Sky & Deep Sky

28 Major Constellations Named Stars The Nick Strobel's Tutorial Tables

25 Lesser Constellations Southern Sky Messier Tables

1) URSA MAJOR 2) CASSIOPEIA 3) URSA MINOR 4) CEPHEUS 5) DRACO

URSA MAJOR & the Big Dipper
(part of the Greater Bear) - UMa

Date & Time

Angular separation Alkaid - Talitha = 45°

Click on a star name for more informations         Name Magn. Dist. (L.Y.) Temp.°K C. Type Greek Const. Tania Aus. 3.05 170 3.400   M0 Mu UMa Talitha 3.14 43 8.000   A7 Iota UMa Al Haud 3.17 48 6.480   F6 Theta UMa Muscida 3.36 120 5.500   G5 Omicron UMa Tania Bor. 3.45 100 9.360   A2 Lambda UMa Alula Bor. 3.48 130 4.440   K3 Nu UMa Al Kaphrah 3.71 172 4.800   K0 Chi UMa Muscida 4.60 204 4.680   K1 Pi 2 UMa Alula Aus. 4.87 23.8 6.000   G0 Xi UMa

Angular separation Dubhe - Alkaid = 26°

Click on a star name for more informations         Name Magn. Dist. (L.Y.) Temp.°K C. Type Greek Const. Alioth 1.77 65 10.000   A0 Epsilon UMa Dubhe 1.79 100 4.800   K0 Alpha UMa Alkaid 1.86 140 20.800   B3 Eta UMa Mizar 2.27 74 9.680   A1 Zeta UMa Merak 2.37 62 9.680   A1 Beta UMa Phad 2.44 80 10.000   A0 Gamma UMa Megrez 3.31 53 9.040   A3 Delta UMa Alcor 4.01 72 8.400   A5 - UMa M82 - NGC3034 Irregular Galaxy Magn. 9.2 Dist. 17 millions l.y. Bode's Nebula M81 - NGC3031 Spiral Galaxy Magn. 7.9 Dist. 4.6 millions l.y.

The Pinwheel Galaxy M101 - NGC5457 Dist. 15 millions l.y. A giant pinwheel of stars resembling the Milky Way galaxy in shape and size, the spiral appears almost face-on our view; the dark filaments in its arms are dust lanes. (Kitt Peak National Observatory).

CASSIOPEIA - Cassiopeia - Cas

Date & Time

Angular separation Caph - Segin = 13°

Click on a star name for more informations         Name Magn. Dist. (L.Y.) Temp.°K C. Type Greek Const. Shedir 2.23 110 4.800   K0 Alpha Cas Caph 2.27 45 7.080   F2 Beta Cas Cih 2.47 720 28.000   B0 Gamma Cas Ruchbah 2.68 59 8.400   A5 Delta Cas Segin 3.38 440 20.800   B3 Epsilon Cas Achird 3.44 18.5 6.120   F9 Eta Cas Marfak 4.43 233 8.000   A7 Theta Cas Castula 4.63 64 5.080   G8 Upsilon 2 Cas Marfak 5.17 25.1 5.500   G5 Mu Cas

M 103 - NGC581 Open Cluster Magn. 7.4 Dist. 8.500 l.y. 25 stars from 11th magn.

NGC457 Open Cluster Magn. 6.4 Magn. of the brightest star 6.0 Membership number 80 Dist. 9.100 l.y.   The brightest star in the picture is f Cas Magn. 4.98 Dist. 1.090 l.y.

M 52 - NGC7654 Open Cluster Mag. 7.0 Dist. 5.200 l.y. 100 stars from 8th magn.

