a serious star cluster size

Sight for sore eyes – star cluster sized.

“…if our Sun were near the center of NGC 362, the night sky would glow like a jewel box of bright stars. Hundreds of stars would glow brighter than Sirius, and in many different colors…”

Source

 

Sirius Massive Cluster

Yes, it’s seriously large this cluster.

 

In 1909, Ejnar Hertzsprung was the first to suggest that Sirius was a member of the Ursa Major Moving Group, based on his observations of the system’s movements across the sky. The Ursa Major Group is a set of 220 stars that share a common motion through space and were once formed as members of an open cluster, which has since become gravitationally unbound.

Analyses in 2003 and 2005 found Sirius’s membership in the group to be questionable: the Ursa Major Group has an estimated age of 500±100 million years, whereas Sirius, with metallicity similar to the Sun’s, has an age that is only half this, making it too young to belong to the group.

Sirius may instead be a member of the proposed Sirius Supercluster, along with other scattered stars such as Beta Aurigae, Alpha Coronae Borealis, Beta Crateris, Beta Eridani and Beta Serpentis. This is one of three large clusters located within 500 light-years (150 pc) of the Sun. The other two are the Hyades and the Pleiades, and each of these clusters consists of hundreds of stars.

 

By ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0, Link

 

 

 

 

Lacerta the Little Cassiopeia

Lizard Constellation

Lacerta is one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Its name is Latin for lizard. A small, faint constellation, it was defined in 1687 by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Its brightest stars form a “W” shape similar to that of Cassiopeia, and it is thus sometimes referred to as ‘Little Cassiopeia’. It is located between Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda on the northern celestial sphere. The northern part lies on the Milky Way.

Alpha Lacertae is a blue-white hued main-sequence star of magnitude 3.8, 102 light-years from Earth. It has a spectral type of A1 V and is an optical double star. Beta Lacertae is far dimmer, a yellow giant of magnitude 4.4, 170 light-years from Earth.

Cygnus Featuring Deneb

Deneb lies at one vertex of a widely spaced asterism called the Summer Triangle, the other two members of which are the zero-magnitude stars Vega in the constellation. Lyra and Altair in Aquila. This formation is the approximate shape of a right triangle, with Deneb located at one of the acute angles.

The Summer Triangle is recognizable in the northern skies for there are few other bright stars in its vicinity. Deneb is also easily spotted as the tip of the Northern Cross asterism made up of the brightest stars in Cygnus, the others being Beta (Albireo), Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon Cygni. It never dips below the horizon at or above 45° north latitude, just grazing the northern horizon at its lowest point at such locations as Minneapolis Montréal and Turin.

In the northern hemisphere Deneb is high in the sky during summer evenings. In the southern hemisphere, Deneb is not at all visible south of 45° south parallel, so it just barely rises above the horizon in Tasmania and southern New Zealand during the southern winter (which corresponds to the northern summer).

 

Deneb the blue-white super giant

 

Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation of Cygnus. It is one of the vertices of the asterism known as the Summer Triangle and forms the ‘head’ of the Northern Cross.

It is the 19th brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of 1.25. A blue-white supergiant, Deneb is also one of the most luminous stars.

However, its exact distance (and hence luminosity) has been difficult to calculate; it is estimated to be somewhere between 55,000 and 196,000 times as luminous as the Sun.

Sagitta has the arrow

Small Northern Hemisphere Constellation

Finding the stars with the naked eye – astronomy starts by looking up at the sky without any optical prejudice.

Sagitta is a dim but distinctive constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for “arrow”, and it should not be confused with the larger constellation Sagittarius, the archer. Although Sagitta is an ancient constellation, it has no star brighter than 3rd magnitude and has the third-smallest area of all constellations (only Equuleus and Crux are smaller). It was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Located to the north of the equator, Sagitta can be seen from every location on Earth except within the Antarctic circle.

Source

Still looking for constellations in the summer time night sky. This is about Sagitta not Sagittarius.

Sagitta is here – Somewhere

Visit the Constellation Guide to see more about constellations and the night sky.

 

 

If You Say Betelgeuse Thrice

Will It Go Supernova

Super Negative Betelgeuse Massive Star

 

Beetle Star In The Astronomy News

Amateur Astronomer’s Always Have Something To Say About Orion

With my buddy Orion

 

 

 

Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars currently known — with a radius around 1400 times larger than the Sun’s in the millimeter continuum. About 600 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), the red supergiant burns brightly, causing it to have only a short life expectancy.

The star is just about eight million years old, but is already on the verge of becoming a supernova.

 

When that happens, the resulting explosion will be visible from Earth, even in broad daylight.

 

The Betlegeuse Orion Files

Back Soon In The Sky Near You 

Orion Hunter Mythology Story 

 

Saturday Star Planet Moon

Jupiter ‘chasing’ the moon early Sunday morning.

Fantastic naked eye view of Spica, Jupiter and the Moon. I don’t do astro-photography, this is a screenshot from stellarium.

Jupiter was close to the Moon, it was all happening in Virgo this evening.

The stellarium view of night sky now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

April spring’s to life on the second weekend. Saturday saw some bats back, so a good night of natural earth viewing for early Spring tonight and this morning. The dawn chorus was also on full volume.

 

 

 

seeing libra and corvus with naked eye

Great Constellation Viewing – It Does Not Happen Very Often

Good views of both constellations this evening which is really good, considering the bad light pollution here. Both near to the horizon.

Having Jupiter and Spica shining bright is always a great pointer too!

Usually too faint for me to see – Libra and Corvus constellations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Constellations of Libra and Corvus …and Scorpius is rising.

Scorpius – Sting In The Tail

The tail is on the horizon – it usually is.

Back in the night sky tele soon

Stargazing Live – from Australia

The BBC astronomy show, Stargazing Live, is back for three nights at the end of March. Happy days – or should that be nights!

Stargazing LIVE is back, and once again the nation will join Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain to look at the skies, taking in the wonders of the Universe.

Professor Brian Cox tell’s you when..

SOON! Book your place in front of the 📺 at 8pm on these dates! @ProfBrianCox @DaraOBriain @BBCTwo ⭐️ 🔭 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/86jdyaEdjR

— BBC Stargazing Live (@BBCStargazing) March 16, 2017

#NakedEyeDarkSky

 

 

saucepan of star feast

Naked Eye Dark Sky Ursa Major

Cooking Top Stars of The Saucepan

The most reliable of the Northern Hemisphere to see – the Plough is likely the first constellation you recognize when you first ‘Look up’.