Jack Oughton

ð JACK OUGHTON OBSERVATIONAL JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER 2009 - APRIL 2010

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Jack Oughton – Observational Journal 09-10: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

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Material by Jack Oughton – [email protected] | www.writing.xijindustries.com

Our universe is a sorry little affair unless it has in it something for every age to investigate … Nature does not reveal her mysteries once and for all.

— Seneca, Natural Questions Book 7, c. first century.

Introduction: Astronomical observation is both an important scientific tool and has been a source of great pleasure for humans throughout the millennia. As long as there have been skies to gaze at in wonder, there have been awestruck humans admiring them, trying to better understand the glittering skies A greater understanding of the history and mythology behind the constellations helps us better comprehend our ancestors and foreign peoples. Many of the world’s cultures have their mythologies, creation myths and legends intricately woven into the starry canopy. Australian Aborigines believed the world was alive under the back of a great sky animal. Mesoamerican cultures developed a fascinatingly complex system of cyclic time, tied to and derived from their observations of celestial motion. The field of astrology, no longer considered a science, relies completely on the same observation of celestial motion to make fatalistic predictions. Millions of people still take very seriously the implications of planetary movements upon their own lives. In ancient days, life or death political decisions where made on the interpretations of the stars and planets by a mystical class of astronomer priest, the patterns in the skies were portents, direct from the Gods themselves! Even today, cosmologists and physicists use observation to test and verify scientific theories with. Theoreticians turn to astronomers to look for evidence of new scientific ideas. To them, the universe is not so much a predictive tool but an immense laboratory, where the very small and very massive alike can be studied in great detail. Though human knowledge has advanced in leaps and bounds since those early times, the mysteries of skies above still hold vital secrets, key to our understanding of the very universe and life itself. Some of the first known astronomical journals date back to the time of the Mesopotamian era, around five millennia ago(Evans 1998, pp.296-297). They show in meticulous detail the surprising level of knowledge that these ancients had of the sky, and how important astronomy was in day to day life. These people literally lived and planned their lives around what the skies told them.


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Needless to say, observation is an ancient and important art that will continue to evolve and remain relevant as humankind ages. With greater increases in optical technology will come more and more stunning images. Perhaps the public at large will rediscover the night sky? I would imagine that even the most disinterested observer would find it hard not to appreciate the beautiful images that the Hubble Space Telescope has given us. I am by no means a practiced astronomer. My journal is nowhere near as complex or informed as those kept by the ancients, or by active astronomers today. However I have done my best to make an informative read that will help the layman better understand the cultural relevance of our cosmic ceiling, and familiarise themselves with the sky in general by getting to know some of the starry patterns that live in it.


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Case Study: Mesopotamian Star Diary Most of the surviving Mesopotamian astronomical texts were written between 650 and 50 BC. These clay tablets with cuneiform writing are called astronomical diaries, and they are the unmistakable observations of specialists: professional astronomer-scribes. A typical diary entry begins with a statement on the length of the previous month. It might have been 29 or 30 days. Then, the present month's first observation - the time between sunset and moonset on the day of the first waxing crescent - is given, followed by similar information on the times between moonsets and sunrises and between moonrises and sunsets, at full moon. At the end of the month, the interval between the rising of the last waning crescent moon and sunrise is recorded. When a lunar or solar eclipse took place, its date, time, and duration were noted along with the planets visible, the star that was culminating, and the prevailing wind at the time of the eclipse. Significant points in the various planetary cycles were all tabulated, and the dates of the solstices, equinoxes, and significant appearances of Sirius were provided. The Babylonian astronomers used a set of 30 stars as references for celestial position, and their astronomical diaries detailed the locations of the moon and planets with respect to the stars. Reports of bad weather or unusual atmospheric phenomena - like rainbows and haloes - found their way into the diaries, too. Finally, various events of local importance (fires, thefts, and conquests), the amount of rise or fall in the river at Babylon, and the quantity of various commodities that could be purchased for one silver shekel filled out the diligent astronomer's report. Source: Andrew Sachs - Babylonian Observational Astronomy, http://www.jstor.org/pss/74273

A Babylonian almanac, mentioning future positions of the planets

Orion The Hunter “Artemis loved Orion and came near marrying him. Apollo took this hard, and when scolding her brought no results, on seeing the head of Orion who was swimming a long way off, he wagered her that she couldn’t hit with her arrows the black object in the sea. Since she wished to be called an expert in that skill, she shot an arrow and pierced the head of Orion. The waves brought his slain body to the shore, and Artemis, grieving greatly that she had struck him, and mourning his death with many tears, put him among the constellations." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34 ORION

Abbreviation Ori Genitive Orionis Pronunciation /ɒˈraj.əәn/ Symbolism Orion Right ascension 5 h Declination +5°

Family Orion Quadrant NQ1 Area 594 sq. deg. Main stars 7 Bayer/Flamsteed stars 81 Stars with planets 5 Stars brighter than 3.00m 8 Stars within 10.00 pc 8 Brightest star Rigel (β Orionis) (0.12m) Nearest star GJ 3379

(17.51 ly) Messier objects 3 Meteor showers Orionids

Chi Orionids

Bordering constellations Gemini Taurus Eridanus Lepus Monoceros

Visible at latitudes between +85° and −75°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January.


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Mythology: There are several different stories about the birth of Orion. According to one version of the myth, Orion was the son of a poor shepherd called Hyrieus. Once, Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon stopped by Hyrieus' house. Hyrieus was so generous with his guests that he killed the only animal he had-an ox. Hyrieus was not aware that his guests were gods. The gods wanted to reward Hyrieus' generosity by granting him a wish. Hyrieus' biggest desire was to have a child. The gods told him to bury the hide of the bull he had sacrificed to them and to pee on it. After nine months, a boy was born in that place. The child became a very handsome and strong man. He was such a good hunter that he was hired by the king Oenopion to kill the ferocious beasts that were terrifying the habitants of the island Chios. Happy for his success, Orion said he would kill all the wild animals on the earth. But. The earth goddess Gaia, who was the mother of all animals, was not pleased with Orion's intention. Gaia set an enormous scorpion on Orion. Orion soon realized that his strength and sword were useless against that mighty beast. He tried to escape, but the scorpion stung him to death. As a reward, Gaia placed the scorpion in the sky as a constellation, which appears to be constantly chasing after Orion, whose figure was also placed among the stars.


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There are other versions of the Orion myth, depending on the identity of his parents. The first of these identifies the sea-god Neptune as Orion's father and the great huntress Queen Euryale of the Amazons as his mother. Orion inherited her talent, and became the greatest hunter in the world. Unfortunately for him, with his immense strength came an immense ego, and he boasted that he could best any animal on earth. In response to his vanity, a single small scorpion stung him and killed him. Another version of the Orion myth states that he had no mother but was a gift to a pious peasant from Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury. "Orion supposedly was able to walk on water and had greater strength and stature than any other mortal. A skilled blacksmith, he fabricated a subterranean palace for Vulcan. He also walled in the coasts of Sicily against the encroaching sea and built a temple to the gods there". Orion fell in love with Merope, daughter of Oenopion and princess of Chios. Her father the king, however, would not consent to give Orion his daughter's hand in marriage--even after the hunter rid their island of wild beasts. In anger, Orion attempted to gain possession of the maiden by violence. Her father, incensed at this conduct, having made Orion drunk, deprived him of his sight and cast him out on the seashore. The blinded hero followed the sound of a Cyclops' hammer till he reached Lemnos, and came to the forge of Vulcan, who, taking pity on him, gave him Kedalion, one of his men, to be his guide to the abode of the sun. Placing Kedalion on his shoulders, Orion proceeded to the east, and there meeting the sun-god, was restored to sight by his beam. After this he dwelt as a hunter with Diana, with whom he was a favourite, and it is even said she was about to marry him. Her brother [Apollo] was highly displeased and chid her [she was, after all, a virgin huntress], but to no purpose. One day, observing Orion wading through the ocean with his head just above the water, Apollo pointed it out to his sister and maintained that she could not hit that black thing on the sea. The archer-goddess discharged a shaft with fatal aim. The waves rolled the body of Orion to the land, and bewailing her fatal error with many tears, Diana placed him among the stars. It is also stated in some versions that Apollo, worried for Diana's chastity, sent a scorpion to kill Orion. The myths of Orion resemble those of other mythical hunters from the Boiotian region. The hunter Kephalos, for example, was also said to have been seduced by the goddess Eos while hunting on Mount Kithairon. Another, Aktaion, was killed during the hunt when he spied on the goddess in her bath and, according to some, sought her for a bride. And finally, the earth-born Boiotian giant Tityos attempted to


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violate the goddess Leto (as Orion had tried to violate Oupis) and was destroyed by Apollon and Artemis with their arrows. The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" is found in the Bible's Book of Job.

