The Night Sky Unicorn

Monoceros is nothing that interesting to look at with the naked eye as it contains no really bright stars. Those stars are: Alpha Monocerotis which has a visual magnitude of 3.93, slightly brighter than Gamma Monocerotis at 3.98.

This is one for the telescope owning astronomer as it does have interesting objects to see.

Deep-sky objects

Monoceros contains many clusters and nebulae, most notable among them:

• M50, an open cluster
• The Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237, 2238, 2239, and 2246) is a diffuse nebula in Monoceros. It has an overall magnitude of 6.0 and is 4900 light-years from Earth. The Rosette Nebula, over 100 light-years in diameter, has an associated star cluster and possesses many Bok globules in its dark areas. It was independently discovered in the 1880s by Lewis Swift (early 1880s) and Edward Emerson Barnard (1883) as they hunted for comets.
• The Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264) is another open cluster in Monoceros. Named for its resemblance to a Christmas tree, it is fairly bright at an overall magnitude of 3.9; it is 2400 light-years from Earth. The variable star S Monocerotis represents the tree’s trunk, while the variable star V429 Monocerotis represents its top.
• The Cone Nebula (NGC 2264), associated with the Christmas Tree Cluster, is a very dim nebula that contains a dark conic structure. It appears clearly in photographs, but is very elusive in a telescope. The nebula contains several Herbig-Haro objects, which are small irregularly variable nebulae. They are associated with protostars.
• NGC 2254 is an open cluster with an overall magnitude of 9.7, 7100 light-years from Earth. It is a Shapley class f and Trumpler class I 2 p cluster, meaning that it appears to be a fairly rich cluster overall, though it has fewer than 50 stars. It appears distinct from the background star field and is very concentrated at its center; its stars range moderately in brightness.
• Hubble’s Variable Nebula (NGC 2261) is a nebula with an approximate magnitude of 10, 2500 light-years from Earth. Though it is named for Edwin Hubble, it was discovered in 1783 by William Herschel. Hubble’s Variable Nebula is illuminated by R Monocerotis, a young variable star embedded in the nebula; the star’s unique interaction with the material in the nebula makes it both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula. One hypothesis regarding their interaction is that the nebula and its illuminating star are a very early stage planetary system.

 

More Information:

Wiki

Constellation Guide

Universe Today

 

 

 

Caldwell 44 barred spiral galaxy

NGC 7479 (also known as Caldwell 44) is a barred spiral galaxy about 105 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1784. Supernovae SN 1990U and SN 2009jf occurred in NGC 7479. NGC 7479 is also recognized as a Seyfert galaxy and a Liner undergoing starburst activity not only on the nucleus and the outer arms, but also across the bar of the galaxy, where most of the stars were formed in the last 100 million years.

Polarization studies of this galaxy indicate that it recently underwent a minor merger and that it is unique in the radio continuum, with arms opening in a direction opposite to the optical arms. This feature, along with the asymmetrical arms of the galaxy and the intense star formation activity are attributed to a merger with a smaller galaxy.

NGC 7479

 

Source

Astronomy halloween with jupiter ghost

Astronomy halloween with jupiter ghost

William Herschel discovered the nebula on February 7, 1785, and cataloged it as H IV.27. John Herschel observed it from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, in the 1830s, and numbered it as h 3248, and included it in the 1864 General Catalogue as GC 2102; this became NGC 3242 in J. L. E. Dreyer’s New General Catalogue of 1888.

This planetary nebula is most frequently called the Ghost of Jupiter

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Astronomy halloween with jupiter ghost

Astronomy halloween with jupiter ghost

William Herschel discovered the nebula on February 7, 1785, and cataloged it as H IV.27. John Herschel observed it from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, in the 1830s, and numbered it as h 3248, and included it in the 1864 General Catalogue as GC 2102; this became NGC 3242 in J. L. E. Dreyer’s New General Catalogue of 1888.

This planetary nebula is most frequently called the Ghost of Jupiter

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Astronomy halloween with jupiter ghost

 

William Herschel discovered the nebula on February 7, 1785, and cataloged it as H IV.27. John Herschel observed it from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, in the 1830s, and numbered it as h 3248, and included it in the 1864 General Catalogue as GC 2102; this became NGC 3242 in J. L. E. Dreyer’s New General Catalogue of 1888.

This planetary nebula is most frequently called the Ghost of Jupiter, or Jupiter’s Ghost due to its similar size to the planet, but it is also sometimes referred to as the Eye Nebula.

The nebula measures around two light years long from end to end, and contains a central white dwarf with an apparent magnitude of eleven. The inner layers of the nebula
were formed some 1,500 years ago.

The two ends of the nebula are marked by FLIERs, lobes of fasting moving gas often tinted red in false-color pictures. NGC 3242 can easily be observed with amateur telescopes, and appears bluish-green to most observers. Larger telescopes can distinguish the outer halo as well.

 

 

Drop it like it’s hot

Drop it like it’s hot

NGC 2440

Ngc 2440 is a planetary nebula, one of many in our galaxy. Its central star, HD62166, is possibly the hottest known white dwarf. The nebula is situated in the Puppis constellation.

It was discovered by William Herschelon March 4, 1790. He described it as “a beautiful planetary nebula of a considerable degree of brightness, not very well defined.” The nebula is located about 1.23…

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Drop it like it’s hot

Drop it like it’s hot

NGC 2440

Ngc 2440 is a planetary nebula, one of many in our galaxy. Its central star, HD62166, is possibly the hottest known white dwarf. The nebula is situated in the Puppis constellation.

It was discovered by William Herschelon March 4, 1790. He described it as “a beautiful planetary nebula of a considerable degree of brightness, not very well defined.” The nebula is located about 1.23…

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Drop it like it’s hot

NGC 2440

Ngc 2440 is a planetary nebula, one of many in our galaxy. Its central star, HD62166, is possibly the hottest known white dwarf. The nebula is situated in the Puppis constellation.

It was discovered by William Herschel on March 4, 1790. He described it as “a beautiful planetary nebula of a considerable degree of brightness, not very well defined.” The nebula is located about 1.23 kiloparsecs (3.79×1019 m) or about 4,000 light years from the Sun.

HD 62166 White Dwarf

HD 62166 has an exceptionally high surface temperature of about 200,000 kelvins and a luminosity 1,100 times that of the Sun. This dense star, with an estimated 0.6 solar mass
and 0.028 solar radius, has an apparent magnitude of 17.5.

Source

 

 

 

The Wolf and the First Trojan Asteroid

The Wolf and the First Trojan Asteroid

Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (June 21, 1863 – October 3, 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was Chairman of Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and Director of the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl observatory from 1902 to 1932.

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The Wolf and the First Trojan Asteroid

The Wolf and the First Trojan Asteroid

Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (June 21, 1863 – October 3, 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was Chairman of Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and Director of the Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl observatory from 1902 to 1932.

(more…)

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