Many of us love look at the starry night sky, look for familiar constellations and imagine mysterious figures within them. All these stars, except the one that illuminates the Earth and gives it warmth, are located outside solar system and seem very tiny, despite the fact that they are many times larger than any of its planets. What do they really look like? Take a closer look at them is possible only with the help of very powerful technology located in Earth orbit, and this information can be available to us on the Internet, we just need to search better.
What is a star map? Its varieties
Star map- it can be interactive or in the form of an ordinary picture. This is an image showing the location of stars and constellations in the sky. The most optimal and easiest to use is a star map compiled in two projections, where the equatorial part of the sky is presented in a cylindrical projection, and the poles in an azimuthal one. Moreover, due to some distortions, some of the constellations may appear on both the equatorial and polar projections, but this is not a big disadvantage when working with this tool. There is such a map in free access on the Internet in quite good quality in jpeg resolution.
More accurate and professional - interactive constellation map, or as it is also called, an online star map. There are quite a lot of them. The most famous and well-developed are Google Sky and Photopic Sky Survey. They allow you not only to view the general projection of the starry sky, but also to bring each of the stars and constellations closer, and also to see those of them that are inaccessible even to telescopes located on Earth, not to mention the naked eye. They were compiled based on numerous images taken by the telescope Hubble, located in orbit. Also, there is another service - Google Earth, it combines Google Sky And Google Map.
A little history
Northern Hemisphere Star Map
Among the constellations of the northern hemisphere you can find such as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor(in the form of buckets). We are accustomed to thinking that they consist of 7 stars each, but in fact this is not so, it’s just that the rest of the stars included in the bucket are very small and therefore not visible to us). Also, in the northern hemisphere we can observe Cassiopeia (represents a zigzag of 6 large stars), the constellation Cepheus (a closed pentagon), Hercules, Draco, Andromeda, Perseus, Canes Venatici (2 large stars at a short distance), Cygnus. And of course, the main landmark of all sailors and travelers is the polar star, which is at the head of Ursa Minor.
There is a very well-known story about how travelers, after crossing the Equator and finding themselves in the Southern Hemisphere, lost sight of the North Star, thereby losing the correct course. After all, the picture of the starry sky also changes with different movements around planet Earth. Moreover, the picture of the starry sky changes for us with the onset of a new season, as the Earth moves in the orbit of the solar system.
Southern Hemisphere Star Map
The constellations located on this part of the map are almost unknown to the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere of the Earth; they cannot be seen from here, just as you cannot see the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere when you are in the Southern. It is represented by such constellations as Velas, Carina, Centaurus, Wolf, Scorpio, Southern Triangle (received this name because it has the shape isosceles triangle), Southern Hydra, Phoenix, Peacock, Sagittarius, Crane.
Equatorial belt
In the equatorial belt you can see constellations that we encountered earlier in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. At the equator itself there are the following constellations:
- Aquarius
- Capricorn
- Sagittarius
- Twins
- Taurus
As you can see, all these constellations correspond to the horoscope (each person, depending on the time of his birth, assigns himself to one or another group according to the horoscope, that is, to one or another constellation).
Interactive star map
Now a little about access to the star map in a more complex and accurate format. Programs that allow you to travel through the starry sky online, find the constellations and objects you need using search, move closer and further from them, move in star space, learn new useful information and scientific data about the object. In order to find out additional information, such as the name, exact coordinates, age of the star, belonging to any constellation, average distance from the Earth, you just need to click on it with the mouse. In addition, you can get data on all photos and external articles about a given star. This information can be obtained on the object page.
There are a total of 88 constellations in the sky - quite a large number of. Not all of them are visible to the naked eye, but interactive star maps can provide images of even the most distant planets in the solar system.
In addition to the most famous interactive star chart resources, there are small online map sites that do not provide additional information, but only show a complete picture of the sky, and accordingly, are easier to control.
Stéphane Guisard is an optical engineer at the European Southern Observatory. IN professional activity he has to deal with one of the biggest optical telescopes 8-meter Very Large Telescope (VLT) ever built by man. This, however, does not prevent Stefan from engaging in amateur astronomy during his vacation.
Stefan's favorite hobby is astrophotography and time-lapse video. Thanks to his work, Guizar has a slight advantage over other astrophotographers, because he has access to the very dark and transparent skies of the Andes - perhaps the most favorable skies on Earth for astronomical observations.
