude 5.7. This ancient cluster contains more than a million stars, 22,000 light-years away from us. All of them are much older than the Sun. It is also necessary to note the not so bright, but also very rich globular cluster M 92. From it, light travels to us for 26 thousand years.

Hydra.

The largest of all constellations: this "sea serpent" lies south of the ecliptic, along which it stretches from Cancer in the west to Libra in the east. The compact group of six stars under Cancer is the Head of the Hydra. To the southeast lies the brightest of the stars of the constellation, which the Arabs called Alphard, which means "lonely," since there are no bright stars near it. It is also often called the Heart of the Hydra - Cor Hydrae.

In the “tail of the serpent” is the red giant R Hya, a long-period variable that was discovered by G. Moraldi in 1704. In those years, the period of change in its brightness (from 3.5 to 9 magnitude) was about 500 days, but by now it has decreased up to 389 days. Such variable stars are classified by astronomers as "mirids", named after the star Mira in the constellation Cetus.

The extremely red variable star V Hya is a rare type of carbon star; It is a red giant in whose atmosphere carbon condenses. Of interest are the open cluster M 48, the globular cluster M 68, the spiral galaxy M 83 and the planetary nebula NGC 3242, nicknamed Ghost of Jupiter.

Pigeon.

This constellation, poor in interesting objects, lies to the southwest of Canis Major, in contact with the constellations of the Ship Argo (Stern, Carina, Sails), which is sometimes considered as Noah's Ark. If we recall the biblical myths, then such a neighborhood is not surprising.

Hounds Dogs.

The constellation is located next to the Big Dipper - right under the handle of the Bucket. At the end of the 17th century, the British tried to rename the Hounds of the Dogs in the Heart of Charles in honor of the executed English king Charles I. Under this name (Cor Caroli Regis Martyris), it even appeared on some maps and star globes. But it did not take root: all that remained of this attempt was the name Carl's Heart (Cor Caroli), which was assigned to the star a of the Hounds of the Dogs. This beautiful double star is often observed through a telescope by amateur astronomers.

And the star Y CVn, which the great Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi (1818–1878) called "La Superba" for its amazing spectrum, is one of the reddest stars available to the naked eye. It belongs to the "carbon" stars, in the spectrum of which there are almost no blue and ultraviolet rays due to their strong absorption by C 3 carbon molecules.

The beautiful Whirlpool Galaxy (M 51) was the first nebula to reveal a spiral structure: it was noticed and sketched by the Irish astronomer William Parsons (Lord Ross) in 1845, using a giant telescope he created with a diameter of about 2 meters. Located 3.5 degrees southwest of the last star of the Dipper Pen, this galaxy has extended one of its two spiral arms towards a small companion galaxy. The whirlpool is one of the closest galaxies to us: the distance to it is 25 million light years.

Virgo.

There are many interesting stars and galaxies in this major zodiac constellation. The brightest star is Spica, which in Latin means "ear". This is a very close binary system; in it, with a period of 4 days, two hot blue stars circulate around a common center of mass; each of them is ten times more massive than the Sun, and the luminosity of each is a thousand times higher than the sun. These stars are so close to each other that mutual gravity and rapid rotation deform their bodies: they are ellipsoidal in shape, so their orbital motion leads to a slight fluctuation in the brightness of Spica.

The star Porrima (g Vir), which means "goddess of prophecy", is one of the closest double stars to us: the distance to it is 32 light years. Its two components, like two drops of water similar to each other, circulate in a very elongated orbit with a period of 171 years. The brightness of each of them is 3.5 magnitude, and together 2.8. The maximum distance between them, about 6І, was in 1929, when they could be separated with an amateur telescope; but by 2007 it will decrease to 0.5I and the star will become visible as a single star.

At a distance of about 55 million light years there is a cluster of galaxies Virgo, containing more than 3000 members, among which are the elliptical galaxies M 49, 59, 60, 84, 86, 87 and 89; the crossed spiral M 58, the bright spiral M 90, the spiral M 85 turned to us with an edge, and the large spiral M 61 turned flat. The Sombrero galaxy (M 104) is visible almost edge-on, so named because of the powerful dark dust line running along the equatorial planes. The brightest quasar 3C 273 is located in the constellation Virgo; its relatively high brightness (magnitude 12) makes it the most distant object accessible to an amateur telescope: its distance is about 3 billion light years!

Dolphin.

A small but pretty constellation that looks like a rhombus of four stars with a "tail" of two stars. It lies between the Eagle and Cygnus, east of the Arrow, an equally small and pretty constellation. According to Greek myth, this is the same dolphin that helped Poseidon find the nymph Amphitrite, for which he was placed in heaven. An interesting object is the double star g Del in the northeast corner of the rhombus.

The Dragon.

The long figure of this constellation meanders around the north pole of the world, covering Ursa Minor from three sides. The head of the "dragon" is easy to find directly north of Hercules, under his left leg, bent at the knee. But the long, writhing body of the dragon is not easy to trace, for it contains many faint stars. Greek myth indicates that this is the dragon Ladon, which Hera placed in the garden of the Hesperides to protect the tree with golden apples.

In the past, the stars of this constellation played a more important role than in our era. As a result of the precession of the earth's axis, the north and south poles of the world move among the stars. From 3700 to 1500 BC the north pole of the world moved near the star Tuban (a Dra), and then it was she who indicated the direction to the north. Nowadays, as you know, this role is played by the Polar Star in M. Medveditsa.

The movement of the pole of the world occurs with a period of 25770 years around the pole of the ecliptic, in which the axis of the earth's orbit is directed. Curiously, this place in the sky is marked by a pretty object: the bright greenish-blue planetary nebula NGC 6543 is located almost exactly at the north ecliptic pole, between the stars x and c Draconis.

Every year on October 8–10, there is meteor shower Draconids caused by particles from the periodic comet Giacobini-Zinner. His meteors, flying out of the radiant in the head of the "dragon", are notable for their low speed. Usually within an hour you can see several meteors.

Unicorn.

Lying between M.Canis and B.Canis, Monoceros lies almost entirely in the Milky Way, so there are many objects associated with the process of star formation in it: dark and light nebulae, young star clusters, although there are no especially bright stars in this constellation.

The young star cluster NGC 2244 is surrounded by a cloud of hot gas, which astronomers call the emission nebula NGC 2237-9, or colloquially Rosette, because it looks like a ragged ring framing the star cluster. The apparent size of Rosette is twice that of the lunar disk. This cloud is 11 thousand times more massive than the Sun and about 55 light-years in diameter.

In Unicorn, open clusters M 50 and Christmas Tree (NGC 2264) are of interest, including the dark Cone Nebula, directed towards it with its peak from the south; as well as the Hubble Variable Nebula (NGC 2261), which changes its brightness by 2 magnitudes due to the variability of the radiation of the star illuminating it. It is claimed that this nebula was the first object photographed by the Palomar 5-meter telescope. In Unicorn there is also the most massive double star in our Galaxy, discovered by J. Plaskett in 1922. It has a period of 14.4 days. and consists of two very hot stars of spectral type O8; therefore, she is commonly referred to as "Hot Star Plaskett". The total mass of this system is about 150 solar masses, and its main component is 80–90 times more massive than the Sun.

Altar.

Perhaps in ancient times it was one of the constellations of the Zodiac, but later some of its stars were attributed to Scorpio. The Sumerians called it "the constellation of the ancient sacrificial fire", and Ptolemy called it "the censer". According to Eratosthenes, this is the altar on which the gods took a common oath when Zeus was about to attack his father Kronos.

This constellation lies in the Milky Way, so there are many bright stars and interesting objects in it. For example, one of the nearest globular star clusters, NGC 6397, is observed in it, 8200 light-years away. So far, about 150 of these ancient star clusters have been discovered in the Galaxy, and in total there are obviously no more than 200 of them. They are scattered throughout the entire volume of our star system, at distances of up to 400 thousand light years from its center. Therefore, their average distance from the Sun is very large, and it is quite difficult to study them. An ordinary telescope detects in them only the brightest stars - red giants; and only the largest telescopes are able to see numerous solar-type stars in these clusters; there are hundreds of thousands of them, and sometimes millions!

Unlike globular clusters, which parted ways with the remnants of the gas from which their stars formed billions of years ago, open clusters are often located near gas clouds genetically related to them. The rather bright and young open cluster NGC 6193, which has a total star brightness of about 5.5 magnitude, illuminated and heated the emission nebula NGC 6188 around itself, against which a complex interlacing of dark nebula filaments is observed.

Painter.

Having singled out this group of stars into a separate constellation, Lacaille called it the Picturesque Machine, i.e. easel. Nowadays, this name has been simplified and has come to be perceived as an "artist", and not as a "drawing device". This small group of not very bright stars is visible only in the sky of the southern countries. It is very easy to find it there: literally at the border of the Painter is the “star number 2” of the entire sky - Canopus from the constellation Carina.

Around the star b Pic, 55 light years distant, at the end of the 20th century. a rotating disk of dust and ice particles was discovered; perhaps this is a planetary system in the process of formation (at the beginning of the 21st century, the presence of rather large objects was noted in it). At an angular distance of 8.5 degrees northwest of star b Pic is Kapteyn's Star, a red dwarf known for being second only to Barnard's Flying Star in terms of its own speed (8.654І / year).

Giraffe.

A large northern constellation made up of very faint stars. But one of them is very popular among astronomy lovers. This is a dwarf nova Z Giraffe (Z Cam), which usually flares up once every 2–3 weeks, increasing its brightness in less than 2 days from magnitude 13 to magnitude 10. But often, and at the same time quite unexpectedly, it stops its flashes and freezes at the level of 12.5 magnitude, experiencing only slight fluctuations in brightness. This “turn off” of flashes can last for months or even years, and then suddenly stops. In order to understand the mechanism of functioning of this strange star, it is necessary to accumulate long series of observations. Professional astronomers are greatly assisted in this matter by amateurs. Detailed information about this star can be found on the website of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (www.aavso.org).

For lovers of deep space in the constellation Giraffe, the large spiral galaxy NGC 2403, which has a brightness of about 9 magnitude, is of interest.

Crane.

The southern constellation, inaccessible to observation in Russia. Its brightest star Alnair (a Gru) of magnitude 1.7 is 100 light-years away.

Hare.

An ancient constellation located directly below Orion. Arat wrote: “At Orion's feet, the Hare runs from day to day, escaping from the chase. But Sirius rushes relentlessly on his trail, not a single step behind. 29 light-years away from us, g Lep is a binary star with components that differ greatly in color: next to a bright white star, a red companion. Binoculars are enough to observe them.

One of the most interesting red stars in the entire sky is R Lep, which was discovered in 1845 by astronomer John Russell Hynde (1823-1895), who called it the Crimson Star and described it as "a drop of blood on a black background." Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (1825–1884) was the first to study this Mira Ceti-type variable: with a period of 432 days, its brightness changes from 5.5 to 11.7 magnitudes. This is an excellent object for amateur observations. The globular cluster M 79 is also visible in Zayets.

Ophiuchus.

Greek myths associate this constellation with the name of Asclepius, the god of healing, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis. Having killed his wife for treason, Apollo gave the baby Asclepius to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron, an expert in medicine. The grown-up Asclepius came to the bold idea of ​​resurrecting the dead, for which the angry Zeus struck him with lightning and placed him in heaven. Arat included in Ophiuchus and the "snake" he holds; now it is an independent constellation of the Serpent, unique in that it consists of two parts, separated by Ophiuchus.

Although the constellation lies partially in the Milky Way, there are few bright stars in it. Ophiuchus is not considered a zodiac constellation, but the Sun spends about 20 days in it in the first half of December.

It was in this constellation that the last of the supernovae observed in our Galaxy, described by I. Kepler in 1604, flared up. its outbreak is quite likely in the coming years. At the eastern border of the constellation is Barnard's Flying Star - a red dwarf whose small distance (6 light years) makes it the second from the Sun after the a Cen system, and its rather high speed of movement, combined with a small distance, makes it the fastest star in the sky (10, 3І / year).

There are many globular clusters in this constellation (M 9, 10, 12, 14, 19 and 62), as well as dark nebulae such as the S-nebula (B 72) and the Pipe Nebula (B 78 represents the cup of the pipe, and B 59, 65 , 66 and 67 form the stem and mouthpiece of this pipe).

Snake.

The only constellation consisting of two separated parts: each of them is in the "hands" of Ophiuchus. The Head of the Serpent (Serpens Caput) lies to the northwest, and the Tail of the Serpent (Serpens Cauda) lies to the east of Ophiuchus. At the very end of the Serpent's Tail, on the border with the constellation Aquila, is the double star q Ser, easily accessible for observation with a small telescope. It is 142 light-years away and consists of two white components of magnitude 4.6 and 5.0, separated by a distance of 22І. In the Head of the Serpent, 7 degrees southwest of the star a Ser, you can find the globular cluster M 5, which has a magnitude of 7 and is 26 thousand light years distant; its age is about 13 billion years. The large open cluster M 16 is embedded in the diffuse Eagle Nebula, so named for the shape of the dark dust cloud at its center.

Golden Fish.

For those traveling to southern latitudes, this constellation is very remarkable: in it, near the border with the constellation Table Mountain, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) galaxy is visible, stretching 11 degrees across the sky and 190 thousand light years away from us, i.e. ten times smaller than the spiral galaxy in Andromeda. It is a remarkable object rich in young stars, clusters and nebulae; No wonder J. Herschel called it "a blooming oasis surrounded on all sides by desert." The most interesting place in this galaxy is the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070), the largest known emission nebula (1800 light years in diameter and 500 thousand solar masses). Astronomers of past centuries took it for a bright star and gave it a star designation - 30 Dor. Only much later did they learn that it was a gigantic stellar archipelago in a neighboring galaxy.

At the very heart of the Tarantula is an extremely dense cluster of very young and massive stars, to which at the end of the 20th century. the attention of many astronomers was riveted: there was a suspicion that there was one supermassive star with a mass of about 2000 solar masses. The theory of the structure of stars does not allow the existence of such massive stars. Indeed, the most keen telescopes were able to show that this is not a single star, but a very dense cluster of them. On February 23, 1987, astronomers recorded a supernova explosion near the Tarantula Nebula. This is the closest supernova observed since the invention of the telescope.

Indian.

The southern constellation, very poor in interesting objects. The star e Ind, 11.8 light years away, is one of the closest to the Sun.

Cassiopeia.

A beautiful constellation, mainly lying in the Milky Way and always available for observation in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The brightest stars of Cassiopeia (from 2.2 to 3.4 magnitudes) form a figure that is easily distinguishable even on a full moon and looks like the letter M at the beginning of winter and the letter W at the beginning of summer.

One of the most powerful sources of galactic radio emission, Cassiopeia A, is located in this constellation. This is a rapidly expanding gas shell thrown off during a supernova explosion, which was observed in 1572. As noted by Tycho Brahe and other astronomers of those years, the supernova shone brighter than Venus.

The attention of astronomy lovers should be attracted by the star Shedar (a Cas): from the 19th century. it is included in the catalogs of variable stars, but its variability has not yet been confidently confirmed. Among other objects of interest: open clusters M 52, M 103, NGC 457 and NGC 7789, dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185 - satellites of the Andromeda Nebula; the diffuse nebula NGC 281 and the giant sphere of gas, the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635).

Centaur.

Centaur, also known as Centaurus, is one of the southernmost constellations known to ancient stargazers. Initially, it included those stars from which the constellation of the Southern Cross was later formed. But even without them, the Centaur is a large constellation containing many bright stars and interesting objects. According to Greek myths, the centaur who went to heaven is the immortal and wise Chiron, the son of Kronos and the nymph Filira, a connoisseur of science and art, the educator of Greek heroes - Achilles, Asclepius, Jason. For this reason, it can be considered the Constellation of the Master.

The brightest star of this constellation was called by ancient astrologers Rigil Centaurus - "the foot of the centaur"; its other name is Toliman, and in our time it is known as a Cen, the closest star to the Sun: it is 4.4 light years away. This is one of the brightest stars in the sky, and besides, it is a beautiful binary: its components are separated by an angular distance of about 20І and rotate with a period of 80 years. The brightest of them, a yellow dwarf, almost an exact copy of our Sun, has an apparent magnitude of zero, and its neighbor is an orange dwarf of the first magnitude. In 1915, at a small distance from this pair of stars, the English astronomer Robert Innes (1861–1933) discovered an asterisk of magnitude 11. It turned out that it is located a little closer to the Sun than the bright pair a Cen: the distance to it is 4.2 light years. For this, she was given her own name - Proxima, which means "nearest."

Although Proxima Centauri is a very dim red dwarf, inferior to our Sun in mass and size by a factor of 6–7, and in luminosity by tens of thousands of times, but at the same time it is a very active flaring star, the brightness of which can change by half in just A couple of minutes. For many years, astronomers believed that Proxima was the third member of the Alpha Centauri system. In the catalogs, it was designated as "a Cen C" and even calculated that it revolves around the central double star (a Cen A + a Cen B) in about 500 thousand years. However, recently a doubt has arisen: perhaps Proxima is an independent star that accidentally and briefly approached the a Cen system.

In the constellation of Centaurus, the largest globular cluster of our Galaxy, w Cen (NGC 5139), is visible, consisting of several million stars, including 165 pulsating variables with periods of about half a day. Although the distance to the cluster is 16 thousand light years, it is the brightest in the sky. Centaurus also hosts the unusual elliptical galaxy NGC 5128, criss-crossed by a ragged dark band of interstellar dust; astronomers believe that relatively recently it tore to shreds and is now absorbing its neighbor - a spiral or irregular galaxy. This "cannibal" is also known as the powerful radio source Centaur A.

Keel.

A large constellation lying near the south pole of the world, partly in the Milky Way. The decoration of the constellation is the magnificent pale yellow giant Canopus, which ranks second in brightness after Sirius. 330 light-years away from us, Canopus actually shines 16,000 times more powerful than the Sun and 760 times more powerful than Sirius. It can be observed in countries south of 37 degrees north latitude. Canopus is an important navigational star, whose presence in the sky is welcomed by spacecraft creators. The fact is that Canopus, having an extremely high brightness, lies only 15 degrees from the ecliptic pole. Therefore, along with the Sun, it is used in spacecraft orientation systems. It is important that the brightness of Canopus, like the brightness of the Sun, is extremely stable: this makes it easier to recognize the landmark.

Another famous star of this constellation, Eta Carina (h Car), behaves quite differently. Edmond Halley observed it in 1677 as a 4th magnitude star. Later, astronomers noted its irregular variability, and in 1840 its brightness increased significantly. By 1843, it reached its maximum, and then h Car became brighter than Canopus, reaching a record brightness of -0.8 magnitude. Then it began to fade and, a decade later, was already inaccessible to the naked eye. At minimum brightness, it had a magnitude of 8, but at last years 20th century her brightness again began to gradually increase.

Studies by astrophysicists have shown that it is not so much the star itself that is to blame for the variability in the brightness of the star h Car, but the very compact and dense dust nebula surrounding it, with a diameter of only 0.4 light years. It is made up of matter shed by the star itself and rapidly changes its shape and transparency. If not for this nebula, then we would see a star of colossal brightness, since its luminosity is 5 million times higher than the sun. However, almost all of this light is absorbed by the nebula's dust and re-emitted in the infrared, making h Car the brightest source in the infrared sky (excluding Solar System objects).

The mass of the star h Car is 100 times that of the Sun, but annually it loses 0.07 of the mass of the Sun in the form of a stellar wind - more than any other known star. This gas flies away from it at a speed of 700 km/s. Away from the star, it cools, and the smallest solid particles formed in this process form an almost opaque "cocoon" around the star. It is clear that this cannot go on for long; usually such instability marks the end of a star's life. Its current lull is temporary: it is likely that in the coming centuries, and maybe even decades, it will explode like a supernova!

The star h Car is located almost at the very center of the giant gaseous nebula of the same name (NGC 3372) with an angular size of 3 degrees. Since the distance to it is about 8000 light years, this angle corresponds to the diameter of the nebula of 400 light years, which is 10–15 times greater than that of the Orion Nebula. At the very center of the bright h Car Nebula, just next to the star h Car, is the pretty dark Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), which really does look like a keyhole. The open clusters NGC 2516 and NGC 3532 and the globular cluster NGC 2808 are also worthy of observation in Carina.

Whale.

In Greek myths, this is a monster sent by Poseidon to destroy the country of King Cepheus and destroy his daughter Andromeda. Cetus is surrounded mainly by "watery" constellations: it lies south of Pisces, stretching from Aquarius in the west to Eridanus in the east. The star o Cet has long been called Mira, i.e. "amazing". At the beginning of the XVII century. it was discovered as the first long-term variable; this is a red giant, changing its brightness from 3 to 11 magnitudes on average with a period of 332 days.

Of interest is a compact spiral galaxy with a bright central part M 77 (NGC 1068) of the 9th magnitude; it belongs to the type of Seyfert galaxies, active processes of energy release take place in its core. You should also pay attention to the large, but rather pale spiral galaxy NGC 247 with a dim core and an unusual dark oval region on the disk, covered like a loop by a spiral arm.

Capricorn.

A relatively small and inexpressive constellation, which in the late evening in August and only on a moonless night can be found in the Zodiac between Aquarius and Sagittarius. If you see a really bright star in Capricorn, then know that this is not a star, but a planet. The ancients called this constellation "fish-goat", and in this strange form it is represented on many maps. However, sometimes it is identified with the god of forests, fields and shepherds Pan. Its stars form a silhouette resembling an inverted hat, although, if desired, one can also see the figure of a horned animal in them, as G. Ray (1969) did. The most remarkable object in Capricorn is the globular cluster M 30 with a very dense core. In this constellation, on September 23, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered; This was done by the astronomers of the Berlin Observatory Johann Galle (1812-1910) and Heinrich d "Arre (1822-1875), who received the exact theoretical prediction of the French mathematician and astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811-1877) the day before.

Compass.

This constellation was not singled out from the ancient Ship Argo, but was born along with those 14 new constellations that Lacaille invented in 1752. But it was so precisely located among the other parts of the Argo Ship that they began to be considered a single historical whole. The most curious object in this constellation is undoubtedly the repeated nova T Pyx, which flashed brightly in 1890, 1902, 1920, 1944 and 1966, i.e. Approximately every 20 years, however, after 1966 it did not have bright outbursts (although chaotic brightness fluctuations are observed). Researchers of variable stars pay special attention to this object: they expect an outbreak from day to day. Although the declination of this star is -32 degrees, it can be observed with some difficulty from the southern regions of Russia.

Stern.

Large constellation in the Milky Way, rich interesting stars and beautiful clusters; part of the ancient constellation Ship Argo. The brightest star in the constellation Puppis, z Pup named Naos, is a blue supergiant of the rare spectral type O5, one of the hottest and most powerful stars: its luminosity is 300,000 times greater than that of the sun. The eclipsing binary star V Pup changes its magnitude from 4.7 to 5.3 with a period of 1.45 days; its entire cycle can be observed with the naked eye. One of the brightest novae of the last century was CP Pup: on November 11, 1942, its brightness reached 0.3 magnitude. The open clusters M 46, M 47, M 93 and NGC 2477 are interesting for observation.

Swan.

The extremely expressive figure of this constellation really looks like the silhouette of a swan with outstretched wings and a long outstretched neck; this "bird" flies south along the Milky Way. Since the period of visibility of the constellation falls on a season favorable for observations - summer and the beginning of autumn - this constellation is familiar to many. At the tip of Cygnus' "cross" is the bright star Deneb (a Cyg). Together with Vega (in Lyra) and Altair (in Orel), it forms a well-known asterism - the Summer Triangle. In Arabic, "Deneb" just means "tail"; this blue-white star is one of the brightest supergiants with a luminosity 270 thousand times higher than the sun. In the "head of the bird" is a star b Cyg named Albireo - a magnificent visual double, convenient for observation with a small telescope; one of its components is golden yellow, like topaz, and its companion is blue, like sapphire. Another interesting star is 61 Cygnus, very similar to the Sun and the 14th among the stars closest to us. It was the first to which astronomers were able to measure the distance (11.4 light years). This was done by F. Bessel in 1838.

Near Deneb, against the background of the pale glow of the Milky Way, a dark region stands out - the Northern Coal Sack, one of the nearby interstellar clouds of gas and dust. Also interesting is the ragged complex of emission nebulae called the Network, or Veil (NGC 6960 and NGC 6992), a very elegant lacy remnant of a supernova explosion that happened about 40 thousand years ago. The outlines of the bright nebula North America (NGC 7000) really resemble the famous continent. One of the most powerful radio sources Cygnus A is associated with a distant (about 600 million light-years) galaxy, crossed in the center by a dark stripe; it is possible that this is a conglomerate of two colliding galaxies. And the bright X-ray source "Cygnus X-1" is identified with the star HDE 226868 and its invisible companion, which is considered one of the indisputable candidates for black holes.

A lion.

