Kitt Peak Nightly Observing Program Slendors of the Universe on YOUR Night! Many ictures are links to larger versions. Click here for the Best images of the OTOP Gallery and more information. Engagement Ring The Engagement Ring: Through binoculars, the North Star (Polaris) seems to be the brightest on a small ring of stars. Not a constellation or cluster, this asterism looks like a diamond engagement ring on which Polaris shines brightly as the diamond. Big Dier The Big Dier (also known as the Plough) is an asterism consisting of the seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major. Four define a "bowl" or "body" and three define a "handle" or "head". It is recognized as a distinct grouing in many cultures. The North Star (Polaris), the current northern ole star and the ti of the handle of the Little Dier, can be located by extending an imaginary line from Big Dier star Merak (β) through Dubhe (α). This makes it useful in celestial navigation.
Little Dier Constellation Ursa Minor is colloquially known in the US as the Little Dier, because its seven brightest stars seem to form the shae of a dier (ladle or scoo). The star at the end of the dier handle is Polaris, the North Star. Polaris can also be found by following a line through two stars in Ursa Major Alha and Beta Ursae Majoris that form the end of the 'bowl' of the Big Dier, for 30 degrees (three uright fists at arms' length) across the night sky. Canis Major Canis Major, the big dog, boasts the brightest star in the night sky Sirius! Also known as The Dog Star because of the constellation it resides in, Sirius is a massive, hot, blue star and it s right next door! One of the reasons Sirius is so bright is that it is so close to us only 8.6 light years away. It s name comes from Greek, and means glowing or scorcher.
Cassioeia Cassioeia is widely recognized by its characteristic W shae, though it may look like an M, a 3, or a Σ deending on its orientation in the sky, and your osition on Earth. However it s oriented, once you ve come to know its distinctive zig zag attern, you ll sot it with ease. The lane of the Milky Way runs right through Cassioeia, so it s full of dee sky objects in articular, a lot of oen star clusters. Cassioeia is named for the queen form Greek mythology who angered the sea god Poseidon when she boasted that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than his sea nymhs. Corvus Corvus is Latin for crow, or raven. This constellation is associated with nearby constellations Hydra the water snake, and Crater the cu. There are no articularly bright stars in Corvus. The four main stars make a olygon shae. Leo
Leo is a fairly well known constellation, because the lane of the Solar System runs through it. Such constellations are called Zodiac Constellations. Leo has some notable, bright stars, in it to boot. The brightest of these, Regulus is at the bottom of a series of stars arrayed in the form of a sickle, or a backwards question mark. This constellation does look more or less like the side rofile of a lion lying on the ground, with its head u. Orion Orion is a famous constellation, well known esecially for the Belt of Orion three stars in a line at what seems to be the waste of a human figure. The bright stars Rigel and Betelgeuse are two of the brightest stars in the sky. Between the Belt and Rigel you can see the Orion Nebula the closest star forming region to our Solar System. A beautiful object in a telescoe or binoculars, you can also just make out the nebula naked eye. Perseus
Hero of Greek mythology, Perseus is the character who slayed Medusa and rescued the Princess Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. This is why you will find the constellations Andromeda, Cetus, and Andromeda s arents Cassioeia and Ceheus, nearby each other in the sky. Perseus s brightest star is called Mirfak (Arabic for elbow). The lane of the Milky Way runs through Perseus, so there are many dee sky objects to be found. Taurus You can look to Taurus, the bull, to find the two closest oen star clusters to our Solar System. The Pleiades (or, Seven Sisters) is the second closest at 444 light years away. It s an obvious cluster to even the naked eye. The Pleiades is named for the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione of Greek Mythology. To the left of the leiades, the Hyades (siblings to the Pleiades in mythology) is the closest oen star cluster to Earth at 153 light years away. The Hyades has a characteristic V shae to hel identify it. Ursa Major
Ursa Major, or, the Big Bear, is one of the best known and most well recognized constellations, but you might know it by a different name. Contained within the boundaries of the constellation Ursa Major is the Big Dier, which is not a true constellation, but an asterism. The Big Dier is useful for finding both the North Star and the bright star Arcturus. Follow the curve of the handle to arc to Arcturus and use to two stars in the dier oosite the handle to oint to the North Star. Ursa Minor Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is much fainter than it s comanion the Big Bear, Ursa Major. Within Ursa Minor is the well known asterism The Little Dier. The end of the tail of the bear, or the end of the handle of the dier, is a star called Polaris the Pole Star, or the North Star. This secial star haens to sit at the oint where the Earth s axis of rotation intersects the sky Virgo
