Galaxy neighbours

Ken Kennedy of Dundee Astronomical Society tells us what we can expect to see in the October sky.

“What I think of as the first of the great winter constellations, Pegasus, straddles the meridian later on October evenings,” he says. “The square formed by the corner stars of the horse’s body is easy to see but, unless you remember that Pegasus is inverted, the neck and legs are less obvious.

“The neck stretches from the lower right hand star of the square, Markab, westwards and ends at Pegasus’ nose, the star Enif. Project a line along the stars of the head through Enif and you arrive at Messier 15, another of the many globular clusters which surround the Milky Way galaxy.

“Sadly for those of us who enjoy looking at the night sky, modern LED street lighting is intrusive despite sending less light upwards. For those below the lights it is almost impossible to see more than the brightest stars. The number of stars visible within the Square of Pegasus has long been a test of how clear the sky is and, in good conditions, it may be possible to see nine, or even a few more.

“The left or eastern edge of the Square marks the limit of Pegasus and what appears to be its hind leg is actually the constellation of Andromeda and the top left hand star of the Square, Alpheratz, is now classified as being in Andromeda.

“Looking eastwards along the stars of Andromeda we come to two of our local neighbouring galaxies, Messier 31, and Messier 33 in Triangulum which I will mention next month.

“The first of the series of winter meteor showers peaks between October

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