Astronomical Notes: No other is more distinct or bright as this northern winter constellation. From the northern hemisphere, the three bright stars (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka) in a straight line that form Orion's Belt are easily visible on the southern horizon in winter evenings. The bright star that forms Orion's left shoulder is Betelgeuse. The name of this star means "The Armpit of the Central One" in Arabic, which shows that like many other constellations, Orion was recognized across many cultures. Hanging down from Orion's belt is his sword that is made up of three fainter stars. The central "star" of the sword is actually not a star at all, but the Great Orion Nebula, one of the regions most studied by astronomers in the whole sky. Nearby is the Horsehead Nebula (IC 434), which is a swirl of dark dust in front of a bright nebula. The famous Orion's Belt makes the hunter easy to find in the night sky. Orion looks very much like a person. First, you should spot Orion's Belt, which is made of three bright stars in a straight line. One of Orion's legs is represented by the bright star Rigel, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. His two shoulders are made of the stars Bellatrix and Betelgeuse. You can see Betelgeuse's reddish colour without a telescope. Other bright stars make up the two arms, one, which holds a shield, and another that carries a club. The famous Orion Nebula is located in Orion's sword, which hangs from the belt. It is so bright, that even the naked eye can see the fuzzy patch. It looks spectacular even with a small telescope or binoculars. From his belt there hangs a well defined dagger, which is known for one of the most famous nebulas in the sky: The Large Orion Nebula (M42). The other corners of the constellation are formed by Bellatrix (gamma Orionis) and Saiph (kappa Orionis). It was once thought that all women born under the sign of Bellatrix would be fortunate and have the gift of speech. The star's name is often translated as Female Warrior or Amazon, and another name sometimes seen is "Amazon Star". Around October 21 each year the famous Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak. Coming from the border to the constellation Gemini as much as 20 meteors per hour can be seen


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Logged Objects:

M42: Image Credit: Danny Sweeney Date: 9th February 2010 Instrument: Cannon EOS 1000d Exposure Time: 120 seconds Filter: None

Orion Nebula (M42, NGC1976) HII REGION that is easily visible to the naked eye as the central object in the sword of ORION (RA 05h 35m.4 dec.05o27!). The main part of the nebula is separated from a smaller part of the same cloud, known as M43 or NGC1982, by a dark absorbing region called the FISH’S MOUTH. The nebula surrounds, and is excited by, the four young stars of the TRAPEZIUM (also known as "1 Ori). The nebula is about 1500 LY away on the nearer side of the ORION MOLECULAR CLOUDS and is little more than the inside of an incomplete spherical hole in the side of the much larger dark nebula. The Orion Nebula is over a degree across on the sky and thus some 25 to 30 LY in physical size. Its mass is several hundred times that of the Sun.

Right Ascension 05h 35m 17.3s Declination -05° 23′ 28″ Distance 1,344±20 ly Visual Brightness +4.0 Apparent Dimension 65×60 arcmins


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Ursa Major The Great Bear "The rule about bears is their unpredictability." - Anonymous URSA MAJOR Abbreviation UMa Genitive Ursae Majoris Pronunciation /ˈɜrsəә ˈmeɪdʒəәr/, genitive /ˌɜrsiː məәˈdʒɒrɨs/ Symbolism The Great Bear Right ascension 10.67 h Declination +55.38° Family Ursa Major Quadrant NQ2 Area 1280 sq. deg. (3rd) Main stars 7, 20 Bayer/Flamsteed stars 93 Stars with planets 9 Stars brighter than 3.00m 7 Stars within 10.00 pc 8

Brightest star ε UMa (Alioth) (1.76m) Nearest star Lalande 21185

(8.31 ly, 2.55 pc)

Messier objects 7 Meteor showers Alpha Ursa Majorids

Leonids-Ursids

Bordering constellations Draco Camelopardalis Lynx Leo Minor Leo Coma Berenices Canes Venatici Boötes

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −30°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of April


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The Big Dipper/Plough is an asterism (a group of stars which isn't technically recognised as a constellation) in Ursa Major

Mythology: An Arab myth associates the Plough with a funeral. The quadrangle represents a coffin and the three handle stars are people following the coffin and mourning. The middle star (really the two stars Mizar and Alcor) represents the daughter and son of al-Naash, the man in the coffin, who has been murdered by al-Jadi, the pole star. Other cultures, too, relate funeral processions to the Big Dipper.


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The Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia and the Iroquois Indians along the St. Lawrence Seaway share one story about the Big Bear. In this story, the quadrangle of the dipper represents a bear that is pursued by seven hunters; the three closest hunters are the handle of the dipper. As autumn approaches, the four farthest hunters dip below the horizon and abandon the hunt, leaving the closest three hunters to chase the bear. The hunters are all named after birds. The closest hunter to the bear is named Robin, the second closest is Chickadee, and the third is Moose Bird. Chickadee is carrying the pot in which the bear will be cooked. The second star in the handle is actually two stars [the famous double star system] called Mizar and Alcor, which represent Chickadee and the pot. In autumn, as the bear attempts to stand up on two legs, Robin wounds the bear with an arrow. The wounded bear sprays blood on Robin, who shakes himself and in the process colours the leaves of the forest red; some blood stains Robin and he is henceforth called Robin Redbreast. The bear is eaten, and the skeleton remains; travelling through the sky on its back during winter. During the following spring a new bear leaves the den and the eternal hunt resumes once more. A Roman myth involves both bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. A beautiful maiden, Callisto, hunting in the forest, grew tired and laid down to rest. The god Jupiter noticed her and was smitten with her beauty. Jupiter's wife, Juno, became extremely jealous of Callisto. Some time later, Juno discovered that Callisto had given birth to a son and decided that Jupiter must have been the father. To punish her, Juno changed Callisto into a bear so she would no longer be beautiful. Callisto's son, called Arcas, was adopted and grew up to be a hunter, while Callisto continued to live in the forest. One day Callisto saw Arcas and was so overjoyed at seeing her son that she rushed up to him, forgetting she was a bear. Arcas thought he was being attacked and shot an arrow at Callisto. Jupiter saw the arrow and stopped it from hitting Callisto. To save Callisto and her son from further damage from Juno, Jupiter changed Arcas into a bear also, grabbed them both by their tails, and swung them both into the heavens so they could live peacefully among the stars. The strength of the throw caused the short stubby tails of the bears to become elongated. Juno was even angrier with Jupiter and managed to exact still more revenge on poor Callisto and Arcas. She went to the gods of the sea and forbade them to let the two bears wade in their water or streams on their long and endless journey around the pole star.


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A Chinese legend tells the story of the four stars which make up the bowl of the Big Dipper. These stars were the home of the "fates," the Queen Marichi and all her attendants and the god of literature. Clearly, it was a crowded home! The story begins one time when a young lad by the name of K'uei who was a literary student known for his great learning and brilliant wit. Unfortunately, K'uei was also rather ugly, so ugly in fact that not even the most kind-hearted person could help but shudder when their eyes fell upon him. So although K'uei was smarter than any before him, and witty, he had no friends. At this time, it was customary for the emperor to present a golden rose to the winning candidate at the metropolitan examinations. As fate would have it, K'uei had won this honour. K'uei was very proud when he approached the throne but alas, when the emperor, even though he had been forewarned, laid his eyes upon the ugly K'uei, he dropped the rose and there it lay shattered. Poor K'uei was in disgrace, and so, broken-hearted and finding life intolerable, he threw himself into the sea. As K'uei passed under the cool, calmness of the waves he was aware that under his feet had appeared a monster. The creature was one of those strange beasts that inhabit the depths of the sea, and he was lifting K'uei back up towards the surface. The monster rose out of the waves with K'uei safely on his back and continued to mount higher and higher in the air, until at last he had reached the very sky itself. There, enthroned among the stars of the Bear, K'uei now watches over the literary affairs of the world and is the patron saint of all scholars.

Astronomical Notes: Ursa Major (Latin: "Larger Bear"), is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Ursa Major contains several bright galaxies, including the paired M81 (one of the brightest in the sky) and M82, found above above the bear's head, and Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a striking spiral northwest of Eta Ursae Majoris. Other notable spiral galaxies include M108 and M109. Collectively, the constellation contains about 50 galaxies bright enough to be seen through an amateur telescope Seven stars within Ursa Major from Alpha to Eta form our well-known asterism, and it goes by many names. It is worth noting that of these seven stars only Alkaid and Dubhe are independent from the group. The other five move through space together. Here are some of the names the group has been called by.


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• The Big Dipper (US) • The Plough (UK) • The Great Cart (Germany) • Kalavagnen ie, men's cart (Scandinavia) • The Sapta Richi ie, Seven Sages (Asia) • The Haunch (Egypt) • The Drinking Gourd (Colonial America) • Hunting Party and Bear (Native American)

The Big Dipper/Plough covers only half of the breadth of the bear, the constellation itself is quite indistinct in shape and very large, it extends much farther south, with its most southerly star, Xi Ursae Majoris (Alula Australis), as far down as Leo and Cancer. Over time the asterism will dissolve. It is only within the last 50,000 years or the familiar "dipper" shape has formed. As the stars move their separate ways, the dipper will become ‘sharper’, with the pointer star (alpha Ursae Majoris) moving further to the front from the rest, south of its present position.

