The International Astronomical Union in 1922 determined the names of all visible star clusters in the celestial sphere. At the same time, scientists-astronomers systematized all the scatterings of stars and created a catalog of the starry sky, dividing the constellations of the Southern and Northern hemispheres. To date, 88 star systems are known, 47 of which are ancient (their age is estimated at several millennia). The 12 zodiac constellations through which the Sun passes throughout the year are considered separately.
Globe with constellations,
The names of almost all star clusters in the Southern Hemisphere originate from Greek mythology. For example, there is a well-known myth about the goddess of hunting Artemis, who killed Orion. Then she repented and placed him in the sky among the stars. This is how the equatorial constellation Orion got its name. At the feet of Orion is the constellation Canis Major. Mythology says that this is the dog that followed its owner into the sky. Thus, each star system forms the outline of one or another being or object after which it is named. For example, the constellation Taurus, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, etc.
Nautical navigation
The southern hemisphere is replete with constellations, including many useful asterisms that help ship captains navigate a certain course. Thus, the analogue of the Ursa Major of the Northern Hemisphere is the Southern Cross. He points to the South Pole.
Worship of the people
All stars emit an intense or subdued glow. The brightest glow comes from the star Sirius, which is included in the scattering of Canis Major stars. This is a very old (235 million years) and heavy star (its mass is 2 times the mass of the Sun). Since ancient times, Sirius has been the idol of many people; they worshiped him, made various sacrifices and waited for help. Some luminaries are even described in church publications.
The most striking cosmic shock
The constellation Taurus is very interesting in this regard. It contains a very bright star Aldebaran and two clusters - the Pleiades (consists of 500 luminaries) and the Hyades (130 luminaries). Vivid astrophysical processes often occur in Taurus. So, in the 11th century. n. e. A supernova explosion occurred and the Crab Nebula was formed with a pulsar emitting powerful X-rays and radiomagnetic pulses. However, this event happened in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the Southern Hemisphere there were not many significant comic events, which mainly happened during the era of rapid development of instrumental astronomy.
The Southern Cross is one of the most remarkable constellations in the Southern Hemisphere
Stéphane Guisard is an optical engineer at the European Southern Observatory.
In his professional work, he works with one of the largest optical telescopes ever built by man, the 8-meter Very Large Telescope (VLT). This, however, does not prevent Stefan from engaging in amateur astronomy during his vacation.
Stefan's favorite hobby is astrophotography and time-lapse video. Thanks to his work, Guizar has a slight advantage over other astrophotographers, because he has access to the very dark and transparent skies of the Andes - perhaps the most favorable skies on Earth for astronomical observations.
However, Guizar is not limited to the Andes alone. He traveled all over South and Central America, photographing mountain landscapes, ruins of Mayan cities and, of course, the starry sky.
The galaxy, made up of 10 billion stars, is located 160,000 light-years from Earth. This means that we see it as it was in prehistoric times.
Dawn over Patagonia. The planet Saturn (left) and the star Arcturus (right) shine in the twilight sky above the Cuernos Mountains in Patagonia.
The darkest sky. The quality of the sky is very important to astronomers. Twilight, city light, the moon, auroras and even planets often do not allow for subtle observations of distant galaxies or pale, almost ephemeral nebulae.
Where is the darkest sky? Stefan Guizar believes that in the Atacama Desert in Chile, where the Paranal Observatory is located. This photo shows a panorama of the area near the observatory (telescope towers jutting out from the sky at lower right) and a dark midnight sky. On this night, the Moon did not interfere with the shooting (it was a new moon), and yet flare was noticeable along the horizon. But these are not city lights.
This is light coming from the disk of our own Galaxy. Two hazy spots - Magellanic clouds. The bright star is the planet Jupiter. And an elongated pale spot on either side of Jupiter is all that remains of the zodiacal light by midnight.
