Tucana and Hydrus - Downloadable article
In the Toucan and Little Water Snake, southern observers can sample deep-sky delights from our galaxy and beyond.
By
Tom Polakis —
Published:
March 3, 2009This downloadable article is from an Astronomy magazine 45-article series called "Celestial Portraits." The collection highlights all 88 constellations in the sky and explains how to observe each constellation's deep-sky targets. The articles feature star charts, stunning pictures, and constellation mythology. We've put together 11 digital packages. Each one contains four Celestial Portraits articles for you to purchase and download.
"Tucana and Hydrus" is one of four articles included in Celestial Portraits Package 11.
For observers in the Southern Hemisphere, the spring months allow the Milky Way to swing below the South Celestial Pole while star-poor constellations reach their highest away from our galaxy's plane. Two of these constellations would be nearly devoid of interesting telescopic objects were it not for the presence of the Milky Way's closest significant companion galaxies.
Tucana the Toucan is an ill-defined sprinkling of mostly 4th-magnitude stars punctuated by 3rd-magnitude Alpha (α) Tucanae on its western border. Near the center of the constellation, Zeta (ζ) Tucanae is a Sun-like star just 28 light-years away that's racing across the sky at a rate of over 2" per year.
Hydrus the Little Water Snake is no match for Hydra, its much larger northern counterpart. The southern constellation contains three 3rd-magnitude stars. Their distances range from 24 light-years for Beta (β) Hydri to 210 light-years for Gamma (γ) Hydri. To read the complete article, purchase and download Celestial Portraits Package 11. |
Deep-sky objects in Tucana and Hydrus include
NGC 7329, Tucana Dwarf, Kappa (κ) Tucanae, NGC 362, NGC 104, NGC 121, NGC 371, NGC 346, NGC 330, NGC 376, NGC 419, NGC 220, Henize N19, NGC 602, NGC 1466, NGC 1511 |
Package 11 contains the following Celestial Portraits articles
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