Constellation Report

Our Constellation Report is an easy way for people to become familiar with the nighttime sky. We’ll discuss myths associated with a particular constellation as well as describing the numerous deep sky objects residing within its boundaries. 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 Equuleus the Foal. 

Equuleus and Pegasus, which we covered last week, represent the equestrian section of the sky.

Equuleus sits to the southwest of Pegasus and to the southeast of Delphinius, placing it almost directly overhead after dark. 

 The Deep Sky wonders of Equuleus

Deep Sky Report

Let's be upfront on this one... every single object in this constellation is tough. Each could be a difficult Utah Skies Challenge Object. In fact, the brightest object is this weeks Utah Skies Challenge object. This is why we're covering this one on the weekend of the full moon. 

There are a handful of nice binary star systems in Equuleus (mag4.5). First up is Delta Equulei. This system is made up of stars of nearly equal luminosity... each about mag4. However, with a separation of only about 0.35", this is one tough pair to split. Studies have indicated that the two are physically separated by only about 4.6AU... less than the distance from the Sun to Jupiter.

Next is Epsilon Eqquei (mag5.3). This multiple star system is actually made up of three stars. The first two are close, ranging between 0.1" and 1.1" while the other, somewhat fainter star is about 10.9" away.


Spiral Galaxy NGC7015Let's start... and end things with this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Spiral Galaxy NGC7015(mag13). This object is pretty small at only 2' across. You're definitely going to work for this one... and.... this was the easiest object in the entire constellation.

Good Luck!