It is noteworthy that familiarization with the night sky is quite possible to carry out at any time of the year. Of course, the division into seasons is very arbitrary.
"Star" birds and animals
During this period, you can study the constellations of the autumn sky. For children, the process of acquaintance with such mythical heroes as Perseus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia will be informative. And with amazing "star" animals - the mythical Pegasus, curly Aries and a small reptile Lizard, as well as the marine inhabitants of the Whale and Pisces.
The brightest observed constellations of the autumn sky are Cassiopeia, Pisces, Pegasus and Andromeda. It is in the fall that these four asterisk are quite clearly visible in clear night weather.
The brightest constellations and stars of the autumn sky
One of the total objects of the autumn sky - Pegasus - is most visible in this period of the year. The winged horse, resembling a square in shape, consists of four brightest stars. Contains Arabic names Sheat, Makrab, Algenib and Alferatz.
The Pegasus constellation has a pen consisting of three luminaries emerging from the upper left corner of the square. Two of them also have names: Alamak and Mirah. Interestingly, the square and the pen together have some similarities with a copy of the Big Dipper located in the
constellation Ursa Major. The “handle” objects also belong to the Andromeda asterisk.
Pegasus and the nearest galaxy
Andromeda in shape resembles the inverted letter “A” attached to the constellation Pegasus.
The best time to observe Andromeda in the northern hemisphere is the November period. In the night sky, in this group of stars, the nearest galaxy M 31 is clearly visible.
"Monsieur 31" (or Andromeda galaxy) refers to the spiral type, as well as the Milky Way. It is located approximately 25 thousand light-years from Earth. The galaxy is visible to the naked eye (as a bright spot on a clear night).
Cassiopeia is an ancient constellation
North of Andromeda is another bright object - Cassiopeia. This ancient asterism was known in ancient times. According to legend, Cassiopeia was considered the queen of Ethiopia. Finding this constellation is easy enough. Autumn night sky is the most favorable time for observing this asterisk. Cassiopeia, consisting of five bright stars, has some similarities with the English letter "W".
The Lost Constellation Pisces
The constellation Pisces is represented by a pair of "fish". They are divided into northern and western, they are united by one point in the tail. It is a little more difficult to detect the constellation Pisces than Cassiopeia, because of the greater dispersal of the stars through the observed territory of the night sky. It has a weaker luminosity group of stars. It resembles a “V" in form and borders on the Pegasus square and Aries asterisk.
This is not all the constellations of the autumn sky. At this time of the year you can observe a lot of beautiful and mysterious objects.
The Second Sun in the constellation Cetus
Under the asterisk of Pisces, the constellation of China is located . It lacks bright luminaries. But despite this, there is an interesting long-period variable star - the World of Whale. Sometimes it shines, not inferior in brightness to the luminaries of Pegasus, and at times it completely disappears from sight. The constellation has another attraction, it is the star of t China. In its physical characteristics, it resembles our Sun and belongs to the nearest star, similar to our luminary.
Aries, Perseus and the Lizard
In the southeastern part of the autumn sky is a pair of interesting objects - Aries and Perseus.
Just below the handle of Andromeda, two stars are clearly visible. These are the clearest objects of the constellation Aries.
They received the names Sheratan and Hamal. The rest of the Aries luminaries are rather dull and often hardly noticeable.
Asterisk Perseus contains the brightest star - Mirfak, which is its alpha. It is also considered the brightest of all the constellations of the autumn sky. Among other things, in this place there is a double cluster - Chi and Ash. They are one of the most attractive clusters of the sky.
The smallest and most inconspicuous constellation of the autumn sky is the Lizard. It does not contain enough bright objects. It consists of only five luminaries of the fourth magnitude. It resembles a “snake” in shape. The Lizard borders on the left side with the asterisk of Cassiopeia, and under it are the constellations of Pegasus and Andromeda.
Not only the constellations of the autumn sky, but also the other time of the year, are attractive to inquisitive explorers of the space of our cosmos.