Deep Sky Objects:

Deep Sky Object: M82 Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: April 2010 Instrument: Canon EOS 1000D Exposure Time: ? Filter: None


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Right Ascension 09h 55m 52.2s Declination +69° 40′ 47″ Distance 11.5 ± 0.8 Mly Visual Brightness 8.41

Apparent Dimension 65×60 arcmins

M82 is one of the finest starburst galaxies in the sky; its turbulent shape is evident even at low powers. The starburst galaxy is five times as bright as the whole Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy's centre. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected fluctuating X-ray emissions from a location approximately 600 light-years away from the centre of M82. Astronomers have postulated that this fluctuating emission comes from the first known intermediate-mass black hole, of roughly 200 to 5000 solar masses!


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Auriga

The Charioteer “He is not indolent, boarded on His chariot pulled by seven horses, when He wills to make a move, He assumes two forms! O Sun, after arising ” - Atharva Veda AURIGA Abbreviation Aur Genitive Aurigae Pronunciation /ɔːˈraɪɡəә/ Auríga, genitive /ɔːˈraɪdʒiː/ Symbolism The Charioteer Right ascension 6 h Declination +40° Family Perseus Quadrant NQ1 Area 657 sq. deg. (21st) Main stars 5, 8 Bayer/Flamsteed stars 65 Stars with planets 6 Stars brighter than 3.00m 4 Stars within 10.00 pc 1 Brightest star Capella (α Aur) (0.08m) Nearest star QY Aur

(20.74 ly) Messier objects 3 Meteor Showers Alpha Aurigids

Delta Aurigids Bordering constellations Camelopardalis

Perseus Taurus Gemini Lynx

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −40°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of Late February to early March.


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Mythology: This constellation may date back to Babylonian times as Rukubi, the chariot. The Romans identified this constellation with Erichthonius, the lame son of Vulcan (whom the Greeks referred to as Hephaestus) The driver was considered to be a shepherd, usually one that had flung a goat over its left shoulder (due to the resemblance of that area to a lump), and had its kids (two bright stars) nearby, which is represented by the star Capella (meaning she goat) Pliny and Manilius treated the alpha star, Capella as a constellation by itself, also calling it Capra, Caper, Hircus, and by other hircine titles. Indian mythology has a charioteer, Aruna, or Arun, that resembles Erichthonius in some ways. In the Hindu Pantheon Surya, the sun, is shown drawn by seven horses (though in earlier depictions it was four) with his charioteer, the lame Aruna, seated in front of him. According to Hindu mythology, Aruna or Arun refers to the Charioteer of the Sun, including the rising Sun. Aruna refers to the redness of the rising Sun. He is believed to be a cripple (without thighs). This figure of the Hindu mythology has the literal meaning, in Sanskrit, of the reddish one. In India, Capella was worshipped as the heart of Brahma. In one Greek legend, Auriga represents Erichthonius, a King of Athens and the son of Vulcan and Minerva. Auriga was deformed and his difficulty in walking led him to invent the four-horse chariot. This invention brought him a place of honour in the sky. In another legend, Auriga was the son of Mercury. He trained chariot horses and his animals were said to be the fastest there were. The bright star Capella also has some legend about it. It is reputed to represent the goat that suckled Jupiter. At some point Jupiter accidentally broke off a horn. Jupiter made this piece of horn magical in that it could be filled with whatever the possessor wished for. It was given the name Cornucopia, or "horn of plenty."


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Astronomical Notes: Its brightest star is Capella (alpha Aurigae, 0.1 mag), which is visible in the upper right from the center of the constellation.

The galactic anticenter is located about 3.5° to the east of β Aurigae, the anticenter marks the point on the celestial sphere direcrly opposite the location of the galactic core. Due to this location, the region of sky with Auriga marks a less dense and luminous part of the dust band which makes up the milky way’s spiral arms.

The milky way runs straight through Auriga, which has many open clusters and other objects because of this. Its three brightest open clusters are M36, M37 and M38; all being visible with binoculars or a small telescope in reasonably light polluted skies, a larger telescope resolves the individual stars contained within them.

Three more dimmer open clusters are NGC 2281, located close to Psi 7 Aurigae, NGC 1664, which is close to Epsilon Aurigae, and NGC 1893, next to the Flaming Star Nebula, located around mid-way between M38 and Iota Aurigae. AE Aurigae, a runaway star, is a bright variable, currently located within the Flaming Star Nebula.

Auriga hosts at least four meteor showers annually, all of which have a low hourly activity rate. Its prime shower, The Aurigids, occur between the end of January and late February and have amaximum of 18 per hour between 9th and 17th February. At the beginning of the 20th Century, reports note spectacularly large fireballs, though in the early 21st century this has currently reduced to an average of less than one per hour.


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Deep Sky Object: M36 Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: ? Instrument: Canon Eos 1000D Iso: 1600 Exposure Time: 25 seconds

M36 is dominated by a zigzag stream of stars, with fainter stars clumped around it. The presence of this star cluster was first recorded by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and re-discovered by Le Gentil in 1749. However, it was Charles Messier who took the time to carefully record its position for future generations. If this cluster were 10 times closer, it would appear as conspicuous and very similar to the Pleiades. Because the cluster is only about 25 million years old, it contains no red giants, in contrast to nearby M37 and M38.

Right Ascension 5h 36m 12s Declination +34° 08′ 4″ Distance 4.1 kly Visual Brightness 6.3 Apparent Dimension 12′


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Deep Sky Object: M37 Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: ? Instrument: Canon Eos 1000D Iso: 1600 Exposure Time: 32 seconds

M37 is more uniform than M36 but has a system of dark lanes (starless regions or perhaps dark nebulosity). It contains at least 150 stars that are around magnitude 12 and easily resolved by even small telescopes. Messier 37 would be later given its NGC catalogue designation by John Herschel who was the first to make a guess at its true stellar population: "Very fine large cluster, all resolved into stars of 10th to 13th magnitude. It fills 1 1/2 field, but the straggling stars extend very far. There may be 500 stars."

Right Ascension 5h 52m 19s Declination +32° 33′ 2″ Distance 4.4 kly Visual Brightness 6.2 Apparent Dimension 24’


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Hercules The Hero “A buffoonish Hercules (Heracles) comes to the house of his friend Admetus…Hercules overindulges, as usual.” – Euripides, Alcestis

ABBREVIATION HER Genitive Herculis Pronunciation /ˈhɜrkjʊliːz/, genitive /ˈhɜrkjʊlɨs/

Symbolism Heracles Right ascension 17 h

Declination +30° Family Hercules Quadrant NQ3 Area 1225 sq. deg. (5th) Main stars 14, 22 Bayer/Flamsteed stars 106

Stars with planets 11

Stars brighter than 3.00m 2

Stars within 10.00 pc 9

Brightest star β Her (2.78m) Nearest star Gliese 661 (20.62 ly)

Messier objects 2 Meteor showers Tau Herculids

Bordering constellations Draco Boötes Corona Borealis Serpens Caput Ophiuchus Aquila Sagitta Vulpecula Lyra

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −50°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the


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month of July.


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Mythology: The Phoenicians called it their god Melkarth, the Greeks called it the Phantom. We know it most commonly as Hercules, the hero who had


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12 labours to perform to demonstrate his courage and heroism. Hercules death was a sad story, we are told that our hero put on a tunic that contained a deadly poison. So tortured by this he was that he climbed a mountain, built a funeral pyre and perished in its fires. Jupiter was so touched by this that he had a cloud descend to Hercules, pick him up and carry him to his place in the sky.

Astronomical Notes: Hercules first becomes visible in the east in April, and works his way high across the night sky through October. From the southern hemisphere, he appears low in the north. Four relatively bright stars form what is commonly known as the Keystone. Hercules' arms and legs extend from this central square. By far the most exciting object to see in Hercules is the magnificent globular cluster M13, which is visible in dark night skies even without binoculars or a telescope. This cluster of 300,000 stars appears as a faint fuzzy spot to the naked eye.

Logged Objects:

Deep Sky Object: M13 Date: 19th February 2010 Time: 15:41 Seeing: 6 Instrument: EM01 - 2m Faulkes Telescope North, located at Haleakala, Hawaii Exposure Time: 120 Seconds

Right Ascension 16h 41m 41.44s Declination +36° 27′ 36.9″ Distance 25.1 kly Visual Brightness 5.8 Apparent Dimension 20 arcmins


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Filter: RGB+ND Perhaps the finest globular cluster in the northern sky, M13 is easily resolved in a 5-inch (12.5-cm) or larger telescope. Like other globulars, it looks much more three-dimensional in the telescope than in photographs because the eye can see brightness distinctions that the camera does not record. Look for streams and other patterns in the stars.

Deep Sky Object: M92 Date: 19th February 2010 Time: 20:57 Seeing: 6 Instrument: EM01 - 2m Faulkes Telescope North, located at Haleakala, Hawaii Exposure Time: 120 seconds Filter: RGB+ND

If M92 were not so close to M13 it would be considered a showpiece. As it is, not only does M13 overshadow it, but M92 is hard to find without computer aid because there are no bright stars nearby!

