Triangulum Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Triangulum with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Triangulum is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Andromeda, Pisces, Aries and Perseus. Triangulum 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 from equatorial and most temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Triangulum is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The Triangulum Galaxy M33 lies in the constellation. This spiral galaxy is the third largest member of the local group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy and Milky Way. It is marked here with a red ellipse. 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 at the bottom left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, 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: Andromeda , Andromeda Galaxy , Apparent Magnitude , Aries , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Milky Way , Pisces , Right Ascension (RA) , Spiral Galaxy
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 81.19 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 150.67 kB)

Vulpecula Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Vulpecula with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Vulpecula is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cygnus, Lyra, Hercules, Sagitta, Delphinus and Pegasus. Vulpecula 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 in equatorial and temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Vulpecula is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere early autumn and southern hemisphere early spring. The planetary nebula M27, commonly known as the Dumbbell Nebula lies in Vulpecula and is marked here with a green cross superimposed on a plus sign. The open cluster NGC 6885 also lies in Vulpecula and is marked here with a yellow circle. 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 , Planetary Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Open Cluster
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 100.83 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 175.44 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)

Leo Constellation Map

image

Caption: The zodiac constellation Leo and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Leo Minor, Cancer, Sextans, Hydra, Crater, Virgo and Ursa Major. The brightest star in Leo, Regulus, lies almost exactly on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line): the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun spends the period from mid August to mid September in Leo. The other planets in the Solar System can often be found in Leo. Leo 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. Leo is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. Several objects can be seen in Leo, including M65 and M66 – two galaxies in the Leo Triplet, a trio of galaxies including NGC 3628, not listed here. In addition, M96, a spiral galaxy, can be seen as a fuzzy object using a small telescope, and Messier 105, an elliptical galaxy. Each of these objects are labelled on the map as red ellipses. 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 , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Elliptical Galaxy , Galaxy , Leo , Right Ascension (RA) , Spiral Galaxy , Zodiac , Cancer , 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 114.25 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 186.50 kB)

Tucana Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Tucana with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Tucana is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Grus, Indus, Octans, Hydrus, Eridanus and Phoenix. Tucana 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 to some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining northern equatorial regions. Tucana is best viewed in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way lies in Tucana with a small part spilling over into the neighbouring constellation of Hydrus. The SMC is marked here with a green loop in the south east of Tucana. The globular clusters NGC 104, also known as 47 Tucanae or 47 Tuc, and NGC 362 lie in Tucana and are marked here with yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them. While these two clusters appear close to the SMC on the sky, they are both significantly closer than that satellite galaxy. 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) , Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)
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 113.87 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 161.52 kB)