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Ursa Minor Constellation Map
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Caption: The constellation Ursa Minor along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Ursa Minor is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cephus, Camelopardalis and Draco. Ursa Minor is notable as its brightest star, Polaris is the northern pole star.
Ursa Minor is visible from the entire northern hemisphere with some parts of the constellation being visible from equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. It is also circumpolar for temperate and arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. Polaris, lying very close the north celestial pole is circumpolar for the whole of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter.
This diagram maps an area around the north celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values (in hours) of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination (in degrees) are marked on the y-axis. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Circumpolar Stars , Constellation , Declination , North Celestial Pole (NCP) , Polaris , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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Vela Constellation Map
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Caption: The constellation Vela with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Vela is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Pyxis, Puppis, Carina, Crux, Centaurus and Antlia.
Vela is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from most temperate northern hemisphere regions. Vela is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn.
The planetary nebula NGC 3132 lies in Vela and is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. The globular cluster NGC 3201 also lies in Vela and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. A yellow circle marks the position of the open cluster IC 2391.
The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. Vela was previously part of the larger Argo Navis constellation along with Puppis and Carina. As the letter designations for stars were created before this division took place, Greek letter designations are now divided between the three constellations with Vela having stars designated gamma and delta but no alpha or beta. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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Pyxis Constellation Map
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Caption: The constellation Pyxis with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pyxis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hydra, Puppis, Vela and Antilia.
Pyxis is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.
The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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Monoceros Constellation Map
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Caption: The constellation Monoceros with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Monoceros is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Gemini, Orion, Lepus, Canis Major, Puppis, Hydra and Canis Minor.
Monoceros spans the celestial equator and thus parts of the constellation are visible everywhere on the Earth at some point in the year. The whole constellation is visible to all but the most arctic and antarctic regions. Monoceros is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer.
The star-forming Rosette Nebula is marked here with a green square. The open cluster of young stars NGC 2244, which is associated with the Rosette Nebula, is marked with a yellow circle just below it. The other open clusters M50 and NGC 2506 are also marked here with yellow circles.
The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. The blue line at the top left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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Lepus Constellation Map
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Caption: The constellation Lepus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Lepus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Orion, Eridanus, Caelum, Columba, Canis Major and Monoceros.
Lepus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation can be viewed at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation can also be viewed from temperate and equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. Lepus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer.
The globular cluster M79 lies in Lepus. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it.
The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope
Credit Link
Glossary Terms:
Apparent Magnitude , Celestial Coordinates , Constellation , Declination , Right Ascension (RA)
Categories:
Naked Eye Astronomy
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
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87.88 kB)
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