The Star Atlas Companion What You Need to Know about the Constellations

Transcription

1 The Star Atlas Companion What You Need to Know about the Constellations

2 Philip M. Bagnall The Star Atlas Companion What You Need to Know about the Constellations fl Springer Published in association with Praxis Publishing Chlchester, UK

3 Philip M. Bagnall Wallsend UK Front cover: Light echoes from the variable star V838 in the constellation of Monoceros as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image courtesy of NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STSd). Back cover: The Pleiades open cluster in Taurus. Image courtesy of Giovanni Benintende/Shutterstock.com SPRINGER-PRAXIS BOOKS IN POPULAR ASTRONOMY SUBJECT ADVISORY EDITOR: John Mason, M.B.E., B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. ISBN I SBN (ebook) DOI / Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012 This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher's location, in its cuitent version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Cover design: Jim Wilkie Project copy editor: Dr John Mason Typesetting: Book.Ens, Royston, Herts., UK Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+ Business Media (

4 Contents About this book Acknowledgments Introduction Making sense of the data Star names and designations Natural yardsticks Distance measurement Stellar diameter, D 0 Stellar mass, M 0 Stellar luminosity, L 0 Magnitude, Mv and mv Variable stars Star color Spectral class Temperature Radial velocity, and the motion of stars through the Galaxy Rotational velocity Rotational period Surface features Open and globular clusters Exoplanets Constellation details Illustrations The Constellations Andromeda Antlia A pus Aquarius Aquila Ara Aries Auriga Bootes Caelum Camelopardalis Cancer ix x

5 vi The Star Atlas Companion Canes Venatici 95 Canis Major 99 Canis Minor 109 Capricorn us 113 Carina 117 Cassiopeia 127 Centaurus 137 Cepheus 144 Cetus 151 Chamaeleon 157 Circinus 160 Columba 163 Coma Berenices 166 Corona Australis 170 Corona Borealis 173 Corvus 178 Crater 181 Crux 183 Cygnus 188 Delphinus 199 Dorado 202 Draco 207 Equuleus 213 Eridanus 215 Fornax 222 Gemini 224 Crus 232 Hercules 235 Horologium 242 Hydra 245 Hydrus 251 Indus 254 Lacerta 257 Leo 259 Leo Minor 265 Lepus 268 Libra 272 Lupus 277 Lynx 281 Lyra 284 Mensa 290 Microscopium 293 Monoceros 296 Musca 303 Norma 308

6 Contents vii Octans 312 Ophiuchus 316 Orion 324 Pavo 338 Pegasus 342 Perseus 349 Phoenix 359 Pictor 363 Pisces 367 Piscis Australis 373 Pup pis 376 Pyx is 382 Reticulum 384 Sagitta 387 Sagittarius 390 Scorpius 399 Sculptor 409 Scutum 411 Serpens 414 Sextans 419 Taurus 421 Telescopium 434 Triangulum 436 Triangulum Australe 439 Tucana 442 Ursa Major 445 Ursa Minor 454 Vela 459 Virgo 464 Volans 469 Vulpecula 471 Index 473

7 To my wife, Pauline

8 About this book This book is about the properties of the stars that make up the 88 constellations: how far away they are, their diameters, their color, mass, luminosity, magnitude and shape, whether they are part of a binary or multiple star system, whether they have planets or are surrounded by a debris disk. The illustrations take the reader from the pinpoints of light seen through a telescope's eyepiece to an image of what the individual stars would look like as if they were only a few astronomical units away. The text supplements the images by providing additional information to put each star in context.

9 Acknowledgments I am indebted to Clive Horwood at Praxis Publishing for his faith in this project and to Dr John Mason who suggested changes that improved the original proposal immensely. In gathering the information for this book I have drawn on a number of websites and I would particularly like to acknowledge the following: The VizieR catalogue access tool and the SIMBAD database operated by CDS, Strasbourg, France The WEBDA database of open star clusters at the University of Vienna The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia at The Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) website Jim Kaler's Stars website at the University of Illinois which often helped to clarify a confusing jumble of data A.A.Tokovinin's Multiple Star Catalogue at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System. In addition I have often referred to Richard Dibon-Smith's StarList 2000 (Wiley), Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport and George Lovi's Uranometria (Willmann Bell Inc.) and, of course, Ian Ridpath's Norton's Star Atlas (Dutton). These websites and books provided the raw data I needed to be able to write up the descriptions and construct the images for The Star Atlas Companion and it is unlikely that this book could have been written without them. I hope that I have interpreted the information correctly but any errors are all mine. Philip M. Bagnall October 2011