Page 22 - Ultimate Visual Dictionary (DK)

THE UNIVERSE

Stars of southern skies

H E R C U L E S
WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE SOUTHERN SKY, you look toward the Galactic
center, which has a huge population of stars. As a result, the Milky
Way appears brighter in the southern sky than in the northern sky
Vega
(see pp. 18-19). The southern sky is rich in nebulae and star
clusters. It contains the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, R A Ras Alhague Ras Algethi
which are two of the nearest galaxies to our own. Stars make L Y
fixed patterns in the sky called constellations. However, O P H I U C H
the constellations are only apparent groupings of stars, S Albireo U
U S
since the distances to the stars in a constellation may N
G S E R P E N S C A U D A
vary enormously. The shapes of constellations may Y S A G I T T A
C A Q U I L A Sabik
change over many thousands of years due to the
Altair S
relative motions of stars. The movement of the Kaus
Deneb R I U S Borealis R P I U
constellations across the sky is due to the Earth’s Nunki Shanta
motion in space. The daily rotation of the Earth D E L P H I N U S T A S C O
causes the constellations to move across the W a y Equ ator Algedi C A I T A R A
sky from east to west, and the orbit of the Celestial P R I G
Earth around the Sun causes different areas y E Q U U L E U S C A S
k O
of sky to be visible in different seasons. The l S R
visibility of areas of sky also depends on M i I U N P A V O
Enif U
the location of the observer. For instance, R Deneb S I N D U S Peacock
A Algedi U S
stars near the celestial equator may be U C I S
seen from either hemisphere at some P Q S T R I N G Al Nair
time during the year, whereas stars L A C E R T A E A P I U S R U S T Small H Y
close to the celestial poles (the celestial G A Fomalhaut U C A N A Cloud
South Pole is at the center of the map A S
Magellanic D RU S
shown here) can never be seen from Scheat S Markab C U Nair AI
Zaurak
the opposite hemisphere. U L P T
E
Deneb O R P H O E N I X Achernar R E T I C U L U M
S
Kaitos R
HYDRUS (THE WATER SNAKE) AND
MENSA (THE TABLE) I
Algenib
Small Alpheratz D
Magellanic Cloud F O R N A X A
Beta Hydri C N
E
Mira U
T
U
Mirach S S
P I S C E S
Menkar
Gamma T Hamal
Hydri A R I E S
A N D R O M E D A
Almach R I A N G U L U M Ecliptic T A U
Alcyone
Gamma Mensae R
Pleiades U
Alpha Mensae Algol S
Alpha Eta Mensae P E R S E U S
Hydri Mirfak
Beta Mensae
Delta Hydri
Large Magellanic
Epsilon Hydri
Cloud VISIBLE STARS IN THE SOUTHERN SKY
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