Ancient zodiac constellation. Myths link the Lion to the Nemean monster that Hercules killed. The arrangement of bright stars really resembles a recumbent lion, whose head and chest represent the well-known asterism Sickle, which looks like a mirror image of a question mark. The “point” at the bottom of this sign is the bright blue-white star Regulus (a Leo), which in Latin means “king”. Among the ancient Persians, Regulus was known as one of the four "royal stars"; the other three are Aldebaran (a Taurus), Antares (a Scorpio) and Fomalhaut (a Southern Pisces). Sometimes Regulus is also called the Heart of the Lion (Cor Leonis). Its luminosity is only 160 times higher than that of the sun, and its high apparent brilliance (1.4 magnitudes) is explained by its relative proximity to us (78 light years). Among the stars of the first magnitude, Regulus is closest to the ecliptic, so it is often covered by the Moon.

At the base of the "lion's head" is the golden yellow Algieba (g Leo), which means "lion's mane"; it is a close visual double of magnitude 2.0. In the back of the figure is the star of Denebola (b Leo), translated from Arabic - "lion's tail". It has a magnitude of 2.1 magnitude and is 36 light years away. The star R Leo is one of the brightest long-period variables, varying in brightness from 5 to 10 magnitudes; it was discovered by J. Koch in 1782. The very faint red dwarf Wolf 359 (visible magnitude 13.5) is the third among the nearest stars (distance 7.8 light years); its luminosity is 50 thousand times less than the sun, and besides, it has a dark red color. If this star took the place of our Sun, then at noon on Earth it would be only slightly brighter than it is now at the full moon.

Among the distant objects in this constellation, the spiral galaxies M 65, 66, 95 and 96, as well as the elliptical galaxy M 105, are interesting. Their apparent brightness is from 8.4 to 10.4 magnitudes. In this constellation lies the radiant of the Leonids meteor shower, formed from the decay of the periodic comet Temple-Tutl and observed in mid-November; its meteors are very fast and bright.

Flying fish.

The southern constellation lies between Carina and Table Mountain, occupying a stark-poor region between the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud. This is a small group of stars of the 4th magnitude, one of those constellations that Frederick de Houtmann and Peter Keyser identified in the southern sky in 1596. Apparently, flying fish strongly struck European sailors. However, the artists of those years rather vaguely imagined this creature: in the star atlas Uranometry(1603), a well-fed carp with feathered owl wings is depicted in the place of this constellation. The star g Vol with binoculars can distinguish a companion of 5.7 magnitude. The criss-crossed spiral galaxy NGC 2442 is seen almost flat and has a magnitude of 11.

Lyra.

A small but amazing constellation lying between Hercules and Cygnus. In ancient Babylon, this constellation was called "bearded lamb" (large hawk) or "attacking antelope." The Arabs called it "the falling eagle". The ancient tradition connects this constellation with the myths about Orpheus, for whom Hermes made a lyre from a tortoise shell. Several myths are sometimes combined in a constellation drawing; so, in Uranometry Bayer's lyre is depicted on the chest of an eagle.

The main star Vega (a Lyr) is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere and the fifth brightest star in the entire sky. It is 25 light-years away from us, has a luminosity 50 times higher than the sun, and in 12 thousand years it will become a polar star. Vega means "falling eagle" in Arabic. Together with two less bright stars, it forms a small equilateral triangle, which itself lies in the northwest corner of a small parallelogram depicting a lyre. Together with the bright stars Deneb (in Cygnus) and Altair (in Aquila), Vega forms a well-known asterism - the Summer Triangle.

Sheliak (b Lyr), which means "turtle" in Arabic, is a mysterious eclipsing binary that changes its brightness from 3.4 to 4.5 magnitude with a period of about 13 days. This stellar system is surrounded by a gaseous ring or sheath of matter constantly shed by the stars themselves. Next to Vega is e Lyr - "double double", i.e. a visual binary system, each of whose components is also a close binary star. Recently, a fifth companion has also been identified that orbits this system of two double stars.

Between the stars b and g of Lyrae, which form the southern side of the parallelogram, there is a round planetary nebula of magnitude 9 Ring (M 57). This is an expanding gaseous shell, thrown off and heated by a central star, the temperature of which is about 100,000 K.

Chanterelle.

This constellation was introduced by Hevelius under the name Vulpecula cum Ansere, "a little fox with a goose" (in the teeth!); located south of Lebed. It does not have bright stars, although it lies in the Milky Way. The most interesting object is the planetary nebula M 27, which received for its characteristic shape Nickname Dumbbell. It is easy to find even with binoculars: it is slightly brighter than magnitude 8 and lies 3 degrees north of g Sge (the bright star in the "Arrowhead"). Within the constellation Chanterelle, in 1967, the first radio pulsar was discovered - a rapidly rotating neutron star, the radiation of which was at first taken as a signal of an extraterrestrial civilization.

Ursa Minor.

Sometimes this constellation is called the Little Dipper. The last star in the “tail” of M. Medveditsa is the well-known Polaris, located in our era a little less than 1 degree from the north pole of the world. In 2102 the North Star will approach the pole at a minimum distance of 27º 31І and then will move away from it. The brightness of the Polaris is 2.0 magnitude, and the distance from us is 470 light years. In ancient times, the Arabs called the Polar "goat", and the star b UMi was called Kokhab, which means "northern star": indeed, from 1500 BC. e. by 300 n. e. it was closest to the pole; its brightness is 2.1 magnitude.

For many years, the Polar Star was known to astronomers as a classical Cepheid, changing its brightness by 0.3 magnitudes with a period of about 4 days. However, in the 1990s, fluctuations in its brightness suddenly stopped.

Small Horse.

This "colt" was invented by Hipparchus, and Ptolemy included it in his Almagest. The constellation consists of a small group of nondescript stars near the southwest corner of Pegasus, next to Dolphin. Its four brightest stars of magnitude 4-5 form an irregular figure the size of a Dolphin.

Small Lion.

A very inexpressive constellation placed by Jan Hevelius directly above Leo. It contains the radiant of a weak meteor shower operating around October 24th.

Small Dog.

Small constellation east of Orion. Its brightest star, 0.4 magnitude, Procyon, as well as Sirius (in Canis Major) and Betelgeuse (in Orion) form an almost equilateral triangle. On ancient maps, Canis Major and Minor accompany the hunter Orion. "Procyon" in Greek means "one that is before the dog", indicating that it rises from the horizon just before Sirius. Procyon is one of the closest stars to us (11.4 light years). Physically, it differs little from the Sun. Like Sirius, Procyon is a visual double star. In 1844, the German astronomer Friedrich Bessel (1784–1846) suspected the presence of a satellite based on the oscillations of Procyon's own motion, and on November 14, 1896, J. Scheberle, observing Procyon in the 36-inch refractor of the Lick Observatory, discovered an asterisk of magnitude 13 next to it. As in the case of Sirius, Procyon's satellite turned out to be a white dwarf orbiting with a period of 40.65 years and having 15 thousand times less brightness than the main component of the system. The main difficulty in finding it, like the satellite of Sirius, was the blinding effect of a brighter companion. The discovery of white dwarfs has led to significant progress in the study of stellar evolution.

Microscope.

A small and inconspicuous constellation containing no stars brighter than 5th magnitude and lying south of Capricorn.

Fly.

A small but beautiful constellation lying in the bright spur of the Milky Way, south of the Southern Cross. In the past, this area was called Apis (Bee). In the binary b Mus, two components of the 4th magnitude, separated by a distance of 1.3I, revolve around a common center of mass with a period of 383 years.

In January 1991, the GRANAT and GINGA orbital observatories discovered an X-ray nova (designated XN Mus 1991) in this constellation. At the same place, ground-based astronomers also noticed an outburst of an optical nova. Studies have shown that this is a very close binary system with an orbital period of less than half a day, and one of its components - an invisible object with a mass of 9-16 solar masses - is almost certainly a black hole. In addition, characteristic gamma radiation comes from the system, which indicates the annihilation of electrons and positrons there, therefore, antimatter arises and dies in this way!

Pump.

Under the name Antlia Pneumatica (Air pump), Lacaille singled out this small and dim constellation east of Compass and north of Sails. The brightest stars of the Pump are red giants of magnitude 4–5.

Square.

This "carpenter's tool" lies southwest of Scorpio. Although both branches of the Milky Way pass through it, but basically this region of the sky is occupied by a dark clearing between them and therefore is poor in bright stars.

Aries.

Autumn-winter constellation, lying to the west of Taurus. Aries is one of the most famous constellations of the zodiac, although there are no stars brighter than the second magnitude in it. The reason is that in ancient times it was in Aries that the vernal equinox point lay, which is still marked with the sign of Aries (^). But in our era, the Sun enters the constellation Aries no longer on March 21, as before, but on April 18–19.

The Sumerians called Aries "the constellation of the ram." This is the same golden-fleeced ram that saved Frix and Gella from their stepmother Ino. They were going to get to Colchis, but Helle drowned in the waters of the strait, which received her name - the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles). But Frix got to Colchis, sacrificed a ram, and gave the golden fleece to the king Eeta who sheltered him, who hung the skin on a tree in a grove guarded by a dragon. Then the Argonauts appear in this story...

The three main stars - Gamal ("ram's head"), Sheratan ("trace" or "sign") and Mesarthim (respectively a, b and g of Aries) are easy to find: they lie south of the Triangle. The fourth-magnitude star Mesarthim was one of the first doubles discovered with a telescope; Robert Hooke did it in 1664. Her two identical white companions are separated by an angle of 8I; they can be easily distinguished with a small telescope or good binoculars.

Octant.

The goniometer octant is the smaller brother of the sextant, which has a digitized scale of 1/8 of a circle. And the constellation Octantus is twinned Ursa Minor, since it is in it, in the Octant, that the south pole of the world lies (and not in the Southern Cross, as some people think). On old celestial charts it may be found under the name of the Reflective Octant, for, like the marine sextant, it was equipped with a mirror. The constellation is inexpressive; it contains no stars brighter than 4th magnitude. The south pole of the world is located approximately between its two brightest stars - b and d. And the star closest to the pole, about 1 degree away from it and barely visible to the eye, is s Oct, the brightness of which is 5.5 magnitude.

The brightest star in Octant n Oct is a binary with an orbital period of only 2.8 years; but in an amateur telescope it cannot be divided, because the distance between the components is only 0.05І. It is curious that star a in this constellation is far from being the brightest, stars m and p are represented in two, and g even in triplicate. In general, the constellation Octant leaves an impression of neglect.

Eagle.

A beautiful constellation in the Milky Way, southwest of Cygnus. It is easy to recognize by three bright stars located almost exactly along a straight line on the neck, back and left shoulder of the "eagle": Altair, Tarazed and Alshain (a, g and b of the Eagle). The main "body of the bird" lies in the eastern branch of the Milky Way, and the two stars of its "tail" lie in the western branch of the "milky river". Even 5 millennia ago, the Sumerians called this constellation the Eagle. The Greeks saw him as an eagle sent by Zeus to kidnap Ganymede and called him the Bird of Zeus.

The brightest luminary in the Eagle is the white star Altair, which in Arabic means "flying hawk." At a distance of only 17 light-years from the Sun, Altair has 11 times the luminosity of the Sun, making it one of the brightest stars in the sky. As a result of rapid rotation, the speed of which at the equator exceeds 250 km / s, Altair is strongly compressed along the polar axis.

At 7 degrees south of Altair, there is a classical variable Cepheid star h Aql, changing its brightness from 3.8 to 4.7 magnitude with a period of 7.2 days. Bright new stars flashed in Orel in 389 and 1918. The first of them appeared near Altair, was bright as Venus and was observed for three weeks. And the second one, seen on June 8, 1918, reached a magnitude of -1.4 at its maximum and turned out to be the brightest nova since the beginning of the 17th century. (when New Kepler erupted in 1604).

Orion.

Many consider this constellation to be the most beautiful in the entire sky. But Orion is not only a decoration of the winter sky, but also a real astronomical laboratory in which astronomers study the processes of the birth of stars and planets.

In the arrangement of the stars, the figure of the great hunter Orion, the son of Poseidon, is easily guessed. In this relatively small constellation, there are many bright stars, and among the brightest there are variables. The constellation is easy to find by the three magnificent white-blue stars in the hunter's belt - on the right is Mintaka (d Ori), which means “belt” in Arabic, in the center of Alnilam (e Ori) is “pearl belt”, and on the left is Alnitak (z Ori) - "sash". They are equally spaced from each other and arranged in a line pointing at one end to the blue Sirius in Canis Major, and the other to the red Aldebaran in Taurus.