However, Guizar is not limited to the Andes alone. He traveled all over South and Central America, photographing mountain landscapes, ruins of Mayan cities and, of course, the starry sky. And last summer, Stefan Guizar visited Easter Island, where he photographed total solar eclipse against the backdrop of Moai statues.
Today, in the “City and Stars” section, we published his wonderful film The Night Sky of Atacama. Here we present to your attention some of his photographs. It’s strange, unusual to look at unfamiliar drawings southern constellations and realize that you are still on Earth.
1. Night over Easter Island. A dramatic picture of the southern night sky spreads over the silhouettes of ancient Moai statues. The bright nebula is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The galaxy, made up of 10 billion stars, is located 160,000 light-years from Earth. This means that we see it as it was in prehistoric times. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
2. Dawn over Patagonia. The planet Saturn (left) and the star Arcturus (right) shine in the twilight sky above the Cuernos Mountains in Patagonia. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
3. The darkest sky. The quality of the sky is very important to astronomers. Twilight, city light, the moon, auroras and even planets often do not allow for subtle observations of distant galaxies or pale, almost ephemeral nebulae. Where is the darkest sky? Stefan Guizar believes that in the Atacama Desert in Chile, where the Paranal Observatory is located. This photo shows a panorama of the area near the observatory (telescope towers jutting out from the sky at lower right) and a dark midnight sky. On this night, the Moon did not interfere with the shooting (it was a new moon), and yet flare was noticeable along the horizon. But these are not city lights. This is the Milky Way, the light coming from the disk of our own Galaxy. Two nebulous spots - Magellanic clouds. The bright star is the planet Jupiter. And elongated pale spot on either side of Jupiter is all that remains of the zodiacal light at midnight. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
4. Where was this photo taken? Of course, on the equator! In this long-exposure image, the stars stretch out into luminous arcs, revealing the daily rotation of the starry sky. We see that the stars rotate around the celestial pole located on the horizon. But only at the equator the Earth's rotation axis is on the horizon. Accordingly, only at the equator during the year can you see all the stars, both northern and southern hemisphere land. This wonderful photo, taken in Ecuador, also included a bright fireball. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
5. Stéphane Guizar prepares for a full-length shoot solar eclipse July 11, 2010 on Easter Island. Silent Moai statues stand in the sun, but the Moon is already approaching the Sun... Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
6. And here is the result of careful preparation: a total solar eclipse over Easter Island. This remarkable photo of the July 11, 2010 solar eclipse was published on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. At this eerie moment, only ancient idols guard the peace of the isolated island. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
7. The constellation Orion and Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, over Guatemala. Milky Way in this moonlit night almost invisible. The filming location is remarkable. This is the famous Square of the Seven Temples in Tikal, one of the largest places archaeological excavations in the world. Tikal was the capital of the pre-Columbian kingdom of Mutul. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
8. Starlight Night at the equator. The magnificent arc of the Milky Way curves over the Cotopaxi volcano. Just above the top of the mountain you can see a huge black hole in the Milky Way. This is the dark Coalsack Nebula. To the right of it we see another nebula, but this time bright red, the famous Carina Nebula (or Carina Nebula). And even further to the right, Canopus shines above the horizon, the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
9. Sunset over the Atacama Desert. This photo is dedicated to World Day environment, which takes place under the auspices of the UN since 1972 every June 5th. What did Guizar want to say with this photograph? Use renewable energy sources! Notice the serene expanse below. It's not the ocean, it's the clouds. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
10. The Milky Way over the extinct Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador. The height of the volcano is 6267 meters, and until the beginning of the 19th century, Chimborazo was considered the most high mountain on the ground. To a certain extent, this is still true today, because despite the fact that Everest is more than 2 km higher than Chimborazo, the top of the Ecuadorian volcano is the most distant point on the surface from the center of the Earth (do not forget that the Earth is slightly flattened towards the equator). Or you can say it another way: the top of Chimborazo is the closest place to the stars. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
11. Meteor in the sky over the Cuernos mountains, Patagonia. During the shooting, Guizar was lucky and managed to catch a fireball, a very bright meteor that drew a bright streak not far from Sirius through the Milky Way. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
12. And here is another photograph of the same area, also taken at night, but with a very long shutter speed. The stars, in their movement across the sky, left long trails in the sky. The ancients believed that the stars actually revolved around the Earth, which rested at the center of the universe. The fact that the daily movement of stars reflects the rotation of the Earth became known relatively recently, some 350-400 years ago.