Right Ascension 17h17'07" Declination 43°08'11" Distance 26 kly Visual Brightness 6.3 Apparent Dimension 14' arc minutes


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Cygnus

The Swan “Swans sing before they die - 'twere no bad thing should certain persons die before they sing.” - Samuel Taylor Coleridge CYGNUS Abbreviation Cyg Genitive Cygni Pronunciation /ˈsɪɡnəәs/, genitive /ˈsɪɡnaɪ/ Symbolism The Swan or The Northern Cross Right ascension 20.62 h Declination +42.03° Family Hercules Quadrant NQ4 Area 804 sq. deg. (16th) Main stars 9 Bayer/Flamsteed stars 84 Stars with planets 8 Stars brighter than 3.00m 4 Stars within 10.00 pc 1 Brightest star Deneb (α Cyg) (1.25m) Nearest star 61 Cyg

(11.36 ly) Messier objects 2 Meteor Showers October Cygnids

Kappa Cygnids Bordering constellations Cepheus

Draco Lyra Vulpecula Pegasus Lacerta

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −40°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of September.


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Mythology: One story tells us that Cygnus represents Orpheus who was changed into a swan at his death and placed beside his magic harp (Lyra) in the sky. Another story says this represents Cygnus, son of the King of the Ligurians who was stricken with grief over the death of his friend Phaethon. Touched by this, Apollo took pity on him, changed him into a swan and placed him among the stars. Another story says the swan is Orpheus, who was murdered by the Thracian women while under the influence of Bacchus. Upon his death, the celebrated musician was placed in the heavens to spend eternity by his harp, Lyra. Yet another variant says that the swan represents the form taken by Jupiter when he deceived Leda and fathered Pollux. According to Ovid, the swan was once Cygnus, son of Sthenele and a close friend of Phaethon. Phaethon died in the river Eridanus after attempting to drive the chariot of the sun, and Cygnus was overcome with grief that Jupiter could have struck down his friend: As he mourned, his voice became thin and shrill, and white feathers hid his hair. His neck grew long, stretching out from his breast, his fingers reddened and a membrane joined them together. Wings clothed his sides, and a blunt beak fastened on his mouth. Cygnus became a new kind of bird: but he put no trust in the skies, or in Jupiter, for he remembered how that god had unjustly hurled his flaming bolt. Instead, Cygnus made for marshes and broad lakes, and in his hatred of flames chose to inhabit the rivers, which are the very antithesis of fire.

Astronomical Notes: Cygnus, the Swan, is also known as the Northern Cross because of its distinctive shape. The constellation forms a lower case "t" shape, with additional stars off the sides to show a bend for the wings. The tail of


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the swan is marked by the bright star Deneb, which is Arabic for "tail". Three fainter stars cross the line between Deneb and the head of the swan, Albireo, largely regarded as the most beautiful double star in the heavens. Cygnus flies southward along the summer Milky Way, and into the Summer Triangle. The constellation is one of the easier to find in the night sky. The mythology of Cygnus tells the story of Zeus who took the form of a swan to seduce Queen Leda. From this union were born the twins Castor (an eclipsing system made up of six stars!) and Pollux, which can be found in the constellation Gemini. The tail and bill of the swan are both magnificent stellar sights. Deneb is a bright, blue supergiant star, and a mere baby in age compared to many other stars, it marks the tail of the swan or the top of the Northern Cross. The brightest star in Cygnus, at magnitude 1.3, it is also one of the corners in the Summer Triangle. Albireio is the swan’s bill, or bottom corner of the Northern Cross. It is actually a binary system which exhibits a vibrant amber and blue contrast. The brighter star of Albireo (or Beta Cygni) is magnitude 3.1, and the dimmer is magnitude 5.1. The stars are approximately 380 light-years apart. Cygnus is also interspersed with a variety of nebulae. The North American Nebula is located just a few degrees east of Deneb, named for its resemblance to the North American continent. The Veil Nebula, an ancient supernova remnant, is seen several degrees south of the easternmost wing. Less than two degrees from Sadr, or Gamma Cygni, the 2.23-magnitude star at the centre of the cross, is M29. M29 is an open cluster at magnitude 6.6. The other Messier object in Cygnus is M39, an open cluster found around 9 degrees northeast of Deneb. M39 is magnitude 4.5: and can sometimes be seen by the naked eye. Returning to Sadr, NGC 6910, a 7.4-magnitude open cluster, lies just a half-degree from the star to the north. Another nebula to see with binoculars is the Veil Nebula, NGC 6992. The Veil Nebula spans a large expanse of sky a little south of Epsilon Cygni, the eastern star in the cross's arm. This entire region is called the Cygnus Loop and is the remains of a star that went into a supernova around 5,000 years ago.

Logged Objects:


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Deep Sky Object: NGC 6826 Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: April 2010 Seeing: 6 Instrument: EM01 - 2m Faulkes Telescope North, located at Haleakala, Hawaii Exposure Time:120 secs Filter: RGB+ND

The central star in this

planetary nebula is much brighter than the surrounding nebulosity. The star and the nebula compete for your attention; the “blinking” effect occurs because the star pops in and out of view as you switch from direct to averted vision, or so the folklore says. The bright double star 16 Cygni (SAO 31898, NexStar Star 9426, mags. 6.0, 6.2, sep. 40′′) is just out of the field to the west. Several other doubles are nearby.

Right Ascension 19h 44m 48.2s Declination +50° 31′ 30.3″ Distance ~2000 ly Visual Brightness 8.8 Apparent Dimension 27 x 24"


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Draco The Dragon "It was as huge as the Serpent that twines between the two Bears in the sky, if its full length were seen uncoiled" – Ovid - book III of Metamorphoses DRACO Abbreviation Dra Genitive Draconis Pronunciation /ˈdreɪkoʊ/, genitive /drəәˈkoʊnɨs/ Symbolism The Dragon Right ascension 17 h Declination +65° Family Ursa Major Quadrant NQ3 Area 1083 sq. deg. (8th) Main stars 14 Bayer/Flamsteed stars

76

Stars with planets

6

Stars brighter than 3.00m

3

Stars within 10.00 pc

7

Brightest star Gamma Draconis (2.24m) Nearest star Struve 2398

(11.52 ly) Messier objects 1 Meteor showers Draconids Bordering constellations

Boötes Hercules Lyra Cygnus Cepheus Ursa Minor Camelopardalis Ursa Major

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −15°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of July.


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Mythology: Draco represents Ladon, the dragon sometimes depicted with one hundred heads that guarded a sacred spring and slew the soldiers of Cadmus (the first king of Thebes). The eleventh of the Twelve Labours of Heracles was to steal the golden apples.


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Heracles asks Atlas to gather the apples while he and Athena held up the sky. Atlas, thinking he could trick Heracles into holding the sky forever, gladly accepted the mission. When he returned with the apples, Heracles slipped the sky back on Atlas' shoulders. "Some also say this Draco was thrown at Minerva (Athene) by the Gigantes (Giants), when she fought them. Minerva snatched its twisted form and threw it to the stars, and fixed it at the very pole of heaven. And so to this day it appears with twisted body, as if recently transported to the stars." [Hyginus, Astronomica 2.3] "Today we see him forever asleep as the much-knotted, battered, and twisted Draco" [Minerva threw the dragon to the stars — or slung it. A German word for snake is Schlange "which is probably related to 'sling'", A Babylonian creation story tells of Tiamat, who turned herself into a dragon but was later defeated and split into two parts. One part became the heavens and the other, the Earth. A Chinese tale sees the stars as the dragon who eats the Sun or Moon (possible represented by the north star Polaris) in an eclipse. During a real eclipse, ancient Chinese would make as much noise as possible, banging on pots and pans to try and scare away the dragon which was eating the Sun or Moon. A Norse creation myth tells of a dragon who gnaws at the roots of Ygdrasil, the tree that covers the world. The Persians have regarded Draco as a man-eating serpent called Azhdeha. In early Hindu worship, Draco is given the form of an alligator known as Shi-shu-mara. Because Thuban was the pole star 5000 years ago the ancient Egyptians keenly observed it. Some of Draco's stars were part of their constellation of Hippopotamus and some were of the Crocodile. They appear on the planisphere of Denderah and the walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes. The hieroglyph for the Hippopotamus was used for the heavens in general while the constellation is supposed to have been a symbol of Isis Rathor, Athor, or Athyr, the Egyptian Venus. Draco's stars were also said to represent the falcon headed god Horus. Around 800 BC, the prehistoric Adena people who lived in the Ohio area of the United States created Serpent Mound which is believed to mirror the constellation Draco. This huge mound is nearly a quarter mile long.