URSA MINOR - the Little Dipper - UMi

Date & Time

Angular separation Polaris - Pherkad = 19°

Click on a star name for more informations         Name Magn. Dist. (L.Y.) Temp.°K C. Type Greek Const. Polaris 2.02 820 6.360   F7 Alpha UMi Kochab 2.08 84 4.320   K4 Beta UMi Pherkad 3.05 110 9.040   A3 Gamma UMi Yildun 4.36 820 9.680   A1 Delta UMi Anwar al Farkadain 4.95 76 6.600   F5 Eta UMi Pherkad minor 5.02 217 4.320   K4 - UMi

CEPHEUS - Cepheus - Cep

Date & Time

Angular separation Alderamin - Alrai = 19°	Click on a star name for more informations         Name Magn. Dist. (L.Y.) Temp.°K C. Type Greek Const. Alderamin 2.44 48 8.000   A7 Alpha Cep Alrai 3.21 48 4.680   K1 Gamma Cep Alfirk 3.23 990 25.600   B1 Beta Cep Erakis 4.08 1.090 3.160   M2 Mu Cep Alkurhah 4.29 102 9.040   A3 Xi Cep
	NGC6946 Spiral Galaxy Magn. 9.7 Dist. 17.9 millions l.y.

Top right: NGC 6939 Open Cluster Magn. 7.8 Dist. 4.100 l.y. 80 stars from 10th magn.       Bottom left: NGC 6946

NGC 7822 Bright Nebula NGC 7762 Open Cluster Ced 214 Bright Nebula Berk 59 Open Cluster

DRACO - the Dragon - Dra

Date & Time

Angular separation Etamin - Gianfar = 45°

Click on a star name for more informations         Name Magn. Dist. (L.Y.) Temp.°K C. Type Greek Const. Eltanin 2.23 100 4.200   K5 Gamma Dra Rastaban 2.79 490 5.800   G2 Beta Dra Nodus Secundus 3.07 110 4.840   G9 Delta Dra Aldhibah 3.17 310 14.800   B6 Zeta Dra Ed Asich 3.29 140 4.560   K2 Iota Dra Thuban 3.65 181 10.000   A0 Alpha Dra Grumium 3.75 93 4.560   K2 Xi Dra Tyl 3.83 204 5.220   G7 Epsilon Dra Gianfar 3.84 125 3.400   M0 Lambda Dra Dziban 4.58 60 6.600   F5 Psi 1 Dra Alsafi 4.68 18.4 4.800   K0 Sigma Dra Kuma 4.88 93 8.200   A6 Nu 1 Dra Arrakis 5.83 71 6.360   F7 Mu Dra

The image shows one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen. It reveals intricate structures including concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas and unusual shock-induced knots of gas. This nebula is estimated to be 1,000 years old and is a visual record of the dynamics and late evolution of a dying star. Although the center point of light in this Hubble image appears to be one star, a first interpretation suggests that the star might be a double-star system. The effects of two stars orbiting one another would explain the intricate structures which are more complex than what is usually seen in most planetary nebulae. By looking at this image it is noted that a fast stellar wind of gas was blown off the central star creating the elongated shell of dense glowing gas. This structure is embedded inside two larger lobes of gas which were blown off the star at an earlier phase. These lobes are pinched by a ring of denser gas assumed to have been ejected along the orbital plane of the binary companion. (The suspected companion star also might be responsible for a pair of high-speed jets of gas that lie at right angles to the equatorial ring. If the companion were pulling material in a neighboring star, jets escaping along the companion's rotation axis could be produced.) These jets would explain several puzzling features along the periphery of the gas lobes. Much like a stream of water hitting a pile of sand, the jets compress gas ahead of them, creating the curlicue features and bright arcs near the outer edge of the lobes. The twin jets are pointing in different directions than these features. This suggests that the jets are wobbling and turning on and off periodically.

The image of the Cat's Eye Nebula was taken on September 18, 1994 by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope with the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2. It is a composite of three color images taken at different wavelengths.

Constellation pictures are modified screen displaies of Voyager II™ version 2.0 for the Macintosh™, the Astronomy Program of Carina Software, 12919 Alcosta Blvd Suite #7, San Ramon, CA 94583

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