The red supergiant Betelgeuse (a Ori), which in Arabic means "giant's armpit", is a semi-regular variable star pulsating with a period of about 2070 days; while its brightness varies from 0.2 to 1.4 magnitudes and averages about 0.7. Its distance is 390 light years and the luminosity is 8400 times that of the Sun. Betelgeuse is not in vain called a supergiant: its relatively modest luminosity is due to the low surface temperature, only about 3000 K. But it is one of the largest stars known to astronomers: if it is placed instead of the Sun, then at a minimum size it will fill the orbit of Mars, and at a maximum it will reach the orbit Jupiter!

Unlike the cold and red star Betelgeuse, the amazing blue-white supergiant Rigel, which in Arabic means "the left foot of the giant", has a surface temperature of 12,000 K; its luminosity is almost 50 thousand times higher than the sun. There are very few such powerful stars in the Galaxy, and among those accessible to the naked eye are only Deneb (in Cygnus) and Rigel.

Below the Belt of Orion is a group of stars and nebulae - the Sword of Orion. The middle star in the Sword is q Ori, a well-known multiple system: its four bright components form a small quadrangle - Orion's Trapezium; in addition, there are four more faint stars. All of these stars are very young, having recently formed from interstellar gas in a very cold and invisible cloud that occupies the entire eastern part of the constellation of Orion. Only a small piece of this gigantic cloud, heated by young stars, is visible in the Sword of Orion in a small telescope and even through binoculars as a greenish cloud; this is the most interesting object in the constellation - the Great Nebula of Orion (M 42), about 1500 light years away from us and having a diameter of 20 light years. She was the first photographed nebula; American astronomer Henry Draper did this in 1880.

0.5 degrees south of the eastern star of the Belt (z Ori) is the well-known dark Horsehead Nebula (B 33), which is clearly visible against the bright background of the IC 434 nebula.

Peacock.

The distant southern constellation lies between the Toucan and the Bird of Paradise. Its brightest star (a Pav) of magnitude 1.9 is called Peacock. In fact, it lies on the border of three constellations - the Indian, the Peacock and the Telescope - and for all three it is the brightest. Interesting objects to observe in Pavlina are one of the most beautiful globular clusters NGC 6752 and one of the largest crossed spiral galaxies NGC 6744.

Sail.

Part of the ancient constellation Ship Argo. The southern part of the constellation Sail falls on the most populated regions of the Milky Way, so it is rich in bright stars. With the naked eye, you can count at least 100 stars in it. For historical reasons, it does not have a and b stars; its brightest luminaries are designated as g (Regor), d, l (Al Suhail), k and m. On the border of Sails and Carina is the asterism False Cross, which often misleads those who first enter the southern hemisphere. Unlike the real Southern Cross, the false one is not directed at the south pole of the world at all.

The binary star g Vel is easily resolved through binoculars: its 2 and 4 magnitude components are separated by a distance of 41І. At the same time, the main component itself is a complex system - it is a close binary with an orbital period of 78.5 days, in which a very hot star of the spectral type O and a rare star of the Wolf-Rayet type, having masses of 38 and 20 solar masses, respectively, coexist. The less massive of them loses matter from its surface at a high rate and in large quantities. For the first time stars of this type were described in 1867 by the French astronomers Charles Wolf (1827–1918) and Georges Rayet (1839–1906). In the spectrum of this system, broad multi-colored lines are visible against a fairly bright continuous background. Astronomers call this star the “spectral pearl of the southern sky.”

The planetary nebula NGC 3132, located on the border with the Pump, is similar to the Ring Nebula in Lyra, but firstly, the nebula itself is noticeably brighter than the Ring, and secondly, its central star is much brighter, which can easily be seen in a small telescope. However, the glow of the nebula itself is not excited by this star, but by its small companion with a surface temperature of about 100 thousand K.

This constellation also contains one of the most unusual objects of optical astronomy - the neutron star-pulsar Vela, blinking at a frequency of 11 pulses per second. It was the second optical pulsar, discovered in 1977, 10 years after the first optical pulsar in Crab (the constellation Taurus). Both of them are also radio pulsars, of which more than a thousand have already been discovered. Only the youngest pulsars exhibit optical outbursts. Vela and Crab are very young, they were formed as a result of supernova explosions: the outbreak that gave rise to the Crab Nebula was observed in 1054, and about 12 thousand years ago the star in Sails exploded, leaving a rapidly rotating neutron star in its place and flying in all directions from it gas envelope, the diameter of which today has already reached 6 degrees. This very beautiful openwork structure lies on the galactic equator, between the stars g and l Parusov.

Pegasus.

Autumn constellation located southeast of Cygnus. Together with the star a Andromedae, it forms the Great Square of Pegasus, which is easy to find in the sky. The Babylonians and the ancient Greeks called him simply "horse"; the name "Pegasus" first appears in Eratosthenes, but there were no wings yet. They arose later, in connection with the legend of Bellerophon, who received a winged horse from the gods, flew up on it and killed the winged monster chimera. In some myths, Pegasus is also associated with Perseus.

There is no star marked with a d in Pegasus. But on some old maps there is such a star: it is the upper left in the Square, the star of Alferatz, which we now know as a And. Alferatz refers to those bright "common" stars that often lie on the boundaries of constellations. The decision to "transfer" it to Andromeda was taken at the final division of the constellations in 1928. Together with the disappearance of the star d Peg, the Great Square became the "joint property" of the two constellations.

In Pegasus, near the border with the Little Horse, is one of the richest globular clusters M 15, as well as the spiral galaxy NGC 7331, the image of which is often used to give an idea of ​​​​the appearance of our Galaxy. Analyzing the spectrum of the star 51 Peg, Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Quelotz in 1995 noticed the presence of an invisible companion next to it - the first planet discovered around a solar-type star.

Perseus.

A beautiful constellation located entirely in the Milky Way northeast of Andromeda. According to myth, Perseus was the son of Zeus and Princess Danae; he defeated the gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda from the sea monster. Every year in mid-August, the Perseid meteor shower is observed, caused by particles lost by the periodic comet Swift–Tutl.

The brightest star a Per bears the Arabic name Mirfak, which means "elbow". This yellow supergiant, 600 light-years away, serves as the center of a rich group of bright stars known as the Perseus A Cluster. The most famous eclipsing variable star is Algol (b Per), which means "demon's head" in Arabic. Its variability was first noticed between 1667 and 1670 by Geminiano Montanari (1633–1687) from Modena (Italy). And in 1782, the English astronomer John Goodryke (1764–1786) discovered a periodicity in the change in its brightness: with a period of 2 days 20 hours 49 minutes, the brightness of a star first decreases from 2.1 to 3.4 magnitudes, and after 10 hours returns to its original value . This behavior of Algol led Goodraik to the idea that the decrease in the brightness of a star occurs as a result of eclipses: in a binary star system, periodically the darker component partially outshines the brighter one. In 1889, the German astronomer Hermann Vogel (1841–1907) confirmed Goodreik's hypothesis by discovering Algol's spectral duality. A talented and well-educated young man, deaf-mute since childhood, Goodryk also discovered the variability of two other bright stars - b Lyra (1784) and d Cephei (1784), which, like Algol, became the prototypes of important classes of variable stars.

Also in Perseus attract attention: the planetary nebula Little Dumbbell (M 76); the California nebula (NGC 1499) and the open cluster M 34. Of undoubted interest for observation is the double open cluster h and c Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884), which is 6500 light-years away, but has an apparent magnitude of 4 and is visible even to the naked eye .

Bake.

Lies south of Cetus and Eridanus, has no bright stars. It shows the dwarf galaxy Furnace, a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, 450,000 light-years from the Sun. In the same constellation, but much further away from us, there is a rather rich cluster of galaxies, also called the Furnace.

Bird of paradise.

Despite the beautiful name, this constellation is unattractive. Its dim stars are located near the celestial pole. Among them, the S of the Bird of Paradise (S Aps) is of the greatest interest. It belongs to a very interesting group of R-type stars in the Northern Corona. The brightness of such a star can remain almost unchanged for several years, and then for a short time weakens by tens or even hundreds of times. After a few weeks, or even a year, the star returns to normal. Temporary dimming of brightness reduces the brightness of the star S Aps from 10 to 15 magnitudes (i.e., by a factor of 100); moreover, some regularity is found in these changes with a period of about 113 days. Astronomers suspect that the reason for the dimming of the brightness of such stars is the condensation in their atmosphere of a substance similar to soot. This is facilitated by their excess of carbon and the low temperature of the atmosphere. From time to time, black clouds cover the skies of these stars, hiding their bright photosphere from us.

Cancer.

The most inconspicuous constellation of the Zodiac: its stars can only be seen on a clear moonless night. However, it has many interesting objects.

The Arabic name for the star is a Cnc - Akubens, which means "claw"; it is a visual binary star of magnitude 4.3; you will find its 12th magnitude companion at a distance of 11І from the main star. It is curious that the main one itself is also double: its two identical companions are separated by a distance of only 0.1І. For an amateur telescope, this is not available.

The star z Cnc is one of the most interesting multiple systems: two of its stars form a binary system with an orbital period of 59.6 years, and the third component revolves around this pair with a period of approx. 1150 years.

There are two known open clusters in Cancer. One of them is the Manger (Praesepe, M 44), which is sometimes also called the Beehive. It is visible to the eye as a hazy speck a little to the west of the line connecting the stars g and d Cancer. Galileo was the first to resolve this cluster into stars; in a modern telescope, about 350 stars are observed in it in the brightness range from 6.3 to 14 magnitudes, and about 200 of them are members of the cluster, and the rest are closer or more distant stars, randomly observed in the projection onto the cluster. The nursery is one of the star clusters closest to us: the distance to it is 520 light years; therefore, its visible size in the sky is very large - three times the size of the lunar disk.

The M 67 cluster, located 1.8 degrees west of the star a Cnc, is 2600 light-years away from us and contains about 500 stars from magnitude 10 to magnitude 16. This is one of the oldest open clusters, its age is over 3 billion years. For comparison: the nursery is a middle-aged cluster, it is only 660 million years old. Most open clusters move in the plane of the Milky Way, but M 67 is significantly removed from it, and this is not accidental: away from the dense galactic disk, the cluster collapses less and lives longer.

It should be noted that the geographical concepts "Tropic of Cancer" and "Tropic of Capricorn" arose several millennia ago, when the point of the summer solstice was located in the constellation Cancer, and the point of the winter solstice, respectively, in Capricorn. The precession of the earth's axis disturbed this picture. Now geographers call these lines on the globe, 23.5 degrees from the equator, Tropic of the North and Tropic of the South.

Cutter.

This "engraver's tool" is a small, almost empty area southwest of the Hare. This is one of the most inexpressive constellations.

Fish.

A large zodiac constellation, which is conventionally divided into Northern Pisces (under Andromeda) and Western Pisces (between Pegasus and Aquarius). In our era, it is in the constellation of Pisces that the vernal equinox lies, which, according to tradition, is sometimes called the First Point of Aries. However, in Aries, she lay 2000 years ago, and after 600 years she will enter the constellation Aquarius.

The asterism Crown represents the ring of seven stars in the head of the Western Pisces. Alrisha (a Psc), which in Arabic means "rope", is located in the southeast corner of the constellation and represents an interesting visual double; its magnitude 4.2 and 5.2 components are separated by 2.5I. 2 degrees south of d Psc is Van Maanen's Star, probably the closest white dwarf to us, 14 light-years away. The spiral galaxy M 74 is also curious, the largest observed face-on (magnitude 9.4 magnitude, angular diameter 10º).

Lynx.

A fairly large northern constellation of very faint stars; it takes truly lynx eyes to see them! Many of them are doubles and multiples. Particularly interesting is the physical binary 10 UMa, whose 4th and 6th magnitude components are separated by a distance of about 0.5I and rotate with a period of about 22 years. This star passed into the Lynx from Ursa Major when clarifying the boundaries of the constellations, but retained its traditional designation. And we will find the star 41 Lynx (41 Lyn) in the territory of Ursa Major. These examples clearly indicate the relative movement of the stars and the conventionality of the boundaries of the constellations.

Astronomy lovers will be attracted by the Intergalactic Wanderer (NGC 2419) - one of the most distant globular clusters of the Galaxy (275 thousand light years from the Sun). Why is it called "intergalactic"? Yes, because some galaxies, such as the Magellanic Clouds, are much closer to us. It is not easy to observe this cluster: with a diameter of 4º, it has a brightness of approx. 10 magnitude.

Northern Crown.

The constellation is located between Bootes and Hercules; many consider it the most beautiful of the small constellations. Gemma, or Alfekka - the brightest star in the Northern Crown (a CrB); this is an Algol-type eclipsing binary that slightly changes its brightness near 2.2 magnitude with a period of 17.36 days. But Gemma is more complicated than Algol: the second system of lines is visible in its spectrum, which demonstrates oscillations with a period of 2.8 days. Perhaps this is the third component.