Southern hemisphere sky
Milky Way, constellations Scorpio and Sagittarius
These constellations are partially visible at our latitudes. But in all their splendor they open on southern sky. In the center is the star alpha Scorpius (α Sco), Antares. It is located 170 light years away from us. Its name (“Rival of Mars”) contains a hint of similarity with the Red Planet. This star is the reddest of all the bright stars. It belongs to the group of red supergiants and has a surface area 700 times larger than the Sun. If Antares took the place of our daylight star, it would absorb the orbit of Mars and reach the asteroid belt.
To the right of Antares is an arc of four stars, which represent his “head”. By the way, none of the constellations corresponds to its name like Scorpio!
To the left of Scorpio is the constellation Sagittarius. The Milky Way in the region of the constellation is impressive: it is strewn with star clusters, magnificent nebulae and diamond scatterings of star clouds. The densest of them marks the direction to the center of the Galaxy, distant from us at a distance of 30,000 light years. For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, Sagittarius never rises as high above the horizon as we recorded in South Africa.
Globular cluster Omega Centauri
Omega Centauri is the most extensive, bright and rich globular cluster, occupying as much space in the sky as full moon. It is located at a distance of about 17,000 light years from us, reaches 650 light years in diameter and has a 4th magnitude in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere. It lies close to the star with Centauri, which is why Bayer named the cluster Omega Centauri in his atlas. To the naked eye it is visible as a blurry star. Even with a small telescope you can see that the stars that make it up are concentrated in the central region, being located less frequently towards the periphery. There are 10 million stars in this “celestial ball”. Most of them are much older and redder than our Sun, although they are inferior to it in mass. Omega Centauri is a magnificent example of a globular cluster.
Zodiacal light in the Kalahari Desert region
The zodiacal light is a cone-shaped glow visible shortly after evening twilight or shortly before dawn. The axis of the cone lies near the ecliptic. Giovanni Cassini correctly explained this phenomenon as sunlight, reflected by the interplanetary matter that makes up the disk-shaped cloud surrounding the Sun in the ecliptic plane. This is why the most suitable place to observe it is the tropics. The brightness of the zodiac light can be three times higher than the brightness of the southern part milky way. It is now known that the main components of zodiacal light are dust particles with a diameter of 1 to 10 microns (micron - 10 mm).
Galaxy Centaurus A, NGC 5128
Elliptical galaxy NGC 5128, a famous radio source, is located in the constellation Centaurus at a distance of 15 million light years from Earth. Through binoculars it is visible as a blurry spot of light, but through an average telescope you can see that it is a huge ball of stars crossed out in the center by a dark stripe of dust. It was discovered that the galaxy emits intense radio waves. This radio source was named Centaurus A. Its brightness in the radio range is 1000 times greater than the radio brightness of our Galaxy, and if our eye perceived radio waves, then Centaurus in the southern sky would eclipse the Sun! Strong radiation in the radio range makes it possible to record long gas emissions, reaching even bright areas visible in optical photographs. Perhaps there is a huge black hole inside this galaxy.
Magellanic clouds
LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) is visible in the constellation Doradus, MMC (Small Magellanic Cloud) - in the constellation Tu-cana. They owe their name to the fact that they were first described by Antonio Pifaghetta, a participant in the famous first trip around the world Magellan 1518-1522
These two star systems are satellites of our Galaxy, orbiting around it together general center masses and consist of tens of millions of stars and many star clusters. They represent a kind of “suburbs” of our star island.
The Large Magellanic Cloud looks especially impressive. It occupies an area of 42 square degrees, which is two hundred times larger than the visible disk of the Moon. Located in a dark, starless region, it appears very bright, although not exceeding the brilliance of the Milky Way. According to Herschel’s figurative expression, this part of the sky is “a desert surrounding a blooming oasis on all sides.” The distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud is 165,000 light years.
The Small Magellanic Cloud, like the Large Magellanic Cloud, is an irregular galaxy. It is 180,000 light years away from us. The relationship between the brightness and the pulsation period of Cepheids (a type of variable star) was discovered precisely in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
In the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, astronomer Ian Shelton saw a Supernova with the naked eye on February 20, 1987. Its appearance is associated with the explosion of the supergiant star Sandulik. It was the brightest Supernova observed on Earth over the past 400 years. Its brightness was 2.8 magnitude, and for 10 months the star could be seen with the naked eye.
