Cygnus, the Swan, is one of the most recognizable summer constellations. Its brightest stars form an asterism known as the Northern Cross, which is prominent in the evening sky in the summer months. Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation and one of the brightest northern stars, marks the Swan’s tail. The Summer Triangle and …
Its name means “the crab” in Latin. Cancer is the faintest of the 12 zodiac constellations. Its symbol is ♋. The constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in his Almagest in the 2nd century CE. In Greek mythology, the constellation Cancer is associated with the crab sent by Hera to defeat Heracles. …
Why not go out tonight and see how many of them you can find ! Hydra, (“Water Snake”) takes up 3.158% (1303 square degrees) of the night sky, making it the largest star constellation in the night sky. This southern hemisphere constellation can be seen from between +54° and -83° of latitude, although best seen …
Expert Answer: Cassiopeia looks like a distorted letter W or M. It appears in the northern sky during winter in the early part of the night. So, which constellation resembles the letter w? Another answer is Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century Greek astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of …
Messier 3 (M3) is a globular cluster located in the constellation Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. It is one of the brightest, largest globular clusters in the sky. M3 contains an estimated half a million stars. The brightest stars in the cluster are of magnitude 12.7 and the average brightness of the 25 brightest stars …
March is the best time of year to observe some of the well-known deep sky objects located in these constellations, including Praesepe (the Beehive Cluster, M44), the Eight-Burst Nebula, the Theta Carinae Cluster, the Wishing Well Cluster and the Carina Nebula. The month of March marks the beginning of a transition from the Winter Constellations …
The Moon is currently in the constellation of Leo. The current Right Ascension of The Moon is 11h 07m 10s and the Declination is +10° 41’ 39” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [ change ]). The current magnitude of The Moon is -8.24 (JPL). Com, All rights reserved. Moon in …
Constellations have imaginary boundaries formed by “connecting the dots” and all the stars within those boundaries are labeled with the name of that constellation. However, keep in mind that constellations are not real objects; they are just patterns as seen from our observation point on Earth. One of the next things we wondered was: how …
The importance of constellations. Constellations are useful because they help stargazers and astronomers recognise specific stars in the night sky. Today, constellations are less important than they were in Ancient History. Constellation, in astronomy, any of certain groupings of stars that were imagined—at least by those who named them—to form conspicuous configurations of objects or …
Astronomers officially recognize 88 constellations covering the entire sky in the northern and southern hemispheres. There are 88 official constellations. But astronomers haven’t made up new constellations for hundreds of years! When new stars are discovered, they are considered to be a part of whatever constellation they are closest to. How many constellations are there …