The irregular variable star R CrB almost always has a brightness of approx. 6 magnitude, but sometimes suddenly dims, dropping to 9 or even 14 magnitude, and remains in this state from several months to ten years.

At the southern border of the constellation, near e CrB, on May 12, 1866, a new star flared up, which received the designation T CrB. Its brilliance reached magnitude 2 and was visible to the naked eye for a week, but after two months its brilliance dropped to magnitude 9. And on February 9, 1946, it flared up again, reaching 3 magnitudes. Such stars are called "repeated novae". It is also visible in the intervals between flashes (11 magnitudes).

Sextant.

This inconspicuous constellation is located south of Leo and contains no stars brighter than magnitude 4.5. The most interesting object is the bright (mag. 10) highly elongated elliptical Spindle Galaxy (NGC 3115). In the same constellation, the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Sextans is also visible, only 280 thousand light years away.

Net.

Introducing this small southern constellation, Lacaille had in mind a scale printed on a transparent material or made in the form of a grid of cobwebs, which is used in optical measuring instruments - a “rhomboid grid”. Its brightest stars really form a rhombus.

For binocular observation, the z Ret system, which lies on the border with the constellation Hours, is of interest. These are two 5th magnitude stars separated by an angle of 5º; both of them are like two drops of water similar to our Sun (spectral class G2 V).

Scorpion.

The zodiac constellation, but its border with the neighboring Ophiuchus lay in such a way that the Sun passes through Scorpio in less than a week at the end of November, and then moves through the non-zodiacal constellation Ophiuchus for almost three weeks. Scorpio lies entirely in the Milky Way. Many bright stars outline the "head, body and tail of a scorpion." According to Aratus, Orion quarreled with Artemis; angry, she sent a scorpion, which killed the youth. Arat adds an astronomical piece to this myth: "When Scorpio rises in the east, Orion hurries to hide in the west."

The brightest star Antares (a Sco), which in Greek means "rival of Ares (Mars)", is located in the "heart of the scorpion." This is a red supergiant with insignificant brightness variability (from 0.9 to 1.2 magnitudes); in terms of brightness and color, this star is really very similar to Mars, and it lies near the ecliptic, so it is not surprising to confuse them. The diameter of Antares is about 700 times greater than that of the Sun, and the luminosity is 9000 times greater than that of the Sun. This is a beautiful visual double: its brighter component is blood red, and its less bright neighbor (5 stars), only 3І distant, is bluish-white, but in contrast to the companion it looks green - a very beautiful combination.

The star Akrab (b Sco) the Greeks called Rafias, which means "crab"; this is a bright double (magnitude 2.6 and 4.9) that can be resolved with a modest telescope. At the tip of the "tail of a scorpion" is Shaula (l Sco), translated from Arabic - a sting. The most powerful X-ray source of the starry sky Sco X-1, identified with a hot blue variable star, is located in Scorpio; astronomers believe that this is a close binary system, where a neutron star is paired with a normal one. In Scorpio, open clusters M 6, M 7 and NGC 6231 are visible, as well as globular clusters M 4, 62 and 80.

Sculptor.

Introduced by Lacaille under the name Sculptor's Workshop, this southern constellation does not contain bright stars, since it is as far from the Milky Way as possible - it contains one of the poles of the Galaxy. Therefore, the constellation is mainly interesting for its extragalactic objects. Large 8th magnitude galaxy NGC 55 is seen almost edge-on; it is one of the closest star systems (about 4.2 million light years) outside the Local Group. It belongs to the Sculptor group of galaxies, which also includes the spiral systems NGC 253, 300, and 7793 (all in Sculptor), as well as NGC 247 and possibly NGC 45 (both in Ceti). The Sculptor group of galaxies, like the M 81 group in Ursa Major, are the nearest neighbors of the Local Group of galaxies.

Table Mountain.

This constellation Lacaille named after Table Mountain, located south of Cape Town, on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, where Lacaille made his observations. The constellation lies near the south celestial pole. It contains no stars brighter than 5th magnitude (it's not for nothing that John Herschel called it a "desert"!), but it does contain part of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Arrow.

A small graceful constellation between the Chanterelle and the Eagle. Eratosthenes believed that this was the arrow of Apollo, which he used to take revenge on the one-eyed Cyclops giants, who gave Zeus the lightning bolts with which he killed Asclepius, the son of Apollo. Among the objects of interest are the globular cluster M 71, the eclipsing variable U Sge, the irregular variable V Sge, and the repeated nova WZ Sge (outbursts in 1913, 1946, and 1978).

Sagittarius.

Greek myth connects this zodiac constellation with the centaur Krotos, an excellent hunter. In the direction of Sagittarius is the center of the Galaxy, 27 thousand light years away from us and hidden behind clouds of interstellar dust. Sagittarius is the most beautiful part of the Milky Way, many globular clusters, as well as dark and light nebulae. For example, the nebulae Lagoon (M 8), Omega (M 17; other names are Cygnus, Horseshoe), Triple (or Trifid, M 20), open clusters M 18, 21, 23, 25 and NGC 6603; globular clusters M 22, 28, 54, 55, 69, 70 and 75. Many thousands of variable stars have been discovered in this region of the sky. In a word, here we admire the very core of our Galaxy. True, only radio, infrared and X-ray telescopes can reach its core, and the optical beam is hopelessly stuck in interstellar dust. However, the same happens in any other direction along the Milky Way, where the eye of an optical telescope cannot penetrate into intergalactic distances. It is all the more surprising that in 1884 the American astronomer E. Barnard managed to discover in the northeastern part of the constellation, not far from the Milky Way band, the dwarf galaxy NGC 6822, 1.6 million light years distant.

Telescope.

Indeed, without a telescope in this southern constellation you will see little. Its borders seem to be specially drawn so as to avoid bright stars. But with a good telescope there is a lot to explore. The star RR Tel is very curious, whose 387-day brightness variability continued even during the period of a nova-like outburst that began in 1944 and lasted an unusually long time - 6 years! It is possible that this is a binary system in which a large red star exhibits regular brightness variability, while a compact hot star is responsible for nova outbursts. Such systems are called "symbiotic stars".

Calf.

A beautiful winter constellation lying at the intersection of the Zodiac with the Milky Way, northwest of Orion. According to the myth, this is a white bull on which Europe swam across the sea and got to Zeus in Crete.

In Taurus, the two most famous star clusters are the Pleiades and the Hyades. The Pleiades (M 45) is often called the Seven Sisters - this is an amazing open cluster, one of the closest to us (400 light years); it contains about 500 stars, shrouded in a barely visible nebula. The nine brightest stars, located on a field with a diameter of just over 1 degree, are named after the titan Atlas, the oceanids Pleione and their seven daughters (Alcyone, Asterope, Maya, Merope, Taygetes, Celeno, Electra). A keen eye distinguishes 6-7 stars in the Pleiades; together they look like a small bucket. Seeing the Pleiades with binoculars is a great pleasure. IN ancient list of the 48 constellations compiled by Eudoxus (4th century BC) and given in the poem of Arata, the Pleiades are distinguished by a separate constellation.

Even closer to us (150 light years) is the Hyades open cluster containing 132 stars brighter than magnitude 9 and another 260 fainter possible members. The stars of the Hyades are scattered over a much larger area than those of the compact Pleiades, so they are less impressive. But for astronomical research, the Hyades, due to their proximity, is much more important. According to the myth, the Hyades are the daughters of Atlas and Ephra; they are half-sisters of the Pleiades.

At the eastern edge of the Hyades lies the bright orange star Aldebaran (a Tau), which is not related to them, in Arabic - “following”; in modern times it is often called Ox's Eye. Its brightness varies from 0.75 to 0.95 magnitude; together with its companion - a red dwarf of magnitude 13 - it is removed by 65 light years, i.e. twice as close to us as the Hyades.

The second brightest star in Taurus (b Tau) belongs to the group of "common" stars, since it lies on the border with the neighboring constellation - Auriga. In catalogs published before the beginning of the 20th century, this bright star, which the Arabs called Nat, was often referred to as g Aurigae. But in 1928, when drawing the boundaries of the constellations, she was "given" to Taurus. However, even today, on some maps of the starry sky, Nat is included not only in the drawing of Taurus, but also in the drawing of the Charioteer.

A truly famous astrophysical object in Taurus is the remnant of the 1054 supernova explosion, the Crab Nebula (M 1), located at the edge of the Milky Way, about 1 degree northwest of the star z Tau. The apparent brilliance of the nebula is 8.4 magnitude. It is 6300 light years away from us; its linear diameter is about 6 light years and increases daily by 80 million km. It is a powerful source of radio and X-ray radiation. At the center of the Crab Nebula is a tiny but very hot blue star of magnitude 16; this is the famous pulsar "Crab" - a neutron star that sends strictly periodic pulses of electromagnetic radiation.

Triangle.

A small constellation southeast of Andromeda. At its western border, the spiral galaxy M 33, or the Triangulum Nebula (magnitude 5.7), is visible, turned almost flat to us. Her English nickname Pinwheel translates as "lantern wheel" - a kind of cogwheel with rods instead of teeth; it quite accurately conveys the apparent shape of the galaxy. She, like the Andromeda Nebula (M 31), is a member of the Local Group of galaxies. Both of them are located symmetrically with respect to the star Mirach (b Andromeda), which greatly facilitates the search for the weaker M 33. Both galaxies are approximately the same distance from us, but the Triangulum Nebula is a little further, at a distance of 2.6 million light years.

Toucan.

Southern circumpolar constellation. There are no bright stars in it, but in its southernmost part you can see the amazing globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), which has a magnitude of 4 and is 13 thousand light years distant. Next to it, a neighboring galaxy is visible - the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a member of the Local Group and, like the LMC, a satellite of our star system, 190 thousand light years distant.

Phoenix.

This "fireproof bird" is located south of the Sculptor, between Eridanus and the Crane. 6.5 degrees west of the star a Phe is the star SX Phe - the most famous among dwarf Cepheids, demonstrating extremely fast brightness fluctuations (7.2-7.8 magnitudes) with a period of only 79 minutes 10 seconds.

Chameleon.

A distant southern constellation, not interesting for amateur observations.

Cepheus.

The mythical Ethiopian king Cepheus (or Cepheus) was the husband of Cassiopeia and the father of Andromeda. The constellation is not very expressive, but its five brightest stars, located between Cassiopeia and Dragon's Head, can be easily found. Due to precession, the north celestial pole moves towards Cepheus. The star Alrai (g Cep) will turn out to be “polar” from 3100 to 5100, Alfirk (b Cep) will be closer to the pole from 5100 to 6500, and from 6500 to 8300 the role of the polar will pass to the star Alderamin (a Cep), almost as bright, like the current Polar.

The bright component of the pretty visual binary d Cep serves as the prototype for pulsating Cepheid variable stars, changing its brightness from magnitude 3.7 to magnitude 4.5 with a period of 5.37 days. The star m Cep was called Erakis in ancient times, and William Herschel called it the Garnet Star, because it is the reddest among the stars of the northern hemisphere visible to the naked eye.

The star VV Cephei is an eclipsing binary with a period of 20.34 years; its main component, a red giant 1,200 times the diameter of the Sun, is possibly the largest star known to us. And the star cluster NGC 188 is one of the oldest (5 billion years) among the open clusters of the Galaxy.

Compass.

A small southern constellation, on the border of which lies a Centaur. And the magnificent visual double a Cir (3.2 + 8.6 magnitude, distance 16І) shows fast small fluctuations in brightness and rare elements in the atmosphere - chromium, strontium and europium.

Watch.

A narrow long strip south of Eridani, devoid of bright stars. The 4th magnitude star R Hor is of interest: it is a Mirida with a period of about 408 days, which at minimum brightness decreases to 14th magnitude (i.e., the light flux from it decreases by 10 thousand times!).

Bowl.

An inconspicuous constellation to the west of Raven.

Shield.

A small constellation introduced by Hevelius under the name Shield of Sobessky in honor of the famous commander, the Polish king Jan Sobessky. Lies in the eastern branch of the Milky Way, north of Sagittarius. It has no bright stars. An example of short-period pulsating variables is the star d Sct (5 magnitude, period 4.7 hours). The unusual semi-regular pulsating variable R Sct is similar to both Cepheids and long-period red variables - Mirids. The open cluster Wild Duck (M 11) can be observed with a small telescope 2 degrees southeast of the star b Sct; it contains 500 stars brighter than magnitude 14 and is an amazing sight.

Eridanus.

