As of the writing of this post, I have been unable to look for and capture the Zodiacal Light. The fault belongs mostly to the cloudy skies, but my schedule also takes part of the blame. I am hoping that I will get the chance towards the end of the month.
For the remainder of March, you can still look forward to the Moon passing close to Uranus and Mars, Mars passing close to Aldebaran and the Vernal Equinox. The Full Moon this month is still to come and you can still try to catch a glimpse of the Zodiacal Light. Be sure to check the Monthly Night Sky Report for specific dates!
With warmer weather hopefully on its way, many will spend more time outdoors and potentially under the stars! Those with a telescope will likely be looking at objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye, such as galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and double stars. Most, but not all, of these objects have recognizable names such as the Hercules Cluster, Andromeda Galaxy, and the Ring Nebula, to name a few. However, some objects only have alphanumeric catalog designations.
Astronomical catalogs were created as a way to index different objects and their locations in the night sky. There are many different catalogs, with the three most common being the Messier (pronounced Mez-EE-yay, denoted by the letter M), the New General Catalog (NGC), and the Index Catalog (IC). The Messier is the most known of the these three as some of the objects can be seen with the unaided eye, and most can be seen with a small telescope, which makes it more popular for amatuer astronomers. The French astronomer, Charles Messier, created this catalog of 110 different objects in the 18th century. This catalog is so popular that many astronomy clubs, host an all night star party to view all objects in one night! The Astronomical League also gives an award to those that have been able to see all of these objects. Some designations from this catalog include M13 for the Hercules Cluster and M31 for the Andromeda Galaxy.
The New General Catalog (NGC) was originally compiled in 1888 with 7,840 objects. By 1908, two more Index Catalogs (IC) were added to the NGC, bringing the total up to 13,226 objects. Many additions and revisions have been made to this catalog which now contains nearly 14,000 objects as of 2019. This catalog includes the objects from the Messier catalog but gives its own alphanumeric designation to objects, such as NGC6205 for the Hercules Cluster and NGC224 for the Andromeda Galaxy. The NGC is a more complete list of deep space objects that can be seen, however, many of these objects will require a larger telescope.
 |
| Now get outside and look up! |
No comments:
Post a Comment