Where was this photo taken? Of course, on the equator! In this long-exposure image, the stars stretch out into luminous arcs, revealing the daily rotation of the starry sky. We see that the stars rotate around the celestial pole located on the horizon. N
Only at the equator is the Earth's axis of rotation located on the horizon. Accordingly, only at the equator during the year can you see all the stars in both the northern and southern hemispheres of the earth. This wonderful photo, taken in Ecuador, also included a bright fireball.
Stéphane Guizar prepares to photograph the total solar eclipse on July 11, 2010 on Easter Island. Silent Moai statues stand in the sun, but the Moon is already approaching the Sun...
And here is the result of careful preparation: a total solar eclipse over Easter Island. This remarkable photo of the July 11, 2010 solar eclipse was published on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. At this eerie moment, only ancient idols guard the peace of the isolated island.
The constellation Orion and Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, over Guatemala. The Milky Way is almost invisible on this moonlit night. The filming location is remarkable.
This is the famous Square of the Seven Temples in Tikal, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world. Tikal was the capital of the pre-Columbian kingdom of Mutul.
Starry night at the equator. The magnificent arc of the Milky Way curves over the Cotopaxi volcano. Just above the top of the mountain you can see a huge black hole in the Milky Way. This is the dark Coalsack Nebula.
To the right of it we see another nebula, but this time bright red, the famous Carina Nebula (or Carina Nebula). And even further to the right, Canopus shines above the horizon, the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius.
Sunset over the Atacama Desert. This photo is dedicated to World Environment Day, which takes place under the auspices of the UN every June 5th since 1972.
What did Guizar want to say with this photograph? Use renewable energy sources! Notice the serene expanse below. It's not the ocean, it's the clouds.
The Milky Way over the extinct Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador. The height of the volcano is 6267 meters, and until the beginning of the 19th century, Chimborazo was considered the highest mountain on Earth.
To a certain extent, this is still true today, because despite the fact that Everest is more than 2 km higher than Chimborazo, the top of the Ecuadorian volcano is the most distant point on the surface from the center of the Earth (do not forget that the Earth is slightly flattened towards the equator). Or you can say it another way: the top of Chimborazo is the closest place to the stars.
Meteor in the sky over the Cuernos Mountains, Patagonia. During the shooting, Guizar was lucky and managed to catch a fireball, a very bright meteor that drew a bright streak not far from Sirius through the Milky Way.
And here is another photograph of the same area, also taken at night, but with a very long exposure. The stars, in their movement across the sky, left long trails in the sky.
The ancients believed that the stars actually revolved around the Earth, which rested at the center of the universe. The fact that the daily movement of stars reflects the rotation of the Earth became known relatively recently, some 350-400 years ago.
Beyond the Equator: Southern Hemisphere Star Map
If, after living your whole life in the Northern Hemisphere, you suddenly find yourself on the other side of the equator - for example, in Australia, South Africa or New Zealand, the starry sky above your head on a clear night will seem unusual and even strange to you. After careful study, you will understand that the whole point lies in a completely different arrangement of the night luminaries in the sky. However, they are also grouped into easily recognizable constellations - constant guiding signs for travelers and sailors.
The constellations of the Southern Hemisphere received their modern names much later than, say, Ursa Major or Orion: the ancient Greeks, who systematized most of the groups of stars familiar to us, did not cross the equator, so in this case this role fell to the lot of European sailors in the 17th century. XVIII centuries heading for India and South America.
Name of constellations
In total, there are 88 constellations on the stellar sphere visible from Earth (all of them were finally approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1930); 40 of them shine over the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the constellations received names rooted in ancient Greek mythology: Centaur, Phoenix, Scorpion. Other names were taken from scientific and maritime terminology or simply from everyday life - for example, Microscope, Bake, Net, Octant.