This "heavenly river" was identified by various peoples with the Euphrates, the Nile and the Po. In the sky, it begins with the star of the Course (b Eri), which lies just west of Rigel in Orion, and “flows” west, and then south and southwest to the blue giant Achernar (a Eri), which in Arabic is just means "end of the river". An apparent magnitude of 0.5 makes Achernar the ninth brightest star.

10.5 light-years away, e Eri is the nearest single solar-type star; but it is slightly less massive and not as hot as the Sun, and is only about 1 billion years old. However, in the 1960s, it was e Eridani and t Ceti that were considered the most attractive for the search for extraterrestrial civilizations next to them. And these hopes are already beginning to be justified: recently, astronomers discovered that a giant planet revolves around e Eri with a period of about 7 years, with a mass slightly less than that of Jupiter. It is likely that over time, terrestrial-type planets will be found in this system.

The remarkable triple system o 2 Eri consists of a magnitude 4 orange dwarf, a magnitude 9 white dwarf (the only one visible in a small telescope), and a magnitude 11 red dwarf. Among distant objects, the most perfect example of a broken spiral, the galaxy NGC 1300, is noteworthy.

Southern Hydra.

The southern circumpolar constellation of the "water snake" is not remarkable in any way. The yellow dwarf b Hyi is similar to the Sun and is only 25 light-years away.

South Crown.

Located between the southern parts of Sagittarius and Scorpio, this small constellation lies entirely within the Milky Way. Interest in it is attracted by the area where bright and dark nebulae are mixed: NGC 6726, 6727 and 6729. The g CrA system is also curious, consisting of two twin stars, very similar to the Sun, separated by an angle of 2І and revolving with a period of 120 years.

Southern Fish.

Small constellation south of Aquarius and Capricorn. Apart from the bright Fomalhaut (which in Arabic means "mouth of the fish"), all other stars in it are very faint.

South Cross.

The smallest of all constellations. Selected by Bayer from the constellation Centaur in 1603, although the first mention of this useful figure for navigators is contained in a letter from Amerigo Vespucci dated 1503. The cross lies in the southern part of the Milky Way and ranks first in the number of stars visible to the naked eye per unit area of ​​the constellation. The figure of the Cross is formed by four bright stars: a, b, g and d, and the line from g to a indicates the south pole of the world.

The amazing double star Acrux (a Cru) contains two components (1.4 and 1.8 magnitudes) at a distance of 4.4І. To its east, a dark "hole" in the background of the Milky Way is the Coal Sack, one of the nearest dark nebulae at a distance of just over 500 light-years. The size of this gas-dust cloud is 70 x 60 light years, and in the sky it occupies an area of ​​7 x 5 degrees. Next to it is the Diamond Box (NGC 4755), a beautiful open cluster named by John Herschel because it contains many brightly colored blue and red supergiant stars.

Southern Triangle.

This characteristic group of stars was first mentioned in 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci, and only a century later it was described by Peter Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. It lies almost entirely in the Milky Way, but contains nothing remarkable.

Lizard.

Located between Cygnus and Andromeda; It has no bright stars, although its northern part lies in the Milky Way. A very unusual object was found in this constellation in 1929 by the German astronomer Kuno Hoffmeister (1892-1968), the founder of the Sonneberg Observatory, who personally discovered about 10 thousand variable stars! Initially, he took this object as a variable star and designated it as BL Lac. But it turned out that this is a very distant galaxy, reminiscent of quasars by the activity of its core, but unlike them, it does not have lines in the spectrum and demonstrates a very strong (up to 100 times) brightness variability. Other objects of this kind were discovered later; some of them (RW Tau, AP Lib, etc.) were also initially considered variable stars. Astronomers suspect that these are the active nuclei of very large elliptical galaxies. Now objects of this type are called lacertides.

Vladimir Surdin

Literature:

Ullerich K. Nights at the telescope: a guide to the starry sky. M.: Mir, 1965
Ray G. Stars: New outlines of old constellations. M.: Mir, 1969
Tsesevich V.P. What and how to observe in the sky. Moscow: Nauka, 1984
Karpenko Yu.A. Names of the starry sky. Moscow: Nauka, 1985
Siegel F.Yu. Treasures of the Starry Sky: A Guide to the Constellations and the Moon. Moscow: Nauka, 1986
Dagaev M.M. starry sky observations. Moscow: Nauka, 1988
Gurshtein A.A. The sky is divided into constellations in the Stone Age// Nature, No. 9, 1994
Bakich M.E. The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995
Kuzmin A.V. Star annals of civilization// Nature, No. 8, 2000
Surdin V.G. Sky. M.: Slovo, 2000
Charugin V.M. Astronomical Evenings // I'm going to an astronomy lesson: Starry sky. M.: First of September, 2001
Kuzmin A.V. Sacrifice: a sacrament in the mirror of the sky// Nature, No. 4, 2002
Kulikovsky P.G., Astronomy hobbyist's guide. M.: URSS, 2002

 constellations.

A constellation in astronomy is simply an area of ​​the sky within some set boundaries...
Each cultural people had its own constellations, which differed greatly both in number and in names or positions in the celestial sphere. We will not go into details, since more than one book can be written on this topic ... In general, the situation required order, and it was put in place. The final list of 88 modern constellations and their boundaries was approved at a meeting of the International Astronomical Congress in 1922.
The table shows the Russian and Latin names of the constellations, their generally accepted three-letter abbreviations, and the last column shows the spelling of the constellation in the genitive case. Knowing this is important, because it is correct to say not only " Alpha Andromeda" or " Beta Gemini", but also Alpha Andromedae And Beta geminorum...

Modern list of constellations, in alphabetical order
(according to Russian spelling). 01. Andromeda And Andromeda Andromedae 02. Gemini Gem Gemini Geminorum 03. Ursa Major UMa Ursae Major Ursae Majoris 04. Canis Major CMa Canis Major Canis Majoris 05. Libra Lib Libra Librae 06. Aquarius Aqr Aquarius Aquarii 07. Charioteer Aur Auriga Aurigae 08. Wolf Lup Lupus Lupi 09. Bootes Boo Bootes Bootis 10. Hair of Veronica Com Coma Berenices Comae Berenices 11. Raven Crv Corvus Corvi 12. Hercules Her Hercules Herculis 13. Hydra Hydra Hydrae 14. Pigeon Col Columba Columbae 15. Hounds Dogs CVn Canes Venatici Canum Venaticorum 16. Virgo Vir Virgo Virginis 17. Dolphin Del Delphinus Delphini 18. Dragon Dra Draco Draconis 19. Unicorn Mon Monoceros Monocerotis 20. Altar Ara Ara Arae 21. Painter Pic Pictor Pictoris 22. Giraffe Cam Camelopardalis Camelopardalis 23. Crane Gru Grus Gruis 24. Hare Lep Lepus Leporis 25. Ophiuchus Oph Ophiuchus Ophiuchi 26. Snake Ser Serpens Serpentis 27. Goldfish Dor Dorado Doradus 28. Indian Ind Indus Indi 29. Cassiopeia Cas Cassiopeja Cassiopeiae 30. Keel Car Carina Carinae 31. Whale Cet Cetus Ceti 32 Capricornus Cap Capricornus Capricorni 33. Compass Pyx Pyxis Pyxidis 34. Stern Pup Puppis Puppis 35. Swan Cyg Cygnus Cygni 36. Lion Leo Leo Leonis 37. Flying Fish Vol Volans Volantis 38. Lyre Lyr Lyra Lyrae 39. Chanterelle Vul Vulpecula Vulpeculae 40. Ursa Minor UMi Ursa Minor Ursae Minoris 41. Little Horse Equ Equuleus Equulei 42. Little Lion LMi Leo Minor Leonis Minoris 43. Little Dog CMi Canis Minor Canis Minoris 44. Microscope Mic Microscopium Microscopii 45. Fly Mus Musca Muscae 46. Pump Ant Antlia Antliae 47. Nor Norma Normae 48. Aries Ari Aries Arietis 49. Octant Octans Octantis 50. Eagle Aql Aquila Aquilae 51. Orion Ori Orion Orionis 52. Peacock Pav Pavo Pavonis 53. Sails Vel Vela Velorum 54. Pegasus Peg Pegasus Pegasi 55. Perseus Persei 56. Furnace For Fornax Fornacis 57. Bird of Paradise Aps Apus Apodis 58. Cancer Cnc Cancer Cancri 59. Incisor Cae Caelum Caeli 60. Pisces Psc Pisces Piscium 61. Lynx Lynx Lynx Lyncis 62. Northern Crown CrB Corona Borealis Coronae Borealis 63 Sextant Sex Sextans Sextantis 64 Ret Reticulum Reticuli 65 Sco Scorpius Scorpii 66 Scl Sculptor Sculptoris 67 Table Mountain Men Mensa Mensae 68 Arrow Sge Sagitta Sagittae 69 Sagittarius Sgr Sagittarius Sagittarii 70 Tel Telescopium Telescopii 71 Taurus Tau Taurus Tauri 72. Tri Triangulum Trianguli 73. Toucan Tuc Tucana Tucanae 74. Phoenix Phe Phoenix Phoenicis 75. Chameleon Cha Chamaeleon Chamaeleontis 76. Centaurus Cen Centaures Centauri 77. Cepheus Cep Cepheus Cephei 78. Compass Cir Circinus Circini 79. Clock Horologium Horologii 80. Cup Crt Crater Crateris 81. Shield Sct Scutum Scuti 82. Eridani Eri Eridanus Eridani 83. Southern Hydra Hyi Hydrus Hydri 84. Southern Corona CrA Corona Australis Coronae Australis 85. Southern Fish PsA Piscis Austrinus Piscis Austrini 86. Southern Cross Cru Crux Crucis 87. Southern Triangle TrA Triangulum Australe Trianguli Australis 88 Lizard Lac Lacerta Lacertae Today, you can find almost everything on the net, but for an initial acquaintance, I recommend starting here.
Collaboration ennobles. And finally - Constellations from Wiki- I recommend!
For the more advanced: One of the most useful star catalogs for beginners in the study of stars, their names and constellations is the "Bright Star Catalog", containing the most complete information on 9110 stars available to the naked eye (up to magnitude 6.5). I advise you to use one of the web pages to immediately get access to information about the brightest stars by constellations Well ... what I linked a long time ago ... Constellations and their stars- This site contains pages of all 88 constellations, which contain the names of bright stars and links to objects in the Messier catalog. constellations- a good site from the American Association of Astronomy Lovers. By the way, you can get acquainted with the activities of the association itself ... Do you need star cards? Especially for you, I have prepared one of the options movable star chart. These are pdf files that you can print on a good laser printer and use when planning your own observations and solving a number of practical problems. Here you can take

Mankind has always looked to the sky. The stars have long been the guides of sailors, and they remain so today. A constellation is considered a group of celestial bodies, which are united by one name. However, they can be located at different distances from each other. Moreover, in ancient times, the name of the constellations often depended on the outlines taken by the celestial bodies. More details about this will be discussed in this article.

General information

There are eighty-eight registered constellations in total. Of these, only forty-seven have been known to mankind since ancient times. We should say thanks to the astronomer Claudius Ptolemy, who systematized the known constellations of the starry sky in the treatise "Almagest". The rest appeared at a time when a person began to intensively study the world around him, travel more and write down his knowledge. So, other groups of objects appeared in the sky.

The constellations in the sky and their names (photos of some of them will be presented in the article) are quite diverse. Many have several names, as well as ancient legends of origin. For example, there is a rather interesting legend about the appearance of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the sky. In those days when the gods ruled the world, the most powerful of them was Zeus. And he fell in love with the beautiful nymph Callisto, and he took her as his wife. In order to protect her from Hera, who is jealous and dangerous in her anger, Zeus took her beloved to heaven, turning her into a bear. So it turned out the constellation Ursa Major. The dog Callisto became Ursa Minor.

Zodiac constellations of the solar system: names

The most famous constellations for humanity today are the zodiac. Since ancient times, those who meet on the path of our Sun during its annual journey (the ecliptic) have been considered as such. This is a rather wide strip of celestial space, divided into twelve segments.

Constellation name:

1. Aries;
2. Calf;
3. Twins;
4. Virgo;
5. Capricorn;
6. Aquarius;
7. Fish;
8. Scales;
9. Scorpion;
10. Sagittarius;
11. Ophiuchus.

As you can see, unlike the signs of the Zodiac, there is another constellation here - the thirteenth. This happened because over time the shape of celestial bodies changes. The signs of the Zodiac were formed a long time ago, when the sky map was somewhat different. To date, the position of the stars has undergone some changes. So, on the path of the Sun, another constellation appeared - Ophiuchus. In its order, it stands just after Scorpio.

The starting point of the solar journey is considered to be the spring equinox. At this moment, our luminary passes along the celestial equator, and the day becomes equal to the night (there is also the opposite point - autumn).

Constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

One of the most famous constellations in our firmament is Ursa Major and its accompanying Minor. But why did it happen that not the most pretentious constellation became so important? The fact is that in the composition of the cluster of celestial bodies Ursa Minor there is the North Star, which was a guiding light for many generations of sailors, and it remains so today.

This is due to its practical immobility. It is located near the North Pole, and the rest of the stars in the sky revolve around it. This feature of it was noticed by our ancestors, which was reflected in its name in different peoples(Golden Stake, Heavenly Stake, North Star, etc.).

Of course, there are other main objects in this constellation of the starry sky, the names of which are listed below:

• Kohab (Beta);
• Ferhad (Gamma);
• Delta;
• Epsilon;
• Zeta;

If we talk about the Big Dipper, then it more clearly resembles a bucket in its shape than its small counterpart. According to estimates, only with the naked eye in the constellation there are about one hundred and twenty-five stars. However, there are seven main ones:

• Dubhe (Alpha);
• Merak (Beta);
• Fekda (Gamma);
• Megrets (Delta);
• Aliot (Epsilon);
• Mizar (Zeta);
• Benetnash (This).

Ursa Major has nebulae and galaxies, as do numerous other star constellations. Their names are shown below:

• Spiral galaxy M81;
• Nebula "Owl";
• Spiral galaxy "Pinwheel;
• Barred spiral galaxy M109.

The most amazing stars

Of course, our sky has quite remarkable constellations (photos and names of some are presented in the article). However, in addition to them, there are other amazing stars. For example, in the constellation Canis Major, which is considered ancient, since our ancestors knew about it, there is the star Sirius. Many legends and myths are associated with it. In ancient Egypt, the movement of this star was very carefully monitored, there are even suggestions by some scientists that the African pyramids are aimed specifically at it with their tip.

Sirius is one of the closest stars to Earth today. Its characteristics exceed solar twice. It is believed that if Sirius were in the place of our luminary, then life on the planet in the form it is now would hardly be possible. With such intense heat, all the oceans from the surface would boil away.

A rather interesting star that can be seen in the sky of Antarctica is Alpha Centauri. This is the closest similar luminary to Earth. In its structure, this body contains three stars, two of which may well have terrestrial-type planets. The third, Proxima Centauri, according to all calculations, cannot have such, since it is rather small and cold.

Major and minor constellations

It should be noted that today there are fixed large and small constellations. Photos and their names will be presented below. One of the largest can safely be called the Hydra. This constellation occupies an area of ​​the starry sky of 1302.84 square degrees. Obviously, that is why it got such a name, all over appearance it resembles a thin and long strip, which occupies a fourth of the starry space. The main place where the Hydra is located is south of the line of the celestial equator.

According to its stellar composition, Hydra is rather dim. It includes only two worthy objects that stand out significantly in the sky - these are Alphard and Gamma Hydra. You can also note the open cluster called M48. The second largest constellation belongs to Virgo, which is slightly inferior in size. Therefore, the representative of the space community described below is truly small.

So, the smallest constellation in the sky is the Southern Cross, which is located in the Southern Hemisphere. It is considered an analogue of the Big Dipper in the North. Its area is sixty-eight square degrees. According to ancient astronomical chronicles, it used to be part of the Centauri, and only in 1589 it was singled out separately. As part of the Southern Cross, even with the naked eye, about thirty stars are visible.

In addition, there is a dark nebula in the constellation called the Coal Sack. It is interesting in that the processes of star formation can take place in it. Another unusual object is the open cluster of celestial bodies - NGC 4755.

Seasonal constellations

It should also be noted that the name of the constellations in the sky also changes from time to time. For example, in summer you can clearly see:

• Lyra;
• Eagle;
• Hercules;
• Snake;
• Chanterelle;
• Dolphin etc.

The winter sky is characterized by other constellations. Eg:

• Big Dog;
• Small Dog;
• Auriga;
• Unicorn;
• Eridan and others

The autumn sky is the following constellations:

• Pegasus;
• Andromeda;
• Perseus;
• Triangle;
• Keith and others

And the following constellations open the spring sky:

• Small Lion;
• Crow;
• Bowl;
• Hounds Dogs, etc.

constellations of the northern hemisphere

Each hemisphere of the Earth has its own celestial objects. The names of the stars and the constellations they belong to are quite different. So, let's consider which of them are characteristic of the northern hemisphere:

• Andromeda;
• Auriga;
• Twins;
• Veronica's hair;
• Giraffe;
• Cassiopeia;
• North Crown and others.

constellations of the southern hemisphere

The names of the stars and the constellations they belong to are also different for the southern hemisphere. Let's consider some of them:

• Crow;
• Altar;
• Peacock;
• Octant;
• Bowl;
• Phoenix;
• Centaurus;
• Chameleon and others.

Truly, all the constellations in the sky and their names (photo below) are quite unique. Many have their own special history, beautiful legend or unusual objects. The latter include the constellations Dorado and Toucan. The first is the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the second is the Small. These two objects are truly amazing.

The large cloud in its appearance is very similar to the Segner's wheel, and the Small cloud looks like a punching bag. They are quite large in terms of their area in the sky, and observers note their similarity with the Milky Way (although they are much smaller in real size). They seem to be part of it, which separated in the process. However, in their composition they are very similar to our galaxy, in addition, the Clouds are the systems of stars closest to us.

The surprising factor is that our galaxy and Clouds can rotate around the same center of gravity, which forms a triple star system. True, each of this trinity has its own star clusters, nebulae and other space objects.

Conclusion

So, as you can see, the name of the constellations is quite diverse and unique. Each of them has its own interesting objects, stars. Of course, today we do not know even half of all the secrets of the cosmic order, but there is hope for the future. The human mind is quite inquisitive, and if we do not die in a global catastrophe, then there is the possibility of conquering and exploring space, building new and more powerful instruments and ships to gain knowledge. In this case, we will not only know the name of the constellations, but we will also comprehend much more.

Even Seneca said that if there was only one place left on Earth from which you can see the stars, all people would strive to this place. The beauty and mystery of the starry sky has attracted the attention of people since ancient times. Even with a minimum of imagination, figures and whole plots on a wide variety of topics can be made from twinkling stars. Perfection in this skill was achieved by astrologers, who connected the stars not only with each other, but also saw the connection of stars with earthly events.

Even without artistic taste and without succumbing to charlatan theories, it is difficult not to succumb to the charm of the starry sky. After all, these tiny lights can actually be giant objects or consist of two or three stars. Part of the visible stars may no longer exist - after all, we see the light emitted by some stars millennia ago. And, of course, each of us, raising our heads to the sky, at least once thought: what if creatures similar to us live near one of these stars?

1. During the day, the stars are not visible from the surface of the Earth, not at all because the Sun is shining - in space, against the background of an absolutely black sky, the stars are perfectly visible even not far from the Sun. The atmosphere illuminated by the Sun makes it difficult to see the stars from the Earth.

2. Stories that during the day the stars can be seen from a fairly deep well or from the base of a high chimney are idle conjectures. Both from the well and in the pipe, only a brightly lit section of the sky is visible. The only tube through which you can see the stars during the day is a telescope. In addition to the Sun and the Moon during the day, you can see Venus in the sky (and then you need to know exactly where to look), Jupiter (information about observations is very contradictory) and Sirius (very high in the mountains).

3. The twinkling of stars is also a consequence of the atmosphere, which is never static, even in the most calm weather. In space, the stars shine with a monotonous light.

4. The scales of cosmic distances can be expressed in numbers, but it is very difficult to visualize them. The minimum unit of distance used by scientists, the so-called. astronomical unit (approximately 150 million km), observing the scale, can be represented as follows. In one corner of the front line of the tennis court you need to put the ball (it will play the role of the Sun), and in the other - a ball with a diameter of 1 mm (this will be the Earth). The second tennis ball, representing Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to us, would need to be placed about 250,000 km from the court.

5. The three brightest stars on Earth can only be seen in the southern hemisphere. The brightest star in our hemisphere, Arcturus, occupies only fourth place. But in the top ten of brightness, the stars are more evenly distributed: five are in the northern hemisphere, five in the southern.

6. Approximately half of the stars observed by astronomers are binary stars. Often they are depicted and represented as two closely spaced stars, but this is too simplistic an approach. The components of a binary star can be very far apart. The main condition is rotation around a common center of mass.

7. The phrase of the classic about what is seen at a distance is not applicable to the starry sky: the largest of the stars known to modern astronomy, UY Scutum, can only be seen through a telescope. If you put this star in the place of the Sun, it would occupy the entire center of the solar system up to the orbit of Saturn.

8. The heaviest and concurrently the brightest of the studied stars is R136a1. It is also not visible to the naked eye, although near the equator it can be seen with a small telescope. This star is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. R136a1 is 315 times heavier than the Sun. And its luminosity exceeds the solar one by 8,700,000 times. During the observation period, Polyarnaya became significantly (according to some sources, 2.5 times) brighter.

9. In 2009, using the Hubble telescope, an international team of astronomers discovered an object in the Beetle Nebula whose temperature exceeded 200,000 degrees. The star itself, located in the center of the nebula, could not be seen. It is believed that this is the core of an exploded star, which retained its original temperature, and the Beetle Nebula itself is its expanding outer shells.

10. The temperature of the coldest star is 2,700 degrees. This star is a white dwarf. She enters the system with another star that is hotter and brighter than her partner. The temperature of the coldest star is calculated “at the tip of a pen” - scientists have not yet been able to either see the star or get its images. It is known that the system is located 900 light years from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius.

Constellation Aquarius

11. The North Star is not the brightest at all. According to this indicator, it is included only in the fifth ten visible stars. Her fame is due only to the fact that she practically does not change her position in the sky. The polar star is 46 times larger than the Sun and 2,500 times brighter than our star.

12. In the descriptions of the starry sky, either huge numbers are used, or they generally talk about the infinity of the number of stars in the sky. If from a scientific point of view, this approach does not raise questions, then in everyday life everything is different. The maximum number of stars that a person with normal vision can see does not exceed 3,000. And this is in ideal conditions - with complete darkness and clear skies. In settlements, especially large ones, it is unlikely that one and a half thousand stars will be counted.

13. The metallicity of stars is not at all the content of metals in them. This is the content in them of substances heavier than helium. The metallicity of the Sun is 1.3%, and the metallicity of a star called Algeniba is 34%. The more metallic the star, the closer it is to the end of its life.

14. All the stars that we see in the sky belong to three galaxies: our Milky Way and the Triangulum and Andromeda galaxies. And this applies not only to stars visible to the naked eye. Only the Hubble telescope was able to see the stars located in other galaxies.

15. Do not mix up galaxies and constellations. A constellation is a purely visual concept. The stars that we refer to the same constellation can be millions of light-years apart. Galaxies, on the other hand, are similar to archipelagos - the stars in them are located relatively close to each other.

16. Stars are very diverse, but differ very little in chemical composition. They are mainly composed of hydrogen (about 3/4) and helium (about 1/4). “With age”, there is more helium in the composition of the star, less hydrogen. All other elements usually account for less than 1% of the star's mass.

17. The adage about the hunter who wants to know where the pheasant sits, invented to memorize the sequence of colors in the spectrum, can also be applied to the temperature of the stars. Red stars are the coldest of all, blue are the hottest.

18. Despite the fact that the first maps of the starry sky with constellations were made back in the 2nd millennium BC. e., clear boundaries of the constellation were acquired only in 1935 after a discussion that lasted a decade and a half. There are 88 constellations in total.

19. With good accuracy, it can be argued that the more "utilitarian" the name of the constellation, the later it is described. The ancients called the constellations after gods or goddesses, or gave star systems poetic names. Modern names are simpler: the stars over Antarctica, for example, were simply combined into Clock, Compass, Compasses, etc.

20. Stars are popular component state flags. More often they are present on the flags as a decoration, but sometimes they also have an astronomical background. The flags of Australia and New Zealand feature the Southern Cross, the brightest constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, the New Zealand Southern Cross consists of 4 stars, and the Australian one consists of 5. The five-star Southern Cross is part of the flag of Papua New Guinea. The Brazilians went much further - their flag depicts a section of the starry sky over the city of Rio de Janeiro as of 9 hours 22 minutes 43 seconds on November 15, 1889 - the moment when the country's independence was proclaimed.

The night sky is striking in its beauty and countless celestial fireflies. What is especially fascinating is that their arrangement is structured, as if they were deliberately placed in the right order, forming star systems. From ancient times, learned astrologers tried to calculate all these myriad heavenly bodies and give them names. Today, a huge number of stars have been discovered in the sky, but this is just a small part of all the existing vast Universe. Consider what constellations and luminaries are.

