Documents & Resources - Search Results
Search results
Libra Constellation Map
image
Caption: The constellation Libra along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Libra is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Serpens Caput, Virgo, Hydra, Centaurus, Lupus, Scorpius and Ophiuchus. Libra 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 Libra from late October to late November. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Libra.
Libra lies just south of the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in all but the most arctic regions. Libra is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere late spring/early summer and southern hemisphere late autumn/early winter.
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
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Libra , Right Ascension (RA) , Scorpius , Zodiac , Virgo
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
File
( image
101.25 kB)
PDF File
(PDF file
181.72 kB)
Serpens Caput Constellation Map
image
Caption: A map of part of the constellation Serpens. Serpens is unique amongst IAU constellations in that it is divided into two non-contiguous parts. The part of Serpens shown here is known as Serpens Caput, representing the head of the serpent. This part of Serpens is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Corona Borealis, Boötes, Virgo, Libra, Ophiuchus and Hercules.
Serpens Caput spans the celestial equator thus parts of the constellation are visible at some point in the year across the Earth. The whole constellation is visible to temperate and equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere and all of the northern hemisphere except a small region around the north pole. Serpens Caput is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter.
The globular cluster M5 lies in Serpens Caput. 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 , Libra , Right Ascension (RA) , Virgo
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
File
( image
97.60 kB)
PDF File
(PDF file
161.10 kB)
Hydra Constellation Map
image
Caption: The constellation Hydra with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Hydra is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Leo, Cancer, Canis Minor, Monoceros, Puppis, Pyxis, Antlia, Centaurus, Lupus, Libra, Virgo, Corvus, Crater and Sextans.
Hydra is a large constellation that covers over a quarter of the celestial sphere in right ascension. It also spans the celestial equator and thus part of the constellation is visible from everywhere on the Earth at some point in the year. All parts of the constellation are visible at some point for all but the most antarctic parts of the southern hemisphere and to equatorial and most temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. However the wide span of the constellation means that all of it may not be visible at the same time in many of these regions. Hydra is best viewed in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn.
The famous spiral galaxy M83, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, lies in Hydra. It is marked here with a red ellipse. The planetary nebula NGC 3242 can also be found in Hydra. It is marked here with a green circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The open cluster M48 is marked here with a yellow circle while the globular cluster M68 is marked 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. The blue line on the diagram marks 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
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Globular Cluster , Libra , Planetary Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Spiral Galaxy , Cancer , Open Cluster , Virgo
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
File
( image
114.60 kB)
PDF File
(PDF file
253.49 kB)
Virgo Constellation Map
image
Caption: The zodiac constellation Virgo and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Coma Berenices, Leo, Crater, Corvus, Libra, and Bootes. The brightest star in Virgo, Spica, lies just below the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line) in the middle of the map. One way of locating this star in the night sky is to follow the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus in Bootes and go along a line straight down to Spica (“arc to Arcturus and spike to Spica”). This star lies just below the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Virgo from mid September to late October. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Virgo.
Virgo spans the celestial equator and is thus part of it is visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth with some of the constellation obscured for the most arctic and antarctic regions of the world. Virgo is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn.
The constellation Virgo appears as a person lying with their back roughly against the ecliptic, arms outstretched, and feet pointed east. Several deep-sky objects are visible in Virgo, including NGC4697, M49, M87, M86, M84, and M60, all of which are labelled as red ellipses on the map. These are all spiral and elliptical galaxies located several millions of lightyears from Earth. Most notably, M87 is host to the supermassive black hole (Pōwehi) that was imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019. All of these galaxies are members of the Virgo Cluster, the nearest cluster of galaxies to the Milky Way.
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 labelled 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
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Big Dipper , Celestial Coordinates , Cluster of Galaxies , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Elliptical Galaxy , Leo , Libra , Right Ascension (RA) , Spiral Galaxy , Supermassive Black Hole , Zodiac , Virgo
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
File
( image
94.70 kB)
PDF File
(PDF file
188.33 kB)
Lupus Constellation Map
image
Caption: The constellation Lupus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Lupus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Libra, Hydra, Centaurus, Circinus, Norma and Scorpius.
Lupus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible in equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to remaining temperate regions. Lupus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter.
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 of the diagram marks 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
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Libra , Right Ascension (RA) , Scorpius
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
File
( image
126.11 kB)
PDF File
(PDF file
197.33 kB)