Among the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere, there are no medium-sized ones: they are either small, compact groups of stars, or large ones, stretching across an impressive area of the celestial sphere. Yes, famous South Cross- a very small constellation, consisting of only four stars, which, nevertheless, are among the brightest in the night sky. Hydra, on the contrary, consists of 19 stars and dominates one of the relatively empty sectors of stars, stretching along the southern horizon from the constellation Libra to the constellation Cancer. Now it is the largest of the groups of stars, although until 1930 the constellation was still distinguished in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere Argo. However, astronomers came to the conclusion that Argo was too bulky and difficult to distinguish, so four new constellations arose in its place: Keel, Sail, Compass And Stern.
Southern circumpolar zone
Just as in the Northern Hemisphere, the southern stars move slowly across the sky during the night due to the rotation of the Earth around its axis. However, there is no such convenient “pointer” as the familiar Polar Star, and the imaginary point of the South Pole of the world is located in the sky in the constellation Octantus.
Southern circumpolar zone- this is the region of the celestial sphere located within 40º from the South Pole of the world; the stars related to it do not hide behind the horizon at any time of the night or year. (In fact, they do not leave the sky during the day, only their shine is naturally eclipsed by the radiance of the Sun; in near-equatorial regions they rise from the horizon in the east and slowly move westward during the night.)
Groups of stars that are entirely included in the southern circumpolar zone include the constellations of the Southern Cross, Chameleon, flies, Southern Triangle, Pavlina, Hours, Flying Fish and others.
Low on the horizon
Many constellations in the Southern Hemisphere appear in the sky only at certain times of the year - just as it happens in the Northern Hemisphere. This phenomenon is caused by a combination of the tilt of the earth's axis with the movement of our planet in its orbit around the sun. For example, Keel And cup It is best to observe in the spring, when they rise high enough above the horizon. Libra and the Southern Cross - in summer, the constellation Phoenix and Capricorn- in the fall, and Eridani And Kita- in winter.
Such a cycle not only gives us the opportunity to determine what time of year or hour of the morning it is, but also greatly helps astronomers: by moving in the sky, the stars can take a more favorable position for observations - or, conversely, by leaving the field of view of telescopes, freeing up the desired area of the sky spheres.
Galaxy and nebulae
One of the most spectacular sights in a clear night sky is the jagged band of transparent light stretching obliquely across the celestial sphere. This Milky Way- our galaxy, the light of an uncountable number of stars, which travels to us for tens of thousands, or even millions of years. And although this huge formation has the shape of a spiral disk (at the end of one of the branches of which the Solar System is located), for us it remains a stripe, since we look at it from the side. The Milky Way is equally visible in both hemispheres, but its brightest part is in the southern constellation Sagittarius.
Located so many light years away from us (63,240 AU or 9.463 x 10 12 km), all these luminaries, naturally, cannot be distinguished with the naked eye - just like the stars of other galaxies located even further away. However, these galaxies themselves can sometimes be seen without special optics: these are, in particular, Carina Nebula And Orion Nebula, located in the constellations of the same name. In addition, powerful telescopes bring our neighbors in the Universe at least a little closer to us - it is known, for example, that the galaxy NGC 2997, located in the constellation Pump, like ours, is a gas-dust formation penetrated by myriads of stars.
Stéphane Guisard is an optical engineer at the European Southern Observatory. In his professional work, he works with one of the largest optical telescopes ever built by man, the 8-meter Very Large Telescope (VLT). This, however, does not prevent Stefan from engaging in amateur astronomy during his vacation.
Stefan's favorite hobby is astrophotography and time-lapse video. Thanks to his work, Guizar has a slight advantage over other astrophotographers, because he has access to the very dark and transparent skies of the Andes - perhaps the most favorable skies on Earth for astronomical observations.
However, Guizar is not limited to the Andes alone. He traveled all over South and Central America, photographing mountain landscapes, ruins of Mayan cities and, of course, the starry sky. And last summer, Stefan Guizar visited Easter Island, where he photographed total solar eclipse against the backdrop of Moai statues.
Today, in the “City and Stars” section, we published his wonderful film The Night Sky of Atacama. Here we present to your attention some of his photographs. It’s strange, unusual to look at unfamiliar drawings of the southern constellations and realize that you are still on Earth.
