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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
Pisces
the Fishes. Pisces can be found to the south and east of The
Great Square of Pegasus. As the name indicates, Pisces is the
fishes...plural. One fish runs north/south to the east of Pegasus. The
other runs east/west just to the south of Pegasus. These fish are tied
together using some fishing line with the knot being Alpha Piscium or Al-Rischa,
"The Cord". The constellation is not excessively bright, but it
is not invisible either. Under reasonably dark skies you should have no
problem finding it.
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Deep
Sky Report
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To start things off in Pisces, we'll return to Alpha
Piscium. This is not only the brightest star in the constellation at
mag3.8, it is also a nice double star. This won't be the easiest to
split... with only 1.8" of separation, but... it is well worth your
effort if you've got at least 4" of aperture.
Next up is another fine double, Zeta Piscium.
This will be a much easier pair to split with about 23" of separation
between the mag4.2 & mag5.3 components. This pair has been listed as
"yellow/lilac" in color. I've never quite |
 Ok, let's start things off with one of my absolute favorites,
Spiral Galaxy M74(mag9.2). This weeks only Messier object is located about 1.5° east-northeast of 3.6 magnitude eta Piscium, M74 is a classical spiral galaxy viewed
face-on. This galaxy is highly photogenic, but somewhat illusive visually. Locating it is not the problem as it is a short star-hop from an easily identifiable star. The problem is that M74 is fairly large, but faint. The resulting low surface brightness means that you'll want to search for this object under reasonably dark skies. Otherwise, it'll be overwhelmed by sky glow.
This island universe of about 100 billion stars, 30 million light-years away presents a gorgeous face-on view to earthbound astronomers.
Incidentally, astronomers believe this galaxy to be similar in many respects to our own home galaxy, the
Milky
Way.
Checkout this incredible image by the 8 meter Gemini
North Telescope. |
 Next up is Irregular Galaxy NGC502(mag14). This is one of the dimmer galaxies we've thrown at you. It's only saving grace is its small size. This object actually has much higher surface brightness than M74. Lest you feel your time in finding this object has been wasted, let me also note that this galaxy is over 100 million light years away! To help put this in perspective, remember that 1 light year equals 6 trillion miles. Do the math... we're talking really, really far away. |
 Next up is a neighbor of NGC502, Elliptical Galaxy NGC524(mag10.6). This galaxy is slightly brighter, but slightly larger than the previous galaxy. So, I'll venture to say that you'll face similar issues. As the accompanying image shows, there are quite a few galaxies located in the same field of view as this one. How many others can you spot. Like NGC502, this galaxy is also about 100 million light years away. In case you were wondering, that means that the light which you are seeing in your telescope left the galaxy 100 million years ago. Now that's a long time coming! |
 Next up is Spiral Galaxy NGC7541(mag11.7). Located a degree or so north of gamma Piscium (the western-most star in the constellation) , this beauty of a spiral continues our trend deeper into space residing some 125 million light years away. |
 Our final stop in Pisces leads us to this weeks Utah Skies Challenge Object, Elliptical Galaxy NGC7562(mag11.5). This tiny galaxy spans only 2.3'x1.6'. Again, its relatively high surface brightness is what will help you out. This is the most distant galaxy in our report -- located 47.7 MPC (mega parsecs) or roughly 155 million light years away. To find this object, create an equilateral triangle by adding NGC7562 above gamma and theta Piscium. Good Luck!
Good Luck! |
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