Virgo s brightest star Sica is found by following the curve of the handle of the Big Dier ( arc to Arcturus, in Boötes, then sike to Sica ).The rest of the constellation isn t articularly bright, but Virgo lies along the eclitic the lane of the Solar System, so bright lanets ass through occasionally. Auriga Auriga is located north of the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin word for "charioteer", associating it with various mythological charioteers, including Erichthonius and Myrtilus. Auriga is most rominent in the northern Hemishere winter sky, along with the five other constellations that have stars in the Winter Hexagon asterism. Auriga is half the size of the largest constellation, Hydra. Its brightest star, Caella, is an unusual multile star system among the brightest stars in the night sky. Because of its osition near the winter Milky Way, Auriga has many bright oen clusters within its borders, including M36, M37, and M38. In addition, it has one rominent nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae. M42 The Orion Nebula
M42, the Orion Nebula is a region of star formation about 1,300 light years away the closest to our Solar System. It is roughly 30 light years across, and contains enough material to make 2,000 stars the size of our sun. Meteors Quick streaks of light in the sky called meteors, shooting stars, or falling stars are not stars at all: they are small bits of rock or iron that heat u, glow, and vaorize uon entering the Earth's atmoshere. When the Earth encounters a clum of many of these articles, we see a meteor shower lasting hours or days. Milky Way
That clumy band of light is evidence that we live in a disk shaed galaxy. Its ale glow is light from about 200 billion suns! Iridium Flare From the late 1990's to the early 2000's Motorola launched a total of 95 communication satellites into orbit around Earth. Today, they are most noted not for their intended urose, but instead for their ability to reflect sunlight. Shiny antennae briefly (for 10 20 seconds) reflect sunlight to make these objects almost as bright as the moon. M35
M35 is an oen star cluster of over 300 stars. It lies at a distance of 2,800 light years from Earth, near the foot of Castor, one of the Gemini twins. Tiny nearby cluster NGC 2158 is in the same field of view. M41 M41 is an oen star cluster located just below the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius. It contains about 150 stars sread out over 25 light years, and is 2,300 lightyears away. M44 The Beehive
M44, the "Beehive Cluster," and also known as "Praesee," is a large, bright, diffuse oen star cluster containing about 400 stars. It lies fairly close, at a distance of under 600 light years. M45 The Pleiades File Edit View Formats Format M45, the "Pleiades," is a bright, nearby star cluster, in the last stages of star formation. About seven stars stand out as the brightest in the cluster, and is why the cluster is also known as the "Seven Sisters," alluding to the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters from Greek mythology. In Jaanese, the cluster is known as "スバ ル," "Subaru," and is featured as the logo of the automobile manufacturer of the same name. The Pleiades lies about 440 light years away and is a very young (for an oen star cluster) 100 million years old. Hyades File Edit View Formats Format
The Hyades is the nearest oen star cluster to the Solar System at about 150 lightyears away and thus, one of the best studied of all star clusters. It consists of hundreds of stars sharing the same age, lace of origin, chemical content, and motion through sace. In the constellation Taurus, its brightest stars form a V shae along with the brighter red giant Aldebaran, which is not art of the cluster, but merely lying along our line of sight. The age of the Hyades is estimated to be about 625 million years. The cluster core, where stars are most densely acked, has a diameter of about 18 light years. Double Cluster The "Double Cluster" (NGC 884 and NGC 869) is a air of two oen star clusters that are a treat for binoculars and telescoes alike. Each is a congregation of many hundreds of stars, around 50 60 light years in diameter. These clusters are both about 7,500 light years away. NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula)
NGC 2392: The "Eskimo Nebula." A round cloud of gas ejected by a dying star. Since this sort of object always aears round, William Hershel named them "lanetary nebulae" (he discovered this one in 1787). Juiter Juiter is the largest lanet in the Solar System, a gas giant 11 Earth diameters across. Its atmoshere contains the Great Red Sot, a long lived storm 2 3 times the size of the Earth. The 4 large Galilean satellites and at least 63 smaller moons orbit Juiter. Algieba (γ Leo)
Algieba (γ Leonis) is a binary star in the mane of Leo, the lion. These two goldenyellow giant stars are about 23 and 10 times the diameter of the Sun, and are about 130 light years away. Their orbital eriod is over 500 years. In 2009, a giant lanet was found orbiting one of these stars. Castor (α Gem) Castor (α Geminorum) is a multile star in the constellation Gemini, the twins. Through the telescoe, a close air of bright white stars and a more distant red dwarf comanion are visible, but these are each sectroscoic binaries, making Castor a six star system. Castor is about 50 light years away. The bright comonents orbit each other with a eriod of about 450 years.
Your Telescoe Oerator and Guide. Thank you for joining me this evening! See you soon!! The web age for the rogram in which you just articiated is at Nightly Observing Program. Most of the above images were taken as art of the Overnight Telescoe Observing Program. For more information on this unique exerience lease visit Overnight Telescoe Observing Program. Coyright 2017 Kitt Peak Visitor Center Commit