Astronomical Notes: Draco the dragon is a circumpolar constellation, which means it revolves around the North pole. It can be seen all year round. Draco is only present in the Northern Hemisphere, so those living in the Southern Hemisphere will never see this long constellation. The easiest way to spot Draco is by finding the dragon’s head. It consists of four


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stars in a trapezoid, found just north of Hercules. Draco's body is made up of a chain of stars that arc towards polaris, before coiling back towards the head, followed another turn that takes it between the two dippers. Perhaps we can see the resemblance to a coiled serpentine creature?

From the head, Draco’s tail winds through the sky, ending between the Big and Little Dippers. The end of the constellation is held by Thuban (Alpha Draconis), which was the pole star over 4,000 years ago. This little group of constellations in named circumpolar, as they are far enough north to circle the pole star Draco's brightest star is Elatin, or Gamma Draconis. It shines at magnitude 2.24 and lies 148 light years away. Draco's third brightest star is located in the head. It lies 362 light years away from here and is named Rastaban, shining at magnitude 2.79. The final named star in Draco can be found between the end two star's of the Big Dipper's Bowl and Polaris. It is a magntiude 3.82 star named Lambda Draconis, or Giausar. Around 20,000 years from now the sky will look a little different. The process that moves the North Celestial Pole is called precession, and is caused by periodic wobbles of the earth on it's axis. It is believed that Draco's star Thuban will one day be located where Polaris is, and will be the 'new' pole star. . Interestingly enough, after about 26,000 years one cycle of precession takes roughly 26,000 years, and so after this 26,000 years Polaris will be back where we see it now. The dragon will have its day (or millennia?) hosting the pole star.

You may also be interested to know that there is a cat's eye hiding in the dragon’s body. NGC6543, or the Cat's Eye Nebula, is located one third of the way from Eltanin to Polaris. It is somewhat hard to detect at magnitude 8.8 but can be seen under dark skies with a telescope.

Logged Objects: None


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Cepheus

The King "The Ethiopians were the first who invented the science of stars, and gave names to the planets, not at random and without meaning, but descriptive of the qualities which they conceived them to possess” - Lucian CEPHEUS Abbreviation Cep Genitive Cephei Pronunciation /ˈsiːfiəәs/ or /ˈsiːfjuːs/; genitive /ˈsiːfiaɪ/ Symbolism The King/King Cepheus Right ascension 22 h Declination +70° Family Perseus Quadrant NQ4 Area 588 sq. deg. (27th) Main stars 7 Bayer/Flamsteed stars

43

Stars with planets

1


1


3

Brightest star α Cep (Alderamin) (2.45m) Nearest star Kruger 60

(13.15 ly) Messier objects 0 Meteor showers None Bordering constellations

Cygnus Lacerta Cassiopeia Camelopardalis Draco Ursa Minor

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −10°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of November.


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Mythology: This constellation represents King Cepheus of Ethiopia. Although probably best known as the husband of Queen Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda. It has also been said that Cepheus was one of the Argonauts and that he accompanied Jason on the quest for the golden fleece. For his honour and bravery, he was placed in the sky. The Chinese regarded these stars highly and associated them with royalty by calling them the Inner Throne of the Five Emperors. The Arabs saw in these stars a shepherd, his dog and a flock of sheep. He was deemed worthy of a place in the sky because he was fourth in descent from the nymph Io, one of the loves of Zeus – and having Zeus as a relative was always an advantage when it came to being commemorated among the constellations. The kingdom of Cepheus was not the Ethiopia we know today, but stretched from the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean southwards to the Red Sea, an area


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that contains parts of the modern Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Ptolemy described him as wearing the tiara-like head-dress of a Persian king. The later Hindus knew Cepheus, or Kepheus, as Capuja, adopted from Greece In the Chinese sky, Alpha and Beta Cephei were part of a nine-star group called Gouxing, the celestial hook; the stars in this group were associated with omens regarding earthquakes. To the south of Gouxing, the stars Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Mu and Nu Cephei formed Zhaofu, named after the legendary charioteer of the emperor Mu Wang. This constellation is believed to date as far back as 23 centuries and that is was recognized by the Chaldeans.

Astronomical Notes: Cepheus looks like a house. The point on top is a special star called a cepheid. These stars are used to measure long distances. The constellation of Cepheus lies near the north celestial pole. Its most celebrated star is Delta Cephei, a pulsating supergiant star that varies in brightness every 5.4 days. Cepheus is located close to Polaris, and in the Northern Hemisphere never sets. To locate it, draw a triangle between the constellations, Cassiopeia, Cygnus and the Little Dipper. WIthin that triangle will be a pentagon, or house shaped collection of stars, this is the King himself. Cepheus' brightest star is Alpha Cephei or Alderamin. It lies 45 light years away and shines at magnitude 2.45, it is found in the bottom right corner of the pentagon. The other, more distant star at the bottom of the pentagon is Zeta Cephei 45 lightyears distant is the star that marks the roof in Cepheus; Errai or Gamma Cephei. It is magnitude 3.21. Lastly at the top of the pentagon is Gamma Cepheo.



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Cassiopeia

The Queen “Cassiopeia, having boasted herself equal in beauty to the Nereids, drew down the vengeance of Poseidon, who sent an inundation on the land and a sea-monster which destroyed man and beast...” - Apollodorus ii. 4; Hyginus, Fab. 64; Ovid, Metam. iv. 662 CASSIOPEIA Abbreviation Cas Genitive Cassiopeiae Pronunciation /ˌkæsi.ɵˈpiː.əә/ Cássiopéia, colloquially /ˌkæsiˈoʊpiː.əә/ Cássiópeia;

genitive /ˌkæsi.ɵˈpiː.iː/ Symbolism the Seated Queen Right ascension 1 h Declination +60° Family Perseus Quadrant NQ1 Area 598 sq. deg. (25th) Main stars 5 Bayer/Flamsteed stars

53

Stars with planets

3


4


7

Brightest star α Cas (Schedar) (2.15m) Nearest star η Cas (Achird)

(19.42 ly) Messier objects 2 Meteor showers Perseids Bordering constellations

Camelopardalis Cepheus Lacerta Andromeda Perseus

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −20°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of November.


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Mythology: The boast of Cassiopeia was that both she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than all the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Nereus. This brought the wrath of Poseidon, ruling god of the sea, upon the kingdom of Ethiopia. Her name in Greek is Κασσιόπη, which means "she whose words excel". Cassiopeia is the legendary queen of Ethiopia and wife of the king, Cepheus. The royal couple had a daughter Andromeda who Cassiopeia was forced to offer up to a sea monster because she had offended the sea nymphs boasting about her beauty. Cassiopeia was later transported to the sky, where she sits on her throne and circles the pole. Cassiopeia was the beautiful wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, and the mother of Andromeda. She is most famous in connection with the myth of her daughter, Andromeda. The queen made the mistake of bragging she was more lovely than the Nereids, or even than Juno herself. The goddesses were, needless to say, rather insulted, and went to Neptune, god of the sea, to complain. Neptune promptly sent a sea monster (possibly Cetus?) to ravage the coast. The king and queen were ordered to sacrifice their daughter to appease Neptune's wrath, and would have done so had Perseus not arrived to kill the monster in the nick of time. As a reward, the hero was wedded to the lovely Andromeda. Although she was placed in the heavens by Neptune, the sea-god saw fit to humiliate her one final time (and for all eternity). He placed her so that she is seated on her throne, with her head pointing towards the North Star Polaris. In this position, she spends half of every night upside-down.


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This group of stars was also seen by the Arabs as a hand or a kneeling camel. The Inuit called it the stone lamp.

Astronomical Notes: Cassiopeia has a very distinct shape. She looks like a "W" or "M" in the sky, depending on where she is. Cassiopeia is a northern circumpolar constellation, so it can be viewed all year long. It is home to several clusters, or groups of stars. M52 is a large cluster on the western edge. With a telescope, many distant objects can be spotted. There are a few nebulae within Cassiopeia, including the Bubble Nebula and IC 1805. This nebula is located just to the east of the constellation. Finally, a number of galaxies can be spotted, including NGC 185, which is a small distance south of the "W". γ Cassiopeiae is a peculiar variable star. The brightness varies from 1.6 to 3 magnitudes. γ Cassiopeiae is assumed to be a binary star containing a Be star and a neutron star. It is the brightest X-ray binary on the sky, no other X-ray binaries can be seen with naked eye. Cassiopeia was the site of Tycho Brahe's supernova of 1572, and is also the location of Cassiopeia A, the strongest radio source in the sky (other than the sun). Cassiopeia A is the remnant of a supernova which apparently occurred in about 1667, although there is no record of it having been observed.

Logged Objects:

Deep Sky Object: M52 Image Credit: Glamorgan University


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Date: April 2010 Instrument: Cannon Eos 350D ISO 1600 Exposure Time: 33 seconds No Filter. M52 can be found quite easily by extending the line from Alpha over Beta Cassiopeiae by 6 1/2 degrees to the NW to 5th mag 4 Cassiopeiae; M52 is roughly 1 degree south and slightly west of this star. Amateurs can see M52 as a nebulous patch in good binoculars or finder scopes. In 4-inch telescopes, it appears as a fine, rich compressed cluster of faint stars, often described as of fan or "V" shape; the bright yellow star is to the south-western edge.

