Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye!
31
Constellations are large, imaginary patterns of stars believed by ancient
civilizations to be the celestial equivalent of objects, animals, people, or
gods. These patterns are too large to be seen through a telescope. To
learn the constellations, start with an easy grouping of stars, such as the
Big Dipper in Ursa Major. Then, use a star chart to explore across the sky.
Galaxies are large assemblies of stars, nebulae, and star clusters that are
bound by gravity. The most common shape is spiral (such as our own
Milky Way), but galaxies can also be elliptical, or even irregular blobs. The
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the closest spiral-type galaxy to our own. This
galaxy appears fuzzy and cigar-shaped. It is 2.2 million light years away in
the constellation Andromeda, located between the large “W” of Cassiopeia
and the great square of Pegasus.
A “road map” to the stars
The night sky is full of wonders and miracles. Feel free to discover the
universe; You just need to follow a few helping lines on the “road map” to
the stars!
First, find the Big Dipper, which is part of the Ursa Major constellation. It
can be found the whole year through quite easily in Europe and Northern
America.
If you draw a line on the sky which prolongs Big Dipper’s handle back-
wards, you’ll finally reach the constellation of Orion. It is remarkable by the
“Orion Belt”: three stars in a line. The great Orion Nebula is located south
of the Orion Belt It is one of the most popular objects under amateur
astronomers.
Starting at the two “pointer stars” - both stars of the back part of Big
Dipper - draw a five times prolonged line north to the pole star. If you go
ahead, you’ll finally reach the big star square that is shared by Pegasus
and Andromeda.
The summer triangle is a remarkable region left of Big Dipper’s handle. It
consists of the three bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair.
If you prolong the shaft, you get to the constellation of Scorpio. It is
bended like a Scorpion’s tail; it also looks like the letter “J”.
American amateurs performed the words “Arc to Arcturus and spike to
Spica”. They relate to stellar region that lies in the prolonge area of Big
Dipper’s handle. Follow the arc to Arcturus, the northern hemisphere’s
brightest star and “spike” downwards to Spica, the 16th-brightest Star of
the sky.
Fig. 46: The Pleiades (M45) is one
of the most beautiful open
clusters.
Difficult to imagine stellar distances?
Learn more on p. 34
APPENDIX D: BASIC ASTRONOMY