Galaxy NGC 55 in the constellation Sculptor
This galaxy has broken brightness symmetry—one half is brighter and larger than the other. We observe it from the plane of the disk. The galaxy has magnitude 9 and is located at a distance of 8 million light years. She enters Local group, just like our Milky Way.
Eta Carinae Nebula, NGC 3372
A picturesque group of four bright gas clouds separated by the Keyhole Nebula is known as the Carina Nebula. The clouds are visible to the naked eye, and the entire nebula occupies an area equal to four lunar disks. It is located 9,000 light years away and surrounds a giant star, Carinae.
The star Carinae turned out to be very interesting and fantastically mysterious for astronomers. In 1667, Edmund Halley discovered that its brightness began to increase. In 1827, it had a magnitude of 1, and in 1843 it even rivaled Sirius in brightness for several weeks. Perhaps it was a Supernova explosion, when the star shed its shell and for many years remained a dim star, hardly visible through binoculars, but around it, one of the stars sparkled in all shades - from red to dark crimson. the most beautiful nebulae of the Milky Way, Eta Carinae. The star itself emits beams of ultraviolet light so powerful and so narrow that scientists believe there is a real laser at its center. This is the first phenomenon of this kind discovered in space!
Tarantula Nebula
Lies on the outer edge of the Large Magellanova Cloud. It is one of the most extensive nebulae known to us, its mass is equal to 5 million solar masses, and it is considered a record holder among cosmic objects of this type. This emission nebula, 800 light-years across, is the largest known star-forming region. The glow of the nebula occurs due to the R 136 cluster, consisting of young supergiants. Their abundance allows us to consider the Tarantula Nebula a stellar “nursery.” To the naked eye, the nebula appears as a cloudy star, and through a telescope, filaments of gas are visible, making it look like a spider.
Constellation South Cross
noticeable for the inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere, just as the Big Dipper is for us. The stars in it form an elegant rhombus, but the constellation is depicted in the form of a Maltese cross. It is believed that it was isolated in 1592, and received its name in 1679. In reality, this is not so: the constellation was known already two thousand years ago. He was worshiped by the ancient Persians. In Ancient Rome it was called the “Throne of the Emperor” and was dedicated to Emperor Augustus. At the beginning of our era, it could be seen in the sky over Egypt and Jerusalem, although low above the horizon. All four stars of the Southern Cross are approximately the same brightness. But one is still a little brighter than the others and bears the name Acrux, which means “cross”. This constellation inspires poets, it is found in legends and songs of bards, its four stars - the Cross - are depicted on the flags of Australia, New Zealand and other countries of the Southern Hemisphere.
The constellation is located in a region of the Milky Way saturated with objects. Its four bright stars are easy to find in the southern sky. This is α Crucis - Acrux - a white star of 0.8 magnitude, 3 - Mimosa - a blue giant of 1.3 magnitude - a Cepheid, £ - Gacrux (translated as “top of the cross”), a red optical double star 1, 6th magnitude and 8th - a star of approximately 3rd magnitude. The vertical line of the Cross points to the south pole of the sky.
In this constellation there is an interesting cluster NGC 4755, reminiscent of women's jewelry, called “Jewel Box” by John Herschel (son of William Herschel). It is located just below and to the left of the β Southern Cross. The cluster actually looks very beautiful, even from a distance of 7600 light years. The brightest star in the cluster is a 6th magnitude blue supergiant. In the center of the cluster there are three stars of different colors.
Here (to the left of the Southern Cross) is the most famous dark nebula, the Coal Sack, measuring 5x7 degrees. Located at a distance of 400 light years, this nebula hides a large section of the Milky Way from us, without letting us through, due to high density dust, the light of the stars lying behind it.
A patch of sky in the vicinity of Proxima Centauri
The constellation Centaurus, located on the northern “shore” of the Milky Way, is one of the most beautiful in the southern latitudes. Its brightest star (α Centauri) is named Rigel (the “leg”) of Centauri and, together with its weaker partner, the Hadar star β Centauri) forms a beautiful binary system, which is only 4.4 away light years. However, in 1915, astronomer Inns discovered in its vicinity a faint star of 11 magnitude, which was moving in the same direction as both large stars, that is, it was part of their system. The star turned out to be a red dwarf with a diameter of only 64,000 km, but it was closer to us than its large companions. For this she was given the name Proxima, which means “closest.” This is the closest star to us. The light from it travels 4.2 light years to Earth. In search of traces of Extraterrestrial civilizations, scientists pinned their hopes on these three stars, but, unfortunately, no planetary systems were discovered. α Centau-ri is a pale yellow star of 0.3 magnitude, the third brightest (after Sirius and Canopus) a star in our sky, P is a blue star of 0.6 magnitude. A line drawn through them indicates the Southern Cross.