Deep Sky Object: M103 Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: 19th February 2010 Time: 15:41 Instrument: Cannon Eos 350D Exposure: 23 Seconds Iso: 1600

Right Ascension 23h 24.2m Declination +61° 35′ Distance 5.0 kly Visual Brightness 5.0 Apparent Dimension 13.0'


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No Filter. M103 is one of the more distant open clusters in the Messier catalogue. It's distance is estimated between 8000 and 9200 light years, with some uncertainty due to an unknown amount of light absorption in the intervening space. If a distance of 8500 light years is used, the diameter of the cluster would be 15 light years. The brightest star in the cluster is actually a binary, Struve 131, and coincidentally, is not physically located within the cluster.

Right Ascension 01h 33.2m Declination +60° 42′ Distance 10 kly Visual Brightness 7.4 Apparent Dimension 6.0


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Hydra The Many Headed Serpent "This monster was so poisonous that she killed men with her breath, and if anyone passed by when she was sleeping, he breathed her tracks and died in the greatest torment." (Hyginus, 30)

HYDRA Abbreviation Hya Genitive Hydrae Pronunication /ˈhaɪdrəә/, genitive /ˈhaɪdriː/ Symbolism the sea serpent Right ascension 8-15 h Declination −20° Family Hercules Quadrant SQ2 Area 1303 sq. deg. (1st) Main stars 17 Bayer/Flamsteed stars

75

Stars with planets

10


2

Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)

4

Brightest star Alphard (α Hya) (1.98m) Nearest star LHS 3003

(20.67 ly) Messier objects 3 Meteor showers Alpha Hydrids

Sigma Hydrids Bordering constellations

Antlia Cancer Canis Minor Centaurus Corvus Crater Leo Libra Lupus (corner) Monoceros Puppis Pyxis Sextans Virgo

Visible at latitudes between +54° and −83°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of April.


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Mythology: This monster was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and was brought up by Hera. It ravaged the country of Lernae near Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of Amymone: it was formidable by its nine heads, the middle of which was immortal. Herakles was sent to destroy her as one of his twelve labours, but for each of her heads that he decapitated, two more sprang forth. So with the help of Iolaos, he applied burning brands to the severed stumps, cauterizing the wounds and preventing regeneration. In the battle he also crushed a giant crab beneath his heel which had come to assist Hydra. The Hydra and the Crab were afterwards placed amongst the stars by Hera as the Constellations Hydra and Cancer. The Egyptians said this group of stars was the river Nile's starry counterpart.

Astronomical Notes: Hydra is the longest constellation in the sky and is also the largest in terms of area. It is so long that it takes more than six hours to rise completely. Along it's northern side, we can observe the zodiacal signs of Cancer, Leo, Virgo and Libra. The stars in the serpent's head appear to be at the same distance but they are really very far away from each other. The northernmost of the six stars in the head of the serpent, Epsilon Hydrae, is a quintuple star - a system of five stars. Alphard (Arabic for "the solitary one") is Hydra's brightest star. Hydra is home to a fairly faint, but large, open cluster of about 80 stars known as M48. This cluster is easily observed with binoculars and looks bigger than the disc of the full Moon. Hydra is one of the most ancient constellations. –



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Non-Deep Sky Observations The Sun The Bright Father “The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Observation:

Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: 6th April Time: 14:00 Seeing: Daylight Instrument: Canon EOS 350D Exposure Time: ? Filter: Solar Filter This photograph was taken using a solar filter to protect the camera and my eyesight. Seen magnified without a filter, it can be a literally blinding sight. If you look carefully, you can see a solar prominence emerging at the bottom right part of the sun. These are caused by magnetic instabilities in the seething plasma that makes up the sun’s structure.

Mythology The Sun has often been worshipped as a god by humans. Its obvious power is clearly manifest in the form of blinding light and scorching heat, a metaphor for omnipotent power. Even as far away from us as it is now, it demands respect, for without the sun the earth would be cold, dark and dead. Ancient, Proto-Indo-European religion depicts the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot. In Africa The Munshi tribe considers the Sun to be the


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son of the supreme being Awondo and the Moon as Awondo's daughter. The Barotse tribe believes that the Sun is inhabited by the sky god Nyambi and the Moon is his wife. In Ancient Pagan Eastern Europe Svarog is the Slavic god of sun spirit and fire. In Ancient Rome the feast of Sol Invictus (The Unconquered Sun) on December 25 was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the birthday of Christ.

Tonatiuh was the Aztec Sun God in the Aztec Civilization. A temperamental deity, he had to be persuaded to rise every day with multiple human sacrifices. How many victims had their hearts cut out to appease him? In the Aztec calendar, Tonatiuh is the lord of the thirteen days from 1 Death to 13 Flint.

Astronomical Notes Astronomically speaking, our sun is an unremarkable, middle aged, G Class Star. On the Hertzprung Russell diagram it is on the Main Sequence, which means that it is currently burning hydrogen into helium, and as far as stars go, is rather stable. In about 4 billion years it is predicted to start running out of hydrogen. This will cause it to gradually evolve into a red giant, burning heavier and heavier elements in an attempt to remain stable.

The Moon The Lunar Mother


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“I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it” – Albert Einstein The Moon has fascinated mankind throughout the ages. By simply viewing with the naked eye, one can discern two major types of terrain: relatively bright highlands and darker plains. By the middle of the 17th century, Galileo and other early astronomers made telescopic observations, noting an almost endless overlapping of craters. It has also been known for more than a century that the Moon is less dense than the Earth. Although a certain amount of information was ascertained about the Moon before the space age, this new era has revealed many secrets barely imaginable before that time. Current knowledge of the Moon is greater than for any other solar system object except Earth.

Observation:

Time and Date: 22:18, 9/10/09 Object(s) Viewed: The Moon Equipment Used: Naked eye observation Observations made from: Treforest, Rhonda Cynon Taf Notes: I went out to observe the moon after a car journey from Merthyr Tydfil with a friend. I noticed the particular, dark yellow hue of the moon and found it to be rather frightening. The moon can appear this way when it is low in the sky and when there are a lot of dust particles in the atmosphere. The optical phenomenon is caused by some of the light being refracted by the dense particles in the air, high up in the atmosphere, and this is the same phenomenon responsible for the orange hues we sometimes see in the setting sun.


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Mythology The mythology of the moon is often linked to a female goddess who is paired with the male sun. She symbolizes emotions, feelings, instincts, day to day habit patterns and routine. The Moon is very strongly related to mother, home and family, and the cycles of the moon are intricately tied to feminine moods and menstrual cycles. The moon was thought to effect people’s mental states, with the term Lunacy coming from Latin name for the moon, Luna. Lastly, there is the time honoured western myth of the Were-wolf, the beast that emerges only when the moon is full, and makes mischief on cloudless nights under the pale moonlight The Many Names Of The Moon In ancient Greece the moon was called Selene and in Rome her name was Luna. In the myths associated with these goddesses, the goddess is paired with the god of the sun. He travels throughout the day and she takes over the journey at night. She was typically considered to be a passionate goddess who takes many lovers and who represents the desire associated with the moon. The Aztecs had Coyolxauhqui, which means "Golden Bells." Coyolxauhqui was the sister of the Sun god, Huitzilopochtli. Coyolxauhqui was a powerful magician and the leader of the Star Gods, the Centzonuitznaua However, not all of the deities associated with the moon are goddesses. Tecciztecatl was a male Aztec deity, sometimes identified as a rabbit. In some depictions he carried a large, white seashell on his back, representing the moon itself; in others he had butterfly wings. Mawu. In Africa, Mawu is a moon God who is forever linked in unity with the sun goddess Liza. It is believed that lunar and solar eclipses are related to the lovemaking times of the celestial couple. Soma. This is a Hindu god that is associated with the moon. In Hindu art, Soma is sometimes an embryo and sometimes a bull, and frequently associated with Fertility. Soma's twenty-seven wives were the star goddesses, the Nakshatras - daughters of the cosmic progenitor Daksha. Daksha cursed Soma to wither and die, but the wives intervened and the death became periodic and temporary, and is symbolized by the waxing and waning of the moon


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In Greek myths, Selene was the Titan Goddess of the Moon Incarnate. She was depicted as a woman either riding side saddle on a horse or in a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds. Her lunar sphere or crescent was represented as either a crown set upon her head or as the fold of a raised, shining cloak.