In contact with

Stars and their classification

A star is a celestial body that radiates a huge amount of light and heat.

It consists mainly of helium (lat. Helium), as well as (lat. Hydrogenium).

The celestial body is in a state of equilibrium due to the pressure inside the body itself and its own.

Heat and light radiates as a result of thermonuclear reactions, occurring inside the body.

What are the types depending on life cycle and structure:

• main sequence. This is the main life cycle of the luminary. This is exactly what it is, as well as the vast majority of others.
• Brown dwarf. A relatively small, dim object with a low temperature. The first one was opened in 1995.
• White dwarf. At the end of its life cycle, the ball begins to shrink until its density balances gravity. Then it turns off and cools down.
• Red giant. A huge body that emits a large amount of light, but not very hot (up to 5000 K).
• New. New stars do not light up, just old ones flare up with renewed vigor.
• Supernova. This is the same new one with the release of a large amount of light.
• Hypernova. This is a supernova, but much larger.
• Bright Blue Variables (LBV). The biggest and also the hottest.
• Ultra X-ray sources (ULX). They give off a lot of radiation.
• Neutron. It is characterized by fast rotation, as well as a strong magnetic field.
• Unique. Double, with different sizes.

Types dependently from the spectrum:

• Blue.
• White-blue.
• White.
• Yellow white.
• Yellow.
• Orange.
• Red.

Important! Most of the stars in the sky are entire systems. What we see as one can actually be two, three, five, and even hundreds of bodies of one system.

Names of stars and constellations

At all times the stars fascinated. They became the object of study, both from the mystical side (astrology, alchemy), and from the scientific side (astronomy). People searched for them, calculated, counted, put them into constellations, and also give them names. Constellations are clusters of celestial bodies arranged in a certain sequence.

In the sky under certain conditions from different points you can see up to 6 thousand stars. They have their scientific names, but about three hundred of them also have personal names that they have received since ancient times. The stars mostly have Arabic names.

The fact is that when astronomy was actively developing everywhere, the Western world was going through "dark ages", so its development lagged far behind. Mesopotamia was the most successful here, and China was the least successful.

The Arabs not only discovered new ones, but they also renamed the heavenly bodies, who already had Latin or Greek name. They entered history with Arabic names. The constellations, for the most part, had Latin names.

The brightness depends on the emitted light, size and distance from us. The brightest star is the Sun. It is not the largest, not the brightest, but closest to us.

The most beautiful luminaries with the highest brightness. The first among them:

1. Sirius (Alpha Canis Major);
2. Canopus (Alpha Carina);
3. Toliman (Alpha Centauri);
4. Arcturus (Alpha Bootes);
5. Vega (Alpha Lyra).

Naming periods

It is conditionally possible to distinguish several periods in which people gave names to heavenly bodies.

pre-antique period

Since ancient times, people have tried to "understand" the sky, and gave names to the night luminaries. No more than 20 names from those times have come down to us. The scientists of Babylon, Egypt, Israel, Assyria and Mesopotamia actively worked here.

Greek period

The Greeks did not particularly delve into astronomy. They gave names only to a small number of luminaries. Mostly, they took names from the names of the constellations or simply attributed existing names. All astronomical knowledge ancient greece and also Babylon were gathered Greek scientist Ptolemy Claudius(I-II c.) in the works "Almagest" and "Tetrabiblos".

Almagest (Great Building) - the work of Ptolemy in thirteen books, where he, on the basis of the work of Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 140 BC), tries to explain the structure of the universe. He also lists the names of some of the brightest constellations.

Table of celestial bodies described in the Almagest

The name of the stars	constellation name	Description, location
Sirius	big dog	Located at the mouth of the constellation. It is also called Dog. The brightest night sky.
Procyon	small dog	On the hind legs.
Arcturus	Bootes	Did not enter the form of Bootes. Located below it.
Regulus	a lion	Located in the heart of Leo. It is also referred to as the Royal.
Spica	Virgo	On the left hand. It has another name - Kolos.
Antares	Scorpion	Located in the middle.
Vega	Lyra	Located on the sink. Another name for Alpha Lyra.
Chapel	Auriga	Left shoulder. Also called Goat.
canopus	Ship Argo	On the keel of the ship.

The Tetrabiblos is another work by Ptolemy Claudius in four books. The list of celestial bodies is supplemented here.

Roman period

The Roman Empire was engaged in the study of astronomy, but when this science began to develop actively, Rome fell. And behind the state, his science fell into decay. However, about a hundred stars have Latin names, although this does not guarantee that they were given names their scholars from Rome.

Arabic period

Fundamental in the study of astronomy among the Arabs was the work of Ptolemy Almagest. Most of them have been translated into Arabic. Based on the religious beliefs of the Arabs, they replaced the names of parts of the luminaries. Names were often given based on the location of the body in the constellation. So, many of them have names or parts of names meaning neck, leg or tail.

Table of Arabic names

Arabic name	Meaning	Stars with an Arabic name	Constellation
Ras	Head	Alpha Hercules	Hercules
Algenib	Side	Alpha Persei, Gamma Persei	Perseus
Menkib	Shoulder	Alpha Orion, Alpha Pegasus, Beta Pegasus, Beta Aurigae, Zeta Persei, Phyta Centauri	Pegasus, Perseus, Orion, Centaurus, Charioteer
Rigel	Leg	Alpha Centauri, Beta Orioni, Mu Virgo	Centaurus, Orion, Virgo
Rukba	Knee	Alpha Sagittarius, Delta Cassiopeia, Upsilon Cassiopeia, Omega Cygnus	Sagittarius, Cassiopeia, Cygnus
Sheat	Shin	Beta Pegasi, Delta Aquarii	Pegasus, Aquarius
Mirfak	Elbow	Alpha Perseus, Capa Hercules, Lambda Ophiuchi, Phyta and Mu Cassiopeia	Perseus, Ophiuchus, Cassiopeia, Hercules
menkar	Nose	Alpha Ceti, Lambda Ceti, Upsilon Crow	Whale, Raven
Markab	That which moves	Alpha Pegasus, Tau Pegasus, Capa Sails	Ship Argo, Pegasus

Renaissance

Since the 16th century in Europe, antiquity has been reborn, and with it science. Arabic names did not change, but Arabic-Latin hybrids often appeared.

New clusters of celestial bodies were practically not discovered, but the old ones were supplemented by new objects. A significant event of that time was the release of the atlas of the starry sky "Uranometriya".

Its compiler was the amateur astronomer Johann Bayer (1603). On the atlas, he applied an artistic image of the constellations.

Most importantly, he suggested luminary naming principle with the addition of letters of the Greek alphabet. The brightest body of the constellation will be called Alpha, the less bright Beta, and so on until Omega. For example, the brightest star in Scorpio is Alpha Scorpii, the less bright Beta Scorpii, then Gamma Scorpii, and so on.

Nowadays

With the advent of powerful ones, a huge number of luminaries began to be discovered. Now they are not given beautiful names, but simply assigned an index with a numeric and alphabetic code. But it happens that celestial bodies are given nominal names. They are called by their names scientific discoverers, and now you can even buy the opportunity to name the luminary at will.

Important! The sun is not part of any constellation.

What are the constellations

Initially, the figures were figures formed by bright luminaries. Now scientists use them as landmarks of the celestial sphere.

The most famous constellations alphabetically:

1. Andromeda. It is located in the northern hemisphere of the celestial sphere.
2. Twins. The luminaries with the greatest brightness are Pollux and Castor. Zodiac sign.
3. Big Dipper. Seven stars forming the image of a ladle.
4. Big Dog. It has the brightest star in the sky - Sirius.
5. Scales. Zodiac, consisting of 83 objects.
6. Aquarius. Zodiacal, with an asterism forming a jug.
7. Auriga. Its most outstanding object is the Chapel.
8. Wolf. Located in the southern hemisphere.
9. Bootes. The brightest luminary is Arcturus.
10. Veronica's hair. Consists of 64 visible objects.
11. Crow. It is best seen in mid-latitudes.
12. Hercules. Has 235 visible objects.
13. Hydra. The most important luminary is Alphard.
14. Pigeon. 71 bodies of the southern hemisphere.
15. Hounds Dogs. 57 visible objects.
16. Virgo. Zodiac, with the brightest body - Spica.
17. Dolphin. It can be seen everywhere except Antarctica.
18. The Dragon. Northern hemisphere, practically a pole.
19. Unicorn. Located on the Milky Way.
20. Altar. 60 visible stars.
21. Painter. It has 49 objects.
22. Giraffe. Faintly visible in the northern hemisphere.
23. Crane. The brightest is Alnair.
24. Hare. 72 celestial bodies.
25. Ophiuchus. 13th sign of the zodiac, but not included in this list.
26. Snake. 106 luminaries.
27. Golden Fish. 32 objects visible to the naked eye.
28. Indian. Faintly visible constellation.
29. Cassiopeia. The shape is similar to the letter "W".
30. Keel. 206 objects.
31. Whale. Located in the "water" zone of the sky.
32. Capricorn. Zodiacal, southern hemisphere.
33. Compass. 43 visible luminaries.
34. Stern. Located on the Milky Way.
35. Swan. Located in the northern part.
36. A lion. Zodiac, northern part.
37. Flying fish. 31 objects.
38. Lyra. The brightest light is Vega.
39. Chanterelle. Dim.
40. Ursa Minor. Located above the North Pole. She has the North Star.
41. Small Horse. 14 luminaries.
42. Small Dog. Bright constellation.
43. Microscope. South part.
44. Fly. At the equator.
45. Pump. Southern sky.
46. Square. Passes through the Milky Way.
47. Aries. Zodiacal, having the bodies of Mezarthim, Hamal and Sheratan.
48. Octant. At the south pole.
49. Eagle. At the equator.
50. Orion. It has a bright object - Rigel.
51. Peacock. Southern Hemisphere.
52. Sail. 195 luminaries of the southern hemisphere.
53. Pegasus. south of Andromeda. Its brightest stars are Markab and Enif.
54. Perseus. Discovered by Ptolemy. The first object is Mirfak.
55. Bake. Virtually invisible.
56. Bird of paradise. Located near the south pole.
57. Cancer. Zodiacal, hardly visible.
58. Cutter. South part.
59. Fish. A large constellation divided into two parts.
60. Lynx. 92 visible luminaries.
61. Northern Crown. Crown shape.
62. Sextant. At the equator.
63. Net. Consists of 22 objects.
64. Scorpion. The first luminary is Antares.
65. Sculptor. 55 celestial bodies.
66. Sagittarius. Zodiacal.
67. Calf. Zodiacal. Aldebaran is the brightest object.
68. Triangle. 25 stars.
69. Toucan. This is where the Small Magellanic Cloud is located.
70. Phoenix. 63 luminaries.
71. Chameleon. Small and dim.
72. Centaurus. Its brightest star for us, Proxima Centauri, is the closest to the Sun.
73. Cepheus. Has the shape of a triangle.
74. Compass. Near Alpha Centauri.
75. Watch. It has an elongated shape.
76. Shield. Near the equator.
77. Eridanus. Big constellation.
78. Southern Hydra. 32 celestial bodies.
79. South Crown. Weakly visible.
80. Southern Fish. 43 objects.
81. South Cross. In the form of a cross.
82. Southern Triangle. Has the shape of a triangle.
83. Lizard. No bright objects.

What are the constellations of the zodiac

The signs of the zodiac are the constellations through which Earth travels throughout the year, forming a conditional ring around the system. Interestingly, 12 signs of the zodiac are accepted, although Ophiuchus, which is not considered a zodiac, is also located on this ring.

Attention! Constellations don't exist.

By and large, there are no figures at all made up of celestial bodies.

After all, we, looking at the sky, perceive it as plane in two dimensions, but the luminaries are located not on a plane, but in space, at a great distance from each other.

They do not form any pattern.

Let's say the light from Proxima Centauri closest to the Sun reaches us in almost 4.3 years.

And from another object of the same star system, Omega Centauri reaches the earth in 16 thousand years. All divisions are rather conditional.

Constellations and stars - sky map, interesting facts

Names of stars and constellations

Conclusion

It is impossible to calculate the reliable number of heavenly bodies in the Universe. You can't even get close to the exact number. Stars coalesce into galaxies. Only our Milky Way galaxy has about 100,000,000,000. From the Earth with the help of the most powerful telescopes about 55,000,000,000 galaxies can be detected. With the advent of the Hubble telescope, which is in Earth orbit, scientists have discovered about 125,000,000,000 galaxies, and each has billions, hundreds of billions of objects. It is only clear that there are at least a trillion trillion luminaries in the Universe, but this is only a small part of what is real.