Source :
ESO 12/07 - Science Release
Through Dusty Fog. New Global
Cluster Found in Milky Way.
The vault of heaven that we see above us is called only half of the entire sky, the northern hemisphere. But what can be observed in the sky of the southern hemisphere, hidden from us by the curvature of the earth’s surface? What kind of stars are there?
We already know most of them. For example, when the constellations Auriga And Perseus stand in the north, above the very edge of the sky, while under them, somewhere deep - under the edge of the sky, against the southern side of the earth, our shining ones are hiding: Orion, Big And Small Dog, a lion. On the contrary, in winter, when Orion flaunts on the southern side of the sky, at this time in the north there are Lyra And Swan, and below them, below the edge of the sky, against the underside of the globe are Eagle, Bootes, Virgo, Ophiuchus.
These constellations, as you remember, occupy the entire southern side of the sky at the time when they rise in our sky. Therefore, we have seen the whole half of that mysterious sky, which for us is, as it were, “underground”. We did not see only one fourth of the entire heavenly space, namely that part that is located under the edge of the sky in the south. To see this quarter of the sky and its stars, you need to go there, to the south, reach “the edge of the sky” and look further down.
Of course, there is no edge of the Earth, because the Earth is a ball, there is no edge of the sky, because the sky is an infinite space surrounding the Earth on all sides. But there is an edge visible us of the sky, and this edge is located exactly where we see it. For example, in winter evening the edge of the sky in the south is under Sirius, where one of the lower stars sparkles low and low Canis Major.
Instead of reasoning, let's go on our imaginary journey to the south. - Don’t forget that we are traveling on a winter evening, when Auriga, Taurus, Orion, and Sirius are burning on the southern side of the sky. - We travel, for example, from St. Petersburg directly to the south, and with the speed of thought.
Here we are in Crimea. Let's look up. - Bah!
The International Astronomical Union in 1922 determined the names of all visible star clusters in the celestial sphere. At the same time, scientists-astronomers systematized all the scatterings of stars and created a catalog of the starry sky, dividing the constellations of the Southern and Northern hemispheres. To date, 88 star systems are known, 47 of which are ancient (their age is estimated at several millennia). 12 are considered separately zodiac constellations, through which the Sun passes during the year.
Globe with constellations,
The names of almost all star clusters in the Southern Hemisphere originate from Greek mythology. For example, there is a well-known myth about the goddess of hunting Artemis, who killed Orion. Then she repented and placed him in the sky among the stars. This is how the equatorial constellation Orion got its name. At the feet of Orion is the constellation Canis Major. Mythology says that this is the dog that followed its owner into the sky. Thus, each star system forms the outline of one or another being or object after which it is named. For example, the constellation Taurus, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, etc.
Nautical navigation
The southern hemisphere is replete with constellations, including many useful asterisms that help ship captains navigate a certain course. Thus, the analogue of the Ursa Major of the Northern Hemisphere is the Southern Cross. He points to the South Pole.
Worship of the people
All stars emit an intense or subdued glow. The brightest glow comes from the star Sirius, which is included in the scattering of Canis Major stars. This is a very old (235 million years) and heavy star (its mass is 2 times the mass of the Sun). Since ancient times, Sirius has been the idol of many people; they worshiped him, made various sacrifices and waited for help. Some luminaries are even described in church publications.
The most striking cosmic shock
The constellation Taurus is very interesting in this regard. It contains very bright star Aldebaran and two clusters - the Pleiades (consists of 500 luminaries) and the Hyades (130 luminaries). Vivid astrophysical processes often occur in Taurus. So, in the 11th century. n. e. A supernova explosion occurred and the Crab Nebula was formed with a pulsar emitting powerful X-rays and radiomagnetic pulses. However, this event happened in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the Southern Hemisphere there were not many significant comic events, which mainly happened during the era of rapid development of instrumental astronomy.
The Southern Cross is one of the most remarkable constellations in the Southern Hemisphere
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