Skies conjure up animal magic
LOOK closely and you can spot 44 constellations in the skies from the northern hemisphere over the course of a year.
And at the moment there are three that are quite easy to find – the Great Bear, the Lion and the Swan.
The constellations are apparent patterns of stars in the sky.
Using your imagination to join up the stellar dots, you can find creatures and characters from Greek mythology spread across the night sky.
Ursa Major – the Great Bear – is one the sky’s most easily recognisable constellations. It’s large and spreads out across a large part of the northern sky.
You will likely have seen and might be familiar with seven of the brightest stars within Ursa Major.
They make up a pattern known as The Plough or The Big Dipper – a saucepan shape with three stars making up the handle and four more comprising the pan. Well, I did say you need to use your imagination. The Plough is the tail and body of the Great Bear and, because the stars are quite bright, can be seen from almost anywhere. The rest of the bear is made from much fainter stars and so you need to get away from the glare of light pollution and into a darker location to see them.
Leo (the Lion) dominates the south-western sky at the moment, dipping down into the west as we approach midnight. The head of the Lion can be found by looking for a prominent question mark shape in the stars followed by a bright triangle to the left which forms the tail of the lion.
A star called Regulus is at the base of the question mark and is a bright star.
When you look at Regulus through binoculars or a telescope, it resolves into a double star.
Within the body of Leo lie several galaxies, three of which can be seen with a telescope.
This Leo Triplet contains three nebulous spiral galaxies – each made up of several billion stars themselves.
Finally, in the eastern sky, you may spot the constellation Cygnus – the Swan.
Flying toward the south is a
large formation of stars that resemble a great bird in the sky. It is a wonderful sight set against the rich starry background of the Milky Way.
You can spend hours scanning this constellation with a pair of binoculars, finding dense starfields and clusters. The brightest star in Cygnus is Deneb – the tail of the swan. Four other stars form up a large cross shape in the sky, creating the long body of the swan and the wings. At the beak of the swan is a star called Albireo.
When viewed through binoculars or a telescope, Albireo becomes a double star – this time with two stars of different colours.
So if it’s clear outside this week, get outside and try to spot the constellations.