Astronomical Notes: The ‘impact’ theory suggests that our moon was formed as the result of earth colliding with a Mars sized planet named Theia. Geologically speaking, Luna is quite unremarkable, having no geological activity, and being comprised mainly of cold dead rock. Its surface is of immense value to astronomers who wish to study the environment of the early solar system. Its many craters are ancient, and tell us about how much debris was loose in the baby solar system. The Moon is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles) distant from the Earth. Its diameter is 3,476 kilometers (2,160 miles). Both the rotation of the Moon and its revolution around Earth takes 27 days, 7 hours, and 43 minutes. This synchronous rotation is caused by an unsymmetrical distribution of mass in the Moon, which has allowed Earth's gravity to keep one lunar hemisphere permanently turned toward Earth . -Source: Calvin J Hamilton http://www.solarviews.com/eng/moon.htm


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The Milky Way

The Starry Road “The Milky Way is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars planted together in clusters.” - Galileo Galilei The milky way is not one object, but is instead comprised of the millions of observable stars and objects in the galactic plane of our home galaxy. Truly one of the most magnificant sights in the sky, to look at it is to truly feel the primal beauty of the universe. Sadly, many urban dwellers have not been able to see the extent of the Milky Way, if they have even seen it at all, and even small amounts of light pollution are enough to obscure much of the ethereal detail of this wonderous sight.

Observation:

Image Credit: Glamorgan University Date: 19th February 2010 Instrument: Canon EOS 350D Exposure Time: Unknown


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Filter: None.

Mythology: In Meteorologica Aristotle argued the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions." The Khoisan people of the Kalahari desert in southern Africa say that long ago there were no stars and the night was pitch black. A girl, who was lonely and wanted to visit other people, threw the embers from a fire into the sky and created the Milky Way. In Far Eastern Mythologies, the stars Altair and Vega were said to be two lovers who were allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month, when a flock of magpies and crows formed a bridge over the galactic river. That day is celebrated as Qi Xi, the Seventh Night In the Hindu collection of stories called Bhagavata Purana, all the visible stars and planets moving through space are likened to a dolphin that swims through the water, and the heavens is called sisumãra cakra, the dolphin disc. The Milky Way forms the abdomen of the dolphin and is called Akasaganga, which means "The Ganges River of the Sky". In Egyptian mythology, the Milky Way was considered a pool of cow's milk. It was deified as a fertility cow-goddess by the name of Bat. To the Māori of Australasia, the Milky Way is the waka (canoe) of Tama-rereti. The front and back of the canoe are Orion and Scorpius, while the Southern Cross and the Pointers are the anchor and rope.

Astronomical Notes: The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is one of countless billions in the observable universe. It is estimated to contain between 200 billion and 400 billion stars. Our galaxy has a relatively low surface brightness due to the interstellar medium that fills the galactic disk, like thick cloth draped over a lightbulb, this prevents us from seeing the bright galactic centre with the naked eye. The Sun (and correspondingly our Solar System) may be found close to the inner rim of the galaxy's Orion Arm, in the Local Fluff inside the Local Bubble. We are at a distance of 25,000 light years from the Galactic Centre; a region thick with stars and thought to be the host of


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an immense black hole, which acts as an anchor to all the material within our galaxy, trapped in it’s gravitational pull.

Depending on which tribe you ask, the Aborigines of Australasia have many different and fertile myths related to the Milky Way. -Source: Malcolm Maloney Jagamarra: Marlu (Milky Way Dreaming)


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Jupiter

The King Of The Gods “Whether they find a life there or not, I think Jupiter should be called an enemy planet.” - Jack Handy

Jupiter is king in the planetary hierarchy, the largest of all the planets in the neighbourhood. Like a Solar System in miniature, Jupiter has scores of smaller moons and captured objects trapped by his strong gravitational pull. Perhaps not the startling planet to look at, Jupiter glows in shades of brown and ochre, and his fluid atmosphere is streaked with ponderously moving lines that mark divisions in the swirling gaseous chaos.

Jupiter’s incredibly strong magnetic field is immense. If it could be seen from earth it would take up as much space in the sky as the full moon. It reacts to electromagnetic excitation in the same way as our own magnetic field and has its own beautiful aurora.

Mythology


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To the Romans and Greeks, Jupiter was the King of the Gods, son of the titans and frequently made time to interfere in the affairs of humans. The Romans called him Optimus Maximus -‘Father God, Best And Greatest’ – and he knew it! Jupiter was one of the most important of the Roman gods, continuously evolving with Roman needs. In the early Republican era, when Rome was an agricultural city, he first appeared as an agricultural god in charge of sun and moonlight (Jupiter Lucetius), wind, rain, storms, thunder and lightning (Jupiter Elicius), sowing (Jupiter Dapalis), creative forces (Jupiter Liber) and the boundary stones of fields (Jupiter Terminus). As Rome developed into a city of commerce and military force, Jupiter evolved into a protector of the city and state of Rome His main temple was the "Capitolim Vetus", situated on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, which he shared with Juno (his sister and consort) and Minerva, to form the Capitoline Triad. In Egypt he was called Ammon, and was depicted as a human with a ram's head. He was one of the chief gods of the Egyptian pantheon. In Babylon he was represented by Marduk, the patron God of the city of Babylon, considered equivalent to the older Sumerian god Enlil. The Assyrians in turn equated Enlil to their state god, Ashur. All were often just referred to as Lord, and this title is preserved in Biblical references to Baal or Bel.


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In modern astrology, Jupiter is the planet of expansion, and is associated with leadership, principles, philosophy, law, politics, higher education, travel, abundance, problem solving and rituals. Negatively Jupiter is said to manifest as excess in our lives and this affliction may be physical; such as addictions or spiritual, such as dogmatism.

Astronomical Notes Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is the largest planet in the solar system. If Jupiter were hollow, more than one thousand Earths could fit inside. It also contains two and a half times the mass of all the other planets combined. It has a mass of 1.9 x 1027 kg and is 142,800 kilometers (88,736 miles) across the equator. Jupiter possesses 62 known satellites. The four largest are Callisto, Europa, Ganymede and Io, and were named after Galileo Galilei who observed them as long ago as 1610. The German astronomer Simon Marius claimed to have seen the moons around the same time, but he did not publish his observations and so Galileo is given the credit for their discovery. Jupiter has a very faint ring system, but is totally invisible from the Earth. (The rings were discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1.) The atmosphere is very deep, perhaps comprising the whole planet, and is somewhat like the Sun. It is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of methane, ammonia, water vapor and other compounds. At great depths within Jupiter, the pressure is so great that the hydrogen atoms are broken up and the electrons are freed so that the resulting atoms consist of bare protons. This produces a state in which the hydrogen becomes metallic. This metallic hydrogen is thought to be responsible for Jupiter’s immense magnetic field. -Source:Calvin J Hamilton http://www.solarviews.com/eng/jupiter.htm

Observation: Time and Date: 21:18, 16/10/09 Object(s) Viewed: Jupiter, Galilean Moons Equipment Used: Meade LXD55 Telescope, 12x80LE BAK 4 Binoculars Observations made from: Treforest, Rhonda Cynon Taf Notes: Atmospheric conditions were clear. Observation was made in suburban back garden so some glare caused by nearby streetlights hindered observing quality. My observations differed from that of Danny, I could not distinguish any features on the Jovian surface, whereas he could. Two of the moons were overlapping in my field of view.


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Appendix I: Miscellaneous Images

Miscellaneous Photo 01: Though not deep sky objects, this is a picture of Venus and Mercury as the sun sets, El Bosque, Spain, April 2010.

Miscellaneous Photo 02: A long exposure picture of University of Glamorgan’s Astronomy and Space Undergraduates and Staff, taken around the time of the first shot, El Bosque, Spain, April 2010.


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Appendix II: Image Credits: Mythological Images Exerpted from two historical celestial atlases:

i. Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia* star atlas by Johannes Hevelius. Published: 1690. © Expired.

ii. Urania’s Mirror** published by Samuel Leigh of the Strand, London, circa 1825 © Expired.

* Hevelius was perhaps the most active observational astronomer of the last half of the seventeenth century. His star atlas is notable for many reasons. It contains fifty-six large, exquisite, double-page engraved star maps. The star positions for the charts were derived from Hevelius's own star catalogue, based on his own observations, which was first published along with the atlas. It is unique among the Grand Atlases in choosing to depict the constellations as they would appear on a globe, that is, from the outside looking in, rather than from a geocentric point of view source: - Linda Hall Library Of Science http://www.lindahall.org/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/stars/hev.htm

**Urania’s Mirror is a boxed set of 32 constellation cards first published by Samuel Leigh of the Strand, London, in or shortly before 1825. The engraver was Sidney Hall but authorship was coyly attributed to “a lady”. Peter Hingley, librarian of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, has established that the true author was almost certainly the Reverend Richard Rouse Bloxam of Rugby -http://www.ianridpath.com/atlases/urania.htm

Star Maps Exerpted From: http://www.starryskies.com and are © Kathy Miles and Chuck Peters. I have chosen to use images from two atlases as a comparison because both illustrators represented the constellations quite differently, and in my opinion, astronomy is as much an art as a science.

