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Constellation
Report |
| Our Constellation report is an easy way for people to
become familiar with the nighttime sky. We’ll discuss myths associated
with the various constellations as well as describing the numerous deep
sky objects residing in the area. No equipment is required to view the
constellations, though a star chart can be quite helpful. This ease of
observing makes constellations a natural place to begin your journey to
the stars.
 This weekend we move on to the constellation
Canis
Minor the Little Dog. Canis Minor is one of Orion's faithful hunting dogs. Along with the other,
Canis
Major, they trail Orion to the east.
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Deep
Sky Report
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The focus of our efforts this week will be the deep sky objects of Canis Minor. Tiny little Canis Minor can be found high and towards the south sandwiched between Gemini to the north and Monoceros to the south. It' brightest star,
Procyon, being the eighth brightest star in the sky. The name Procyon can be traced at least as far back as the ancient Greeks. It means before the dog... because Procyon rises just before the constellation Canis Major and the "Dog Star" Sirius. Procyon is also an extremely challenging double star. It's companion shines at approximately mag11. This large difference in apparent brightness will make splitting this pair quite difficult. An interesting point about the companion star is that it is a white dwarf, estimated to have a density of over two tons per cubic inch!
Additionally, Procyon is part of the Winter Triangle along with Betelgeuse to the west and Sirius to the south. While these stars control the sky, nights are long and cold.
Ok, let me start things off by telling you that this constellation has no easy deep sky objects. Any one of these could be the challenge object for the week. In fact....all of these are fainter and smaller than most challenge objects. If you have anything less that about a 12" telescope, I'd recommend looking in some other constellation for your deep sky fix. Owners of larger aperture telescopes will want to move to a nice dark sky location... roll up your sleeves... and get ready for some serious deep sky work. |
 Ok, let's get started. Our fist object is an
Irregular Galaxy NGC2494(mag14). Yeah... mag14. And this is the brightest object
:-)
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 Next we'll hit another tiny little
Irregular Galaxy, NGC2508(mag14). We told you these would be tough.
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 Moving on we come to
Irregular Galaxy IC2231(mag15). Yikes! We've moved to IC's
already? This is undoubtedly one of the faintest objects we've ever unleashed on our readers. But... it ought to be easier than this weeks challenge object :)
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 Let's wrap things up with this weeks
Utah Skies Challenge Object, a photon-emitting machine called, Irregular Galaxy
IC498(mag15). Ouch! That's gonna be tough. You might be thinking.. why is this the challenge object if it's the same brightness (or faintness) as the preceding object. Well, this little smudge is a bit larger, so it has a lower surface brightness.
Good Luck!
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