Lepus (The Hare)
This constellation is visible this month till around the end of February 2011, Lepus is a small constellation lying under the feet of Orion (The Hunter), and is pursued across the sky by his dog in the constellation of Canis Major (The Greater Dog).

Deep Sky Objects in Lepus
(Click on the photo for enlarge image.)

NGC 1964
Spiral Galaxy
Mag: 10.7
RA: 05h 33m / DEC: -21 57
Faint, large and round; small, very bright nucleus.
Distance: 65 million ly

NGC 1979
Elliptical Galaxy
Mag: 11.8
RA: 05h 34m / DEC: -23 19
Pretty bright lens.
Distance: 65 million ly

M79 (NGC 1904)
Globular Cluster
Mag: 8.1
RA: 05h 24m / DEC: -24 33
Medium concentration of stars, pretty large, extremely rich, well resolved, very faint stars.
Distance: 45,000 ly
Extends: 75 ly

Features of Interest :-  R Leporis (R Lep)
A long-period variable in the constellation Lepus, easily seen in binoculars when at maximum brightness. It was discovered by John Hind who described it as “… resembling a blood drop on the black field of the Night Sky.”

R Leporis is the reddest reasonably bright star in the sky. Its wide variability comes about because the star produces enormous amounts of carbon which, when dredged up through convection, makes its way to the outer layers of the atmosphere. Carbon particles, or soot, concentrate to create an outer shell that dramatically dims the star. This dimming gives R Lep its extremely red appearence. At some point much of the carbon is blown away from the star and the process begins again.

Visual Magnitune :- 7.7 average; 6th to 10th range.
Period :- 427 days.
Position :- RA:- 04h 59m 36s  / DEC :- -14`48.





With a New Moon finding the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), this above image that you should see like that with your binocular high in the Eastern Sky in early evening.

Fact:-
M31 (NGC 224, the famous Andromeda Galaxy) is the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy. It is so bright that it is easily seen by naked eye as a faint fuzzy patch. It’s 2.3 million lightyears away (One light-year away =  5,865,696,000,000 miles, that’s NOT a long way for the Universe!

See the SkyMap – (Visible at 22:00 / 10pm local time from July till December and visible at South (180` degrees) local time @ 22:00 / 10pm – November 10th).

Messier 44 ( M4 or NGC 2632)
This object is best viewed with big binoculars or rich field telescopes. It’s diameter is about 1.5 degrees, so a minimum field of view of three to four degrees will allow it to stand out nicely from it’s surroundings. Personally I think an 11 or 12 x 80 binocular would be very good.

A rich field telescope using magnification of 25x will bring out more of the dimmer cluster members. Using the 32mm eyepiece on my telescope (16 inch F4.5) gives the centre of the cluster can be seen.

See the SkyMap.

DO NOT FORGOT
Don’t forget, on the 30th October the clocks go back which means the days will become darker quicker, so that’s great news for astronomers!
So find Comet Hartley 2 low with the naked eye or binoculars from 10pm onwards – see the map.

The Hubble Tuning Fork
In the early 1900s, Edwin Hubble looked at galaxies like the ones you saw in the last few pages. Hubble classified the galaxies using a “tuning fork” system. The elliptical galaxies made up the fork’s handle, and spiral galaxies and barred spiral galaxies make the fork’s prongs. So his classification system looked like this above – Click here for enlarge image.

Hubble believed that galaxies started at the left end of the tuning fork when they were young, and moved toward the right as they aged. Therefore, he called elliptical galaxies “early galaxies” and spiral galaxies “late galaxies”.

We now know he was mistaken in this belief. Spiral galaxies have a great deal of rotation and elliptical galaxies do not. There is no way an elliptical galaxy could spontaneously begin rotating, so elliptical galaxies cannot turn into spiral galaxies. Although Hubble was wrong about his theory of galaxy evolution, the confusing names have stuck: today, elliptical galaxies are still referred to as early galaxies and spirals as late galaxies.

Did you know?

Hubble Space Telescope
It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, more information about Edwin Hubble.

Irregular Galaxy
Most galaxies fit one of the three previously described types, but about 3% of the galaxies we observe are very different.