1. Night over Easter Island. A dramatic picture of the southern night sky spreads over the silhouettes of ancient Moai statues. The bright nebula is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The galaxy, made up of 10 billion stars, is located 160,000 light-years from Earth. This means that we see it as it was in prehistoric times. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
2. Dawn over Patagonia. The planet Saturn (left) and the star Arcturus (right) shine in the twilight sky above the Cuernos Mountains in Patagonia. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
3. The darkest sky. The quality of the sky is very important to astronomers. Twilight, city light, the moon, auroras and even planets often do not allow for subtle observations of distant galaxies or pale, almost ephemeral nebulae. Where is the darkest sky? Stefan Guizar believes that in the Atacama Desert in Chile, where the Paranal Observatory is located. This photo shows a panorama of the area near the observatory (telescope towers jutting out from the sky at lower right) and a dark midnight sky. On this night, the Moon did not interfere with the shooting (it was a new moon), and yet flare was noticeable along the horizon. But these are not city lights. This is the Milky Way, the light coming from the disk of our own Galaxy. Two nebulous spots - Magellanic clouds. The bright star is the planet Jupiter. And an elongated pale spot on either side of Jupiter is all that remains of the zodiacal light by midnight. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
4. Where was this photo taken? Of course, on the equator! In this long-exposure image, the stars stretch out into luminous arcs, revealing the daily rotation of the starry sky. We see that the stars rotate around the celestial pole located on the horizon. But only at the equator the Earth's rotation axis is on the horizon. Accordingly, only at the equator during the year can you see all the stars in both the northern and southern hemispheres of the earth. This wonderful photo, taken in Ecuador, also included a bright fireball. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
5. Stéphane Guizar prepares to photograph the total solar eclipse on July 11, 2010 on Easter Island. Silent Moai statues stand in the sun, but the Moon is already approaching the Sun... Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
6. And here is the result of careful preparation: a total solar eclipse over Easter Island. This remarkable photo of the July 11, 2010 solar eclipse was published on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. At this eerie moment, only ancient idols guard the peace of the isolated island. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
7. The constellation Orion and Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, over Guatemala. The Milky Way is almost invisible on this moonlit night. The filming location is remarkable. This is the famous Square of the Seven Temples in Tikal, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world. Tikal was the capital of the pre-Columbian kingdom of Mutul. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
8. Starry night at the equator. The magnificent arc of the Milky Way curves over the Cotopaxi volcano. Just above the top of the mountain you can see a huge black hole in the Milky Way. This is the dark Coalsack Nebula. To the right of it we see another nebula, but this time bright red, the famous Carina Nebula (or Carina Nebula). And even further to the right, Canopus shines above the horizon, the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
9. Sunset over the Atacama Desert. This photo is dedicated to World Environment Day, which takes place under the auspices of the UN every June 5th since 1972. What did Guizar want to say with this photograph? Use renewable energy sources! Notice the serene expanse below. It's not the ocean, it's the clouds. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
10. The Milky Way over the extinct Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador. The height of the volcano is 6267 meters, and until the beginning of the 19th century, Chimborazo was considered the highest mountain on Earth. To a certain extent, this is still true today, because despite the fact that Everest is more than 2 km higher than Chimborazo, the top of the Ecuadorian volcano is the most distant point on the surface from the center of the Earth (do not forget that the Earth is slightly flattened towards the equator). Or you can say it another way: the top of Chimborazo is the closest place to the stars. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
11. Meteor in the sky over the Cuernos mountains, Patagonia. During the shooting, Guizar was lucky and managed to catch a fireball, a very bright meteor that drew a bright streak not far from Sirius through the Milky Way. Photo: Stephane Guisard - Astrosurf.com
12. And here is another photograph of the same area, also taken at night, but with a very long shutter speed. The stars, in their movement across the sky, left long trails in the sky. The ancients believed that the stars actually revolved around the Earth, which rested at the center of the universe. The fact that the daily movement of stars reflects the rotation of the Earth became known relatively recently, some 350-400 years ago.
