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Cap - Capricornus the Sea Goat

  • Aql - Aquila the Eagle

    IAU Constellation

    Aql - Aquila the Eagle

    Size

    22 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Northern
    Equatorial

    Intro and Visual description

    Between Cygnus and Sagittarius, with Altair (its brightest star) making the south end of the Summer Triangle (along with Deneb of Cygnus and Vega of Lyra). As the night sky changes, Aquila the Eagle and Cygnus the Swan swing slowly westward across the sky towards the horizon. The Eagle sets tail first, followed closely by the Swan, who dives beak first below the western horizon.

  • Aqr - Aquarius the Water Carrier

    IAU Constellation

    Aqr - Aquarius the Water Carrier

    Size

    10 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Zodiac
    Southern
    Equatorial

    Intro and Visual description

    Water jar pattern near Pegasus.

  • Cap - Capricornus the Sea Goat

    IAU Constellation

    Cap - Capricornus the Sea Goat

    Size

    40 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Zodiac
    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    Between Sagittarius and Aquarius. Dim stars; look for a laughing mouth.

  • Mic - Microscopium the Microscope

    IAU Constellation

    Mic - Microscopium the Microscope

    Size

    66 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    One needs a telescopium to see Microscopium, for it contains no star brighter than 4.6. 

  • PsA - Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish

    IAU Constellation

    PsA - Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish

    Size

    60 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    Unlike Pisces, the zodiac constellation which consists of two fish held together by a string, Piscis Austrinus is a single fish. Piscis Austrinus is a very faint constellation located south of Aquarius, and is often depicted as drinking from Aquarius’ water jar (but why would a fish want to drink water??). Except for the bright star Formalhaut, Piscis Austrinus is rather unremarkable.

  • Sgr - Sagittarius the Archer

    IAU Constellation

    Sgr - Sagittarius the Archer

    Size

    15 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Zodiac
    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    Look for teapot pattern to the east of Scorpius, complete with handle, lid, and spout. Tea pouring from the spout would indicate the direction of the center of Milky Way, and the entire constellation is rich with many stars. Try binoculars in the area where clusters gather like steam rising from the teapot.

    Centaur, half-man and half-horse, shooting an arrow. If you cannot see a creature half-man and half-horse in these stars, then try looking for a teapot. Four stars make the pot... Two stars form a handle... One star is a lid... And the tip of the bowman’s arrow makes a spout.

  • December 22

    Fusion image

    Tropic of Capricorn, possibly Galileo’s drawing from Dialogo?  M30 globular cluster?

     

    Historical source

    Historical source

    Constellation

    Cap - Capricornus the Sea Goat

    Chet Raymo, 365 Starry Nights

    213
    Astronomy Picture of the Day
    StarDate
    Monthly Sky Map

    Permission

    Public domain

    Attribution

    Kerry Magruder and Brent Purkaple

  • Urania's Mirror (1825) card: Capricornus

    Image

    UM-1825-Capricorn
  • M30

    Object image

    M30, Atlas Image courtesy of 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

    Object image source

    Atlas Image courtesy of 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

    Permission

    Public domain
  • Globus Aerostaticus the Hot Air Balloon

    Asterism Visual Appearance

    Located between: Capricorn, Hydra, Piscis Australis, Sagittarius.

    Asterism Origin and History

    Proposed by Lalande in 1798.

Pagination

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IAU Constellation Main Page

Tau - Taurus the Bull

IAU Constellation

Tau - Taurus the Bull

Size

17 of 88

Astronomical Regions

Zodiac
Northern
Equatorial

Intro and Visual description

Taurus the Bull is easily spotted. Its head is the Hyades, a V-shaped cluster of stars. His horns point outward from the V. Aldebaran is the red eye of the Bull as he charges down upon us.

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Kerry Magruder, Brent Purkaple, and Aja Tolman, editors, "The Sky Tonight: Cultural Archaeology of the Stars" (December 21, 2019 - ongoing), skytonight.org.


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