These so-called “irregular galaxies” do not have a lot of common features. Many of them are the results of galaxy collisions or near misses. One type of irregular galaxy is called a “starburst galaxy.” Starburst galaxies shine brightly as many new stars are born in a short period of time.

Irregular galaxies are usually found in groups or clusters, where collisions and near-misses between galaxies are common. In a few irregular galaxies, astronomers can’t figure out why they look so strange!

Irregular galaxies are denoted by the letters Irr.

More information about Irregular Galaxy.

Elliptical Galaxy (Above:- Messier 32 / NGC 221)
Elliptical galaxies are also named because of their shapes. Elliptical galaxies range from circular (remember, a circle is an ellipse!) to long, narrow, and cigar-shaped.

Elliptical galaxies are denoted by the letter E. They are also given a number from 0 to 7. An E0 galaxy looks like a circle. An E7 galaxy is very long and thin. Astronomers have specific mathematical definitions for each number, but these definitions are beyond the scope of this project. With some practice, you can learn to visually tell what type of elliptical galaxy you are observing.

For an example:-


Messier 89 (M89 or NGC 4552)
Round galaxy with bright core – an E0 galaxy.

Close-up Messier 32 (M32 or NGC 221)
Round galaxy with bright core – an E2 galaxy.

Messier 59 (M59 / NGC 4621)
Elongated Galaxy with bright core – an E5 galaxy.

More information about Elliptical Galaxy.

(Tomorrow’s archive :- Irregular Galaxy)

Barred Spiral Galaxy
Some spiral galaxies have a bright line, or bar, running through them. These are called “barred spiral galaxies.”

The image above shows a barred spiral galaxy. Galaxies without a bar are simply called “spiral galaxies.”

The arms of a spiral galaxy have lots of gas and dust, and they are often areas where new stars are constantly forming. The bulge of a spiral galaxy is composed primarily of old, red stars. Very little star formation goes on in the bulge.

More information about Barred Spiral Galaxy.

(Tomorrow ‘s archive :- Elliptical Galaxy)

Spiral Galaxies
The most common type of galaxy is called a “spiral galaxy.” Not surprisingly, spiral galaxies look like spirals, with long arms winding toward a bright bulge at the center. But be careful – if you looked at a spiral galaxy from the side, you could mistake its shape for a circle, and so you’d have to use other criteria to learn it was a spiral.

If you can clearly see the spiral shape, the galaxy is called a “face-on spiral.” If you instead see the galaxy from the side, it is called an “edge-on spiral.” You can recognize edge-on spiral galaxies because you can see their bright central bulges. Face-on and edge-on spiral galaxies aren’t really any different; they only look different because of the angle from which you see them.

Three contrasting spiral galaxies:

A face-on spiral galaxy with tightly wound arms (Messier 74 or NGC 628).

A face-on spiral galaxy with very loose arms (M90 / NGC 4569).

An edge-on spiral galaxy (M104 / NGC 4594).

(Tomorrow ‘s archive :- Spiral Galaxies)

Are all galaxies shaped like the Milky Way?
No –  Galaxies can also be shaped like Barred Spirals and Ellipses, other galaxies have no definite shape.

Spiral Galaxy
An example of a Spiral Galaxy, the Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 101 (M101) or NGC 5457).

Barred Spiral
A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars.

Elliptical Galaxy
An example of a Elliptical Galaxy, this above image also known as Messier 32 (M32) or NGC 221).

Irregular Galaxy
An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a regular shape.

(This week’s archive :- Spiral, Barred, Elliptical, Irregular Galaxies and The Hubble Tuning Fork)

Click here for enlarge map.

This well-known constellation represents a youth pouring water from a jar, the stream of water flows into mouth of a large fish, represented by the constellation of Piscis Austrinus to the south.

Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, the Sun passing through it from 16 February to 11th  March each year.

Features of Interest
M2 – Gloubular Cluster, see Derekscope’s archive :-  Sunday 10th October 2010.

M72 –  other Gloubular Cluster, low concentration of stars – in a 4-inch telescope speckles pop in and out of view in an otherwise foggy moor of starlight. (See image of M72).

M73 –  A cluster of three or four little stars, looks like a nebula at first glance. (See image of M73).

Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) – the Nebula is dimly visible in binocular and rich-field telescopes at low magnification – one of the nesrest of all planetaries from our Solar System. (See image of Helix Nebula).