Here is the transcript for my podcast about how to see the constellation Triangulum, double star in Perseus, and NGC 891.
Check out the Astronomy.com's interactive star chart to see an accurate map of your sky. It'll help you locate some of this week's key targets. Astronomy magazine subscribers have access to a slew of cool functions with StarDome PLUS.
--Start transcript--
The constellation Triangulum, the Double Cluster in Perseus, and NGC 891 are visible in the next few days. We’ll help you find them in this week’s Astronomy magazine podcast.
Hello, I’m Astronomy magazine Senior Editor Michael Bakich. Each week, I highlight three different night-sky targets for you to see:
-
One object you can find without optical aid
-
One object to find with a small telescope
-
One deep-sky object to find with an 8-inch or larger telescope for you avid astronomers
Small star figure
This week’s naked-eye object is the tiny constellation Triangulum the Triangle. And, when I say small, I’m not kidding. Triangulum ranks 78th in size out of the 88 constellations. It covers an area of 132 square degrees — only 0.3 percent of the sky.
Only 12 stars in this constellation shine more brightly than magnitude 5.5, but don’t despair. Triangulum’s small size actually makes it easier for you to locate.
To find this diminutive star pattern, look just above the horns of Aries the Ram for a small, thin, three-sided starry figure. Andromeda lies to Triangulum’s upper right, and Perseus sits to its upper left.
A treat for two eyes
This week’s small telescope target is the Double Cluster in Perseus, also known as NGC 869 and NGC 884.
NGC 869 is the richer of the two clusters. It contains nearly three dozen 9th- and 10th-magnitude stars in an area 10' across. NGC 884 appears less concentrated but holds more bright stars, with the densest group on the southwestern edge. Through a 4-inch telescope at 50x, you’ll see an abundance of color in these stellar jewels. Look for red, yellow, and blue gems scattered among the abundant white stars.
Each cluster holds a treasure at its core. NGC 869 contains a dark, Y-shaped rift. NGC 884’s stars surround RS Persei, a deep-red semiregular variable star.
By the way, the Double Cluster also looks great through binoculars that magnify 15 or more times.
When you’re number two, you try harder
This week’s deep-sky object is spiral galaxy NGC 891 in Andromeda. You know, second place is fine if people remember you. NGC 891’s problem is that it’s Andromeda’s second-best galaxy. Not bad, except the constellation’s top dog happens to be one of the sky’s supreme wonders — the Andromeda Galaxy.
Despite that, NGC 891 ranks as one of the sky’s best edge-on galaxies. It inclines only 1.4° to our line of sight.
A 10-inch telescope reveals a symmetrical object about 10' long with a noticeable but narrow central bulge. A dark dust lane bisects the galaxy and runs nearly its entire length. Dozens of foreground stars populate the field, adding a third dimension to the view.
At magnifications above 200x, note the sections of NGC 891’s nucleus on each side of the dust lane. The western section glows slightly brighter. Likewise, the galaxy’s disk to the southwest outshines its lesser half, which lies to the northeast.
Last week's episode: Piscis Austrinus, globular cluster M2, and the Saturn Nebula
Last week's transcript