Astronomy News
Dr. Neal Sumerlin keeps us abreast of happenings in the night sky and the progress of the new Belk Astronomical Observatory.
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Other Posts:
Describing the Indescribable (07/22/2009)
Total Solar Eclipse in July (06/07/2009)
Other Earths (05/20/2009)
Save Those Old Computers! (04/13/2009)
Play With Pictures from Mars! (04/13/2009)
Saturn in 2009 (04/13/2009)
The New Worlds (02/04/2009)
Christmas at the Moon (12/10/2008)
Potpourri of Space News (12/10/2008)
Night Sky Happenings (11/17/2008)
Power Sources for Space Probes (11/17/2008)
R.I.P., Mars Phoenix Lander (11/17/2008)
Pictures of Planets (11/17/2008)
Ice Geysers of Enceladus (09/22/2008)
Happy Equinox Day! (09/22/2008)
More News from Mars (06/04/2008)
Search (but no rescue) on Mars (05/20/2008)
We lose a friend (05/03/2008)
Quiz winner! (04/29/2008)
Seeing and Patience (04/22/2008)
The World at Night (03/31/2008)
New Stars that are Really Old (03/14/2008)
Latest From Planetary Spacecraft (03/14/2008)
Lunar Eclipse Update (02/18/2008)
Aiming a Telescope (02/18/2008)
Observatory Update (02/04/2008)
Venus and Jupiter in the Morning (02/04/2008)
Total Lunar Eclipse (02/04/2008)
Messenger Mission to Mercury (02/04/2008)
Constellations
Posted on 09/22/2008Many students in my astronomy classes initially believe that learning the stars and constellations is a large part of the course. Although we do learn some of the brighter stars and more prominent constellations, astronomy involves much more than that. But here are a few quick facts about constellations for your next appearance on Jeopardy.
· There are the same number of constellations as there are keys on a piano: 88.
· Many familiar star groupings are actually asterisms that are just part of a larger constellation, or that span several constellations. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation of Ursa Major, and the Winter Triangle consists of the three stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, and Sirius, respectively in the constellations of Canis Minor, Orion, and Canis Major.
· Constellation figures are distinct from constellation boundaries. The kite-shaped constellation figure of Boötes (pronounced bow-oat-eze, by the way, not booties) is central to the area of the sky designated as belonging to this constellation.
http://www.iau.org/static/themes/constellations/gif/BOO.gif
http://www.iau.org/static/themes/constellations/gif/BOO.gif
· The largest-area constellation is Hydra, which really doesn't contain any feature of particular note. The smallest is Crux, the Southern Cross, which marks the south celestial pole.
· The most obscure constellation is a matter of judgment, of course, but my vote goes to Equuleus, with no very bright stars and no deep-sky objects of any note.
Edit: Clarification
Sloppy wording will get you every time. So will a friend and colleague who grew up in Australia!
I should have said that the constellation of Crux "marks the way to" the south celestial pole, as Crux does not actually contain the south pole. Here is a diagram; the south celestial pole is out of the picture at the bottom. The two stars Gamma Crucis (marked here by the Greek letter γ) and Acrux point very nearly to the south pole. There is no bright star at the south pole as Polaris is at (or at least very near) the north pole. Mea maxima culpa!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Crux_constellation_map.png