Constellation Images © Jerry Lodriguss -‐ http://www.astropix.com Jerry’s Equiptment:

• Lens: Astro-‐Physics 130EDT triplet apochromatic refractor • Focal Length: 1040mm · Mount: Losmandy GM 100EQ · Camera: Canon EOS 20Da DSLR, Canon EOS 1D Mark II DSLR • Processing: Photoshop CS


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Appendix III: References The majority of my astronomical notes were rewritten or partially rewritten referring to Kelly Whitt’s constellation articles located at -http://stargazing.suite101.com/ The majority of my constellation mythology was excerpted or partially rewritten from the articles written by Kathy Miles at http://starryskies.com/The_sky/constallations_html/ - as well as additional sources. Additional constellation mythology was sourced from http://www.astro-tom.com/getting_started/mythology.htm


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Appendix IV: Astrophotography Post Production For many of the raw or jpg images I used Adobe Photoshop CS4 and applied the following image workflow in this order. (1) I used the sharpen filter to bring out the individual differences between the stars and the background. (2) I then applied Topaz’ Denoise filter to remove as much excess noise grain and off colour areas of the image as possible without compromising the detail of the picture. (3) Thirdly I used increased contrast to further bring out the shape of the astronomical object against the comparatively dark background. (4) Fourthly I applied the Hue/Saturation filter to exaggerate the colour of the light coming from the object. Occasionally I would colorize it towards blue, to add a little artistic exaggeration. (5) Lastly, and depending on the quality of the image, I may have applied some discretionary image editing. This would be dodging and burning specific areas for additional contrast, and manually removing off colour areas or sharpening sections by hand that the filters I applied at step (1) and (2) did not completely remove.


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Appendix V Terminology: Photographic Terms: Exposure: In photography, exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium (photographic film or image sensor) during the process of taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in seconds, or fractions of seconds. Filter: Filters are transparent or translucent optical elements that alter the properties of light entering the camera lens for the purpose of modifying the image being recorded. Filters can affect contrast, sharpness, highlight flare, colour, and light intensity, either individually, or in various combinations. They can also create a variety of "special effects." ISO: ISO settings refer to the film speed of the camera, and determine how sensitive the image sensor is to light. Focal Length: The focal length of a lens is a measure of how strongly the lens focuses or defocuses light. A system with a shorter focal length has greater optical power than one with a long focal length; that is, it bends the rays more strongly, bringing them to a focus in a shorter distance. Astronomical Terms: Bayer/Flamsteed Stars: In 1603 the astronomer Johann Bayer used Greek letters to code the stars in his star map Uranometer. Generally the Greek letter (Alpha) was designated for the brightest star in the constellation. The second brightest star of the constellation was named (Beta) and so on throughout the Greek alphabet. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. Later the English astronomer John Flamsteed used numbers for his star catalogues. The stars are number from the west to east in each constellation without regard to the star's brightness. Flamsteed’s designation contained 2554 stars. The numbers were originally assigned in order of increasing right ascension within each constellation, but due to the effects of precession they are now slightly out of order in some places. Flamsteed designations are now commonly used when no Bayer designation exists; however, where a Bayer designation does exist for a star it is used almost exclusively and the Flamsteed designation is almost never used. Main Star: The apparently brightest star in the constellation, which is used to identify its shape.


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Messier Object: The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier for 1774 (published in 1771). The original motivation of the catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets. He therefore compiled a list of these objects, in collaboration with his assistant Pierre Méchain. Meteor Shower: A shower of meteors which occurs when Earth's orbit intersects the orbit of a comet, or a comet’s debris. This produces a number of shooting stars, over a specific period of time, the phenomena is caused by these objects burning up in the atmosphere. Seeing: Seeing is a reference to the ability to see details of an astronomical object through the atmosphere. It's often given on a 1 to 10 scale, 10 being perfect seeing, and 1 being very poor, with little detail visible. Ly (Light Year): A distance determined by how long it takes light to travel 1 year in a vacuum. 9.4605284 × 1015 metres Kly (Kilo Light year): A measurement that denotes 1000 light years, used for convenience in describe larger distances. Parsec (Pc): The parsec (parallax of one arcsecond;) is a unit of length, equal to just under 31 trillion kilometres (about 19 trillion miles), or about 3.26 light-years. Quadrant: An artificial astronomical division of the night sky, used for constellation navigation. Declination: A method of establishing a celestial object's location by using the angular distance north or south of the celestial equator. Similar to a latitude designation on the planet Earth. It is measured from -90o at the south celestial pole to +90o at the north celestial pole. Right Ascension: Celestial coordinate corresponding to longitude in the equatorial celestial coordinate system. Commonly measured in hours (h), minutes (m) and seconds (s) Visual Brightness: Brightness of a star or celestial object if seen from a standard distance of 10 parsecs (32.6 light years), and expressed in stellar magnitudes. Magnitude (m): A measure for the brightness of celestial objects. Defined so that a factor 10 in brightness corresponds to 2.5 magnitudes difference, where the brighter object has the smaller value of magnitudes.


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Arcminutes / Arcseconds: Also known as a minute of arc, or minute of angle (MOA). It is a unit of angular measurement, equal to one sixtieth (1/60) of one degree. Apparent Dimension: The angular diameter of an astronomical object (how large it appears to a viewer on earth)


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Appendix VI: Observation Locations Treforest, Pontypridd, Wales Latitude = 51 degrees, 35.3 minutes North, Longitude = 3 degrees, 19.5 minutes West Brecon, Wales Latitude = 51 degrees, 56.8 minutes North Longitude = 3 degrees, 23.4 minutes West El Bosque, Andalusia, Spain Latitude = 36 degrees, 45.5 minutes North Longitude = 5 degrees, 30.4 minutes West


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Appendix VII: Glamorgan University February Messier Marathon Log Start: 20.30 09/02/10 End: 03.30 10/02/10 Note: I wasn’t able to complete each observation for this, but other members of my group and of course, my lecturer did. In order of planned viewing… 1. M77 spiral galaxy in Cetus 2. M74 spiral galaxy in Pisces 3. M33 The Triangulum Galaxy (also Pinwheel) spiral galaxy in Triangulum 4. M31 The Andromeda Galaxy spiral galaxy in Andromeda 5. M32 Satellite galaxy of M31 elliptical galaxy in Andromeda 6. M110 Satellite galaxy of M31 elliptical galaxy in Andromeda 7. M52 open cluster in Cassiopeia 8. M103 open cluster in Casseopeia 9. M76 The Little Dumbell, Cork, or Butterfly planetary nebula in Perseus 10. M34 open cluster in Perseus 11. M45 Subaru, the Pleiades--the Seven Sisters open cluster in Taurus 12. M79 globular cluster in Lepus 13. M42 The Great Orion Nebula diffuse nebula in Orion 14. M43 part of the Orion Nebula (de Mairan's Nebula) diffuse nebula in Orion 15. M78 diffuse reflection nebula in Orion 16. M1 The Crab Nebula supernova remnant in Taurus 17. M35 open cluster in Gemini 18. M37 open cluster in Auriga 19. M36 open cluster in Auriga 20. M38 open cluster in Auriga 21. M41 open cluster in Canis Major 22. M93 open cluster in Puppis 23. M47 open cluster in Puppis 24. M46 open cluster in Puppis 25. M50 open cluster in Monoceros 26. M48 open cluster in Hydra 27. M44 Praesepe, the Beehive Cluster open cluster in Cancer 28. M67 open cluster in Cancer 29. M95 spiral galaxy in Leo 30. M96 spiral galaxy in Leo 31. M105 elliptical galaxy in Leo 32. M65 spiral galaxy in Leo 33. M66 spiral galaxy in Leo 34. M81 Bode's Galaxy (nebula) spiral galaxy in Ursa Major 35. M82 Cigar Galaxy irregular galaxy in Ursa Major


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36. M97 The Owl Nebula planetary nebula in Ursa Major 37. M108 spiral galaxy in Ursa Major 38. M109 spiral galaxy in Ursa Major 39. M40 Double Star WNC4 in Ursa Major 40. M106 spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici 41. M94 spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici 42. M63 Sunflower galaxy spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici 43. M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici 44. M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy spiral galaxy in Ursa Major (M102 may be a duplication of M101) 45. M53 globular cluster in Coma Berenices 46. M64 Blackeye galaxy spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices 47. M3 globular cluster in Canes Venatici 48. M98 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices 49. M99 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices 50. M100 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices 51. M85 lenticular (S0) Galaxy in Coma Berenices 52. M84 lenticular (S0) galaxy in Virgo 53. M86 lenticular (S0) galaxy in Virgo 54. M87 Virgo A elliptical galaxy in Virgo 55. M89 elliptical galaxy in Virgo 56. M90 spiral galaxy in Virgo 57. M88 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices 58. M91 spiral galaxy in Coma Berenices 59. M58 spiral galaxy in Virgo 60. M59 elliptical galaxy in Virgo 61. M60 elliptical galaxy in Virgo 62. M49 elliptical galaxy in Virgo 63. M61 spiral galaxy in Virgo 64. M104 The Sombrero Galaxy spiral galaxy in Virgo 65. M13 Great Hercules Globular Cluster globular cluster in Hercules 66. M92 globular cluster in Hercules 67. M57 The Ring Nebula planetary nebula in Lyra 68. M39 open cluster in Cygnus

Jack Oughton - Observational Journal 09-10

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