Sky & Deep Sky

Southern Sky

The Greek Alphabet

Major Constellations

Autumn

fall
1) ANDROMEDA
2) PERSEUS
3) PEGASUS
4) ARIES
5) CETUS

ANDROMEDA - Andromeda - And

Date & Time

Angular separation Alpheratz - Almaak = 27°

Click on a star name for more informations
Name	Magn.	Dist. (L.Y.)	Temp.°K	C.	Type	Greek	Const.
Alpheratz	2.06	102	12.400		B8	Alpha	And
Mirak	2.06	170	3.400		M0	Beta	And
Almaak	2.26	42	4.440		K3	Gamma	And
Adhil	4.88	125	4.800		K0	Xi	And

M31 - NGC224 - Magn. 4.4 - Dist. 2.380.000 l.y.
The Andromeda Galaxy is a giant spiral galaxy similar in form to our own galaxy but perhaps twice as massive. Deep observations show that the galaxy disk extends at least 4.5 degrees in length. The proximity of Andromeda has alloved detailed study which has given us much of our understanding of galactic rotation, stellar evolution and distance scales.
Andromeda Galaxy is visible to the naked eye and its feeble light was noted by persian astronomer Al Sufi about year 1000. It appears in a celestial chart in year 1609, before the discovery of the telescope. It was acknowledged as a galaxy in 1923.
Andromeda Galaxy has a well definite spiral structure whose diameter is about 180.000 l.y. (100.000 our galaxy). The dense core conteins almost only very old stars and the arms young giant blue stars instead.
M31 is the "leader" of the "local group" whose belongs our galaxy too.

M 31 - The Andromeda Galaxy

M 110 - NGC 205
Elliptical Galaxy
Magn. 8.9
Dist. 2.380.000 l.y.
Satellite of M 31

PERSEUS - Perseus - Per

Date & Time

Angular separation Miram - Atiks = 26°

Click on a star name for more informations
Name	Magn.	Dist. (L.Y.)	Temp.°K	C.	Type	Greek	Const.
Mirphak	1.79	630	6.600		F5	Alpha	Per
Algol	2.12	72	12.400		B8	Beta	Per
Gorgonea III	3.39	500	2.920		M4	Rho	Per
Miram	3.76	540	4.440		K3	Eta	Per
Misam	3.80	99	4.800		K0	Kappa	Per
Atiks	3.83	142	25.600		B1	Omicron	Per
Menkhib	4.04	820	35.200		O7	Xi	Per
Gorgonea IV	4.63	142	4.680		K1	Omega	Per
Gorgonea II	4.70	360	9.360		A2	Pi	Per

NGC 884 - Magn. 4.4 - Dist. 7.200 l.y. - Half of Double Cluster
NGC 869 - Magn. 4.3 - Dist. 7.200 l.y. - Half of Double Cluster


NGC1499 The California Nebula Bright Nebula Magn. 4.0 Illuminated by Menkhib, Xi Persei

PEGASUS - Pegasus - Peg

Date & Time

Angular separation Enif - Algenib = 37°

Click on a star name for more informations
Name	Magn.	Dist. (L.Y.)	Temp.°K	C.	Type	Greek	Const.
Enif	2.39	470	4.560		K2	Epsilon	Peg
Scheat	2.42	233	3.160		M2	Beta	Peg
Markab	2.49	74	11.200		B9	Alpha	Peg
Algenib	2.83	490	23.200		B2	Gamma	Peg
Matar	2.94	330	5.800		G2	Eta	Peg
Homam	3.40	140	12.400		B8	Zeta	Peg
Sadalbari	3.48	140	5.80		G8	Mu	Peg
Baham	3.53	82	9.360		A2	Theta	Peg
Kerb	4.60	88	8.400		A5	Tau	Peg

M15 - NGC7078
Globular Cluster
Magn. 6.4 - Dist. 30.600 l.y.
M15 is one of the most densely packed globular star clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy. This stunning Hubble Space Telescope image of M15 shows thousands of individual stars across the central 10 or so light-years of the cluster. Yet even the Hubble's sharp vision can't clearly separate the stars at this cluster's core. Globular star clusters harbor from a hundred thousand up to a million stars. Like most globulars, M15 is filled with ancient stars, about 12 billion years old. Its cool red giant stars appear yellowish in this color composite image. Unlike most globulars, M15 displays a planetary nebula, the briefly visible gaseous shroud of a dying star. Can you pick it out? Cataloged as Kuestner 648, M15's planetary nebula is the round pinkish cloud at the upper left.

NGC7331
Supergiant Spiral Galaxy
Magn. 10.3
Dist. 48.9 millions l.y.

ARIES - The Ram - Ari

Date & Time

Angular separation Mesarthim - 41 Ari = 15°

Click on a star name for more informations
Name	Magn.	Dist. (L.Y.)	Temp.°K	C.	Type	Greek	Const.
Hamal	2.00	78	4.560		K2	Alpha	Ari
Sharatan	2.64	44	8.400		A5	Beta	Ari
Botein	4.35	121	4.560		K2	Delta	Ari
Mesarthim	4.75	125	9.680		A1	Gamma 2	Ari

CETUS- the Whale - Cet

Date & Time

Angular separation Menkar - Shemali = 42°

Click on a star name for more informations
Name	Magn.	Dist. (L.Y.)	Temp.°K	C.	Type	Greek	Const.
Deneb Kaitos	2.04	53	4.940		G9	Beta	Cet
Menkar	2.53	200	3.280		M1	Alpha	Cet
Mira	3.04	200	2.640		M7	Omicron	Cet
Kaffaljidhma	3.47	63	9.040		A3	Gamma	Cet
Shemali	3.56	251	4.680		K1	Iota	Cet
Baten Kaitos	3.73	105	4.800		K0	Zeta	Cet

M 77 - NGC 1068
Spiral Galaxy - Magn. 9.5
Dist. 81.5 mill. l.y.

This magnificient galaxy is one of the biggest galaxies in Messier's catalog, its bright part measuring about 120,000 light years, but its faint extensions going perhaps out to nearly 170,000 light years. M77 is about 80 million light years distant, and is receding from us at about 1100 km/sec; it was the second galaxy with a large measured redshift after the Sombrero galaxy, M104: the higher values would make M77 the most remote Messier object).

This galaxy is unique and peculiar because of several reasons. First of all, its spectrum shows peculiar features in the form of broad emission lines, indicating that giant gas clouds are rapidly moving out of this galaxy's core, at several 100 km/sec. Hubble classifies M77 as a Seyfert galaxy of type II (type I Seyfert galaxies exhibit an even larger expansion velocity of several 1000 km/sec); it is the nearest and brightest representative of this class of active galaxies.
An enormous energy source is required to generate this velocity, which must sit in the galaxy's core or nucleus. This core was found to be a strong radio source (which was designated Cetus A). The hypothesis is that the active nuclei of Seyfert galaxies might be thought of as miniature quasars (quasi-stellar radio sources). In case of M77, the central object which is responsible for the Seyfert activity has been found to have a mass of about 10 million solar masses and was found a giant disk of some 5 light-years diameter orbiting this object.
In the inner disk of M77 surrounding the active nucleus, intense star forming activity. These star formation regions are among the brightest known, and perhaps the most luminous within a distance of 100 million light years from us.