Cosmic Pursuits

Basic astronomy and night sky information

draco

The Constellation Draco

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The constellation Draco winds between the Big and Little Dippers in the far-northern sky.
The constellation Draco winds between the Big and Little Dippers in the far-northern sky.

Now we look to the long and winding constellation Draco.  This group winds between the Big and Little Dippers. The tip of its tail lies just above the bowl of the Big Dipper, while the small quadrilateral of its head lies near one of the feet of Hercules. The constellation is well overhead from March through the late months of summer in the northern hemisphere.

(This article is an excerpt of the Cosmic Pursuits course Fundamentals of Stargazing, to be released in February 2016) [Read more…] about The Constellation Draco

Share This:
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

NGC 6503, the Lost-in-Space Galaxy

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

This NASA/ESA HUbble Space Telescope image shows galaxy NGC 6503. The galaxy, which lies 18 million light-years away, is at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. This new image shows a very rich set of colours, adding to the detail seen in previous images.
This NASA/ESA HUbble Space Telescope image shows galaxy NGC 6503. The galaxy, which lies 18 million light-years away, is at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. This new image shows a very rich set of colours, adding to the detail seen in previous images.

Thanks to gravity, most galaxies clump together in groups or clusters, so a neighboring galaxy is usually never far away. But the galaxy NGC 6503 has found itself in a lonely position, perched at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. The galaxy is near enough and bright enough to spot with a small telescope in the northern constellation Draco, the Dragon [Read more…] about NGC 6503, the Lost-in-Space Galaxy

Share This:
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

From the Observer’s Log: The Splinter Galaxy

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

NGC-5907Galaxy season is back, and I’m going hunting in the deep sky. Among tonight’s targets is NGC 5907, the “Splinter Galaxy” in the constellation Draco. Part of the NGC 5866 galaxy group, this edge-on spiral is 50 million light years away. At a length of 120,000 light years long, it’s one of the largest edge-on systems visible in a small telescope, with a mass of 250 billion Suns. NGC 5907 is well-known for its warped disk and a dramatic arc of stars that suggests a recent collision with another galaxy. It also lacks the number of giant stars expected of a spiral galaxy [Read more…] about From the Observer’s Log: The Splinter Galaxy

Share This:
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail