Centaurus Constellation Map

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Caption: The constellation Centaurus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Centaurus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hydra, Antlia, Vela, Carina, Musca, Crux, Circinus, Lupus and Libra. Centaurus is a large constellation most notable for its brightest star Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system and is the nearest star system to the Solar System. When viewed with the naked eye, the two brightest components of Alpha Centauri appear as one star. The combined light from these two stars makes Alpha Centauri appear as the third brightest star in the night sky. The third component of the Alpha Centauri system Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, is too faint to be viewed with the naked eye. Centaurus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible from the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from temperate northern regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere spring and late southern hemisphere autumn. The globular cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5319, lies in Centaurus. Bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, this cluster was initially given a designation as a star in the constellation before its true nature was realised. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. As is the globular cluster NGC 5286. The open cluster NGC 3766 is marked here with a yellow circle. NGC 5128, also known as Centaurus A, is the closest active galaxy to Earth. The supermassive black hole at the heart of this galaxy has launched two huge jets of matter which emit in many different wavelengths including x-ray and radio emission. NGC 5128 is marked with a red ellipse here, as is the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4945. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. The blue line in the top left is the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
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Glossary Terms: Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Globular Cluster , Right Ascension (RA) , Open Cluster , Alpha Centauri
Categories: Naked Eye Astronomy

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Capricornus Constellation Map

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Caption: The constellation Capricornus (commonly called Capricorn) including its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Capricornus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquarius, Aquila, Sagittarius, Microscopium and Piscis Austrinus. Capricornus lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Capricornus from mid January to mid February. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Capricornus. Capricornus lies just south of the celestial equator and is visible to all observers south of the Arctic Circle. Capricornus is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. In the south east (lower left on this diagram) of the constellation one can find the globular cluster M30 (shown here as a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it). The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope
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Glossary Terms: Apparent Magnitude , Capricornus , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Globular Cluster , Right Ascension (RA) , Zodiac , Aquarius , Sagittarius , Tropic of Capricorn
Categories: Naked Eye Astronomy

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Sagitta Constellation Map

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Caption: The constellation Sagitta with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Sagitta is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Vulpecula, Hercules, Aquila and Delphinus. Sagitta is a relatively small constellation. Sagitta is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial and temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Sagitta is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular cluster M71 lies in Sagitta. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
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Glossary Terms: Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Globular Cluster , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories: Naked Eye Astronomy

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Hercules Constellation Map

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Caption: The constellation Hercules with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Hercules is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Draco, Boötes, Corona Borealis, Ophiuchus, Aquila, Sagitta, Vulpecula and Lyra. Hercules is a large, northern constellation that covers a big range in declination. The whole constellation is visible at some point in the year in the whole northern hemisphere and in equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. Parts of the constellation can be viewed from temperate and almost all antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. Hercules is best viewed in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular clusters M13 and M92 lie in Hercules and are marked here with yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
Credit Link

Glossary Terms: Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Globular Cluster , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories: Naked Eye Astronomy

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Delphinus Constellation Map

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Caption: The constellation Delphinus with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Delphinus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Vulpecula, Sagitta, Aquila, Aquarius, Equuleus and Pegasus. Delphinus is a relatively small constellation with few bright stars. Delphinus lies just north of the celestial equator and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to all but the most antarctic regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evenings in the early northern hemisphere autumn and early southern hemisphere spring. The globular cluster NGC 6934 lies in Dephinus. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
Credit Link

Glossary Terms: Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Celestial Equator , Constellation , Declination , Globular Cluster , Right Ascension (RA) , Aquarius
Categories: Naked Eye Astronomy

License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

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