Many of us love look at the starry night sky, look for familiar constellations and imagine mysterious figures within them. All of these stars, except for the one that illuminates the Earth and gives it warmth, are located outside the solar system and seem very tiny, despite the fact that they are many times larger than any of its planets. What do they really look like? Take a closer look at them is possible only with the help of very powerful technology located in Earth orbit, and this information can be available to us on the Internet, we just need to search better.
What is a star map? Its varieties
Star map- it can be interactive or in the form of an ordinary picture. This is an image showing the location of stars and constellations in the sky. The most optimal and easiest to use is a star map compiled in two projections, where the equatorial part of the sky is presented in a cylindrical projection, and the poles in an azimuthal one. Moreover, due to some distortions, some of the constellations may appear on both the equatorial and polar projections, but this is not a big disadvantage when working with this tool. This map is freely available on the Internet in fairly good quality in jpeg resolution.
More accurate and professional - interactive constellation map, or as it is also called, an online star map. There are quite a lot of them. The most famous and well-developed are Google Sky and Photopic Sky Survey. They allow you not only to view the general projection of the starry sky, but also to bring each of the stars and constellations closer, and also to see those of them that are inaccessible even to telescopes located on Earth, not to mention the naked eye. They were compiled based on numerous images taken by the telescope Hubble, located in orbit. Also, there is another service - Google Earth, it combines Google Sky And Google Map.
A little history
Northern Hemisphere Star Map
Among the constellations of the northern hemisphere you can find such as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor(in the form of buckets). We are accustomed to thinking that they consist of 7 stars each, but in fact this is not so, it’s just that the rest of the stars included in the bucket are very small and therefore not visible to us). Also, in the northern hemisphere we can observe Cassiopeia (represents a zigzag of 6 large stars), the constellation Cepheus (a closed pentagon), Hercules, Draco, Andromeda, Perseus, Canes Venatici (2 large stars at a short distance), Cygnus. And of course, the main landmark of all sailors and travelers is the polar star, which is at the head of Ursa Minor.
There is a very well-known story about how travelers, after crossing the Equator and finding themselves in the Southern Hemisphere, lost sight of the North Star, thereby losing the correct course. After all, the picture of the starry sky also changes with different movements around planet Earth. Moreover, the picture of the starry sky changes for us with the onset of a new season, as the Earth moves in the orbit of the solar system.
Southern Hemisphere Star Map
The constellations located on this part of the map are almost unknown to the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere of the Earth; they cannot be seen from here, just as you cannot see the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere when you are in the Southern. It is represented by such constellations as Velas, Carina, Centaurus, Wolf, Scorpio, Southern Triangle (received this name because it has the shape of an isosceles triangle), Southern Hydra, Phoenix, Peacock, Sagittarius, Crane.
Equatorial belt
In the equatorial belt you can see constellations that we encountered earlier in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. At the equator itself there are the following constellations:
- Aquarius
- Capricorn
- Sagittarius
- Twins
- Taurus
As you can see, all these constellations correspond to the horoscope (each person, depending on the time of his birth, assigns himself to one or another group according to the horoscope, that is, to one or another constellation).
Interactive star map
Now a little about access to the star map in a more complex and accurate format. Programs that allow you to travel through the starry sky online, find the constellations and objects you need using search, move closer and further from them, move in star space, learn new useful information and scientific data about the object. In order to find out additional information, such as the name, exact coordinates, age of the star, belonging to any constellation, average distance from the Earth, you just need to click on it with the mouse. In addition, you can get data on all photos and external articles about a given star. This information can be obtained on the object page.
There are a total of 88 constellations in the sky - quite a large number. Not all of them are visible to the naked eye, but interactive star maps can provide images of even the most distant planets in the solar system.
In addition to the most famous interactive star chart resources, there are small sites with online maps that do not provide additional information, but only show the full picture of the sky, and accordingly, are easier to manage.