Aquarius Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Aquarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aquarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Pegasus, Equuleus, Aquila, Capricornus, Piscis Austrinus, Sculptor, Cetus and Pisces. Aquarius 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 Aquarius from mid February to mid March. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Aquarius. Aquarius spans the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth. In the most arctic or antarctic regions of the world, some parts of the constellation may not be visible. Aquarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The yellow circles with plus symbols superimposed on them mark the globular clusters M2 and M72. The green circles superimposed on plus symbols mark the planetary nebulae NGC 7293 (the Helix Nebula) and NGC 7002 (the Saturn Nebula). M73 (marked with an x symbol) is a coincident grouping of stars previously erroneously classified as an open cluster. 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 , Capricornus , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Ecliptic , Globular Cluster , Pisces , Planetary Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Zodiac , Aquarius , 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 119.18 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 215.13 kB)

Carina Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Carina along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Carina is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Vela, Puppis, Pictor, Volans, Chamaeleon, Musca and Centaurus. Carina is notable for Canopus, the second brightest star in the night sky and for the famous variable star Eta Carinae. This latter object is a binary star system of two young very massive stars. Its brightness has varied greatly over the past few centuries. At one point it outshone Canopus before dimming by a factor of four thousand to become invisible to the naked eye. In recent years it has brightened enough to again be visible without the aid of a telescope. Carina is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to the entire southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from northern temperate regions. The open clusters NGC 2516, NGC 3532 and IC 2602 lie in Carina. These are marked here by yellow circles. The Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372, lies in the constellation. This large nebula contains many massive young stars, including Eta Carinae. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination are marked on the y-axis. 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. Carina was previously part of the larger Argo Navis constellation along with Vela and Puppis. As the letter designations for stars were created before this division took place, Greek letter designations are now divided between the three constellations with Carina having stars designated alpha and beta but no gamma or delta. 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 , Binary Star , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Open Cluster , Variable Star
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 144.72 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 214.81 kB)

Ursa Major Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Ursa Major along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Ursa Major is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Draco, Camelopardalis, Lynx, Leo Minor, Leo, Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici and Boötes. Ursa Major is famous for the prominent asterism often known in English as the Big Dipper or the Plough. This prominent northern asterism has a wide variety of names from cultures across the world. While most constellations and asterisms are made up of unrelated stars that randomly appear close together on the sky, five of the stars in the Big Dipper are part of the Ursa Major Moving Group, a group of stars moving through space together that likely formed in the same location 300 million years ago. The two stars on the right-hand end of the Big Dipper on this diagram form a pair of pointer stars that can be used to locate Polaris, the northern pole star which lies in the constellation of Ursa Minor. Ursa Major is a northern constellation and is visible from northern and equatorial regions. Parts of the constellation are visible from all but the most antarctic parts of the southern hemisphere but not all temperate regions of the southern hemisphere can see all of the Big Dipper. Conversely the Big Dipper and much of the rest of the constellation are circumpolar in arctic and many temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Ursa Major is most visible in the evening in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. Two prominent galaxies appear in the northern part of this constellation, the spiral galaxy M81 and M82, a possible spiral galaxy whose structure is difficult to observe from the Earth as it appears edge-on. Both are shown here as red ellipses. The planetary nebula M97 (the Owl Nebula) lies in the middle of the constellation and is marked by a green circle superimposed on a plus symbol. 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 IAU/Sky & Telescope
Credit Link

Glossary Terms: Apparent Magnitude , Big Dipper , Celestial Coordinates , Circumpolar Stars , Constellation , Declination , Leo , Planetary Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Spiral Galaxy , Asterism
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 143.67 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 215.83 kB)

Serpens Cauda 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 Cauda, representing the tail of the serpent. This part of Serpens is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Scutum and Aquila. Serpens Cauda 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 all but the most arctic and antarctic regions. Serpens Cauda is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The Eagle Nebula and its associated star cluster are marked here as M16 with a yellow circle. This region was the location of the famous “pillars of creation” image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. 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 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: Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Celestial Equator , Constellation , Declination , Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Open Cluster , Sagittarius
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 103.44 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 218.49 kB)

Dorado Constellation Map

image

Caption: The constellation Dorado with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Dorado is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Pictor, Caelum, Horologium, Reticulum, Hydrus, Mensa and Volans. Dorado is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. Dorado is circumpolar for temperate and antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. This constellation is best viewed in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, lies in Dorado and the neighboring constellation Mensa. The outline of the Large Magellanic Cloud is marked here as a roughly circular loop in green. The open cluster NGC 2070 lies at the heart of the Tarantula Nebula. This is marked here with a green square. 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 , Circumpolar Stars , Constellation , Declination , Nebula , Right Ascension (RA) , Open Cluster , Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
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 94.49 kB)
PDF File (PDF file 155.00 kB)