Auriga (constellation)
Full visibility (approx.):
- Alpha Aurigids
- Delta Aurigids
- Giraffe
- Perseus
- Taurus
- Gemini
- Lynx
The carter, in the jargon Auriga (Latin ) is a constellation of the northern sky. Its main star Capella is a star first size and part of the eye-catching Wintersechsecks.
Description
The carter is a vast, easily recognizable constellation. It borders directly east of the Bull ( Taurus ). Along with the star Elnath ( β Tauri ), which belongs to Taurus, the carter forms an almost regular pentagon. The main star Capella is the third brightest star with 0.1 like the northern sky.
The northern part of the vehicle man is circumpolar in our latitudes, ie, visible throughout the year. It reaches its highest position in the night sky in winter. In about 13,000 years it is due to the precession mark the celestial equator.
By carter the starry band of the Milky Way draws, so here are several interesting objects, as seen star clusters and nebulae.
History
The constellation was known to the Babylonians as Fuhrmann ( Rukubi ). The Latin name means something like Auriga charioteer or helmsman.
The Romans identified the constellation with the Greek king Erichthonius, who invented the four-horse carriage.
The carter is one of the 48 constellations of the ancient Greek astronomy, which were described by Ptolemy.
One previous interpretation after it is in the constellation of a shepherd carrying a goat on his shoulder. The name of the main star Capella means " kids ". In older star atlases, such as the Uranometria by Johann Bayer or the works of Johannes Hevelius and JE Bode is the carter represented as a bearded man with a goat on your back or arm.
The southernmost star Elnath been attributed in the past as γ Aurigae the wagoner. After determining the constellation boundaries by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ), he now belongs to the bull.
Mythology
King Erichthonius I of Athens spanned the first four horses to his chariot. Among the Romans, he was the son of the god Vulcan, the Greeks, the son of Hephaestus and Athena.
According to Greek mythology, it is to be in goats to the nymph Amalthea, who provided Zeus as a boy. Zeus was a son of the Titan Kronos, who was prophesied that he would one day overthrown by one of his descendants as rulers. Kronos swallowed out all his children immediately after birth. After the birth of Zeus him a stone instead was planted, he also devoured. Zeus was hidden in a cave and raised by Amalthea with the milk of a goat. Other mythological interpretations by, Amalthea was even a goat. Your Horn was later the lady luck and was the " horn of plenty ".
Celestial objects
Stars
α Aurigae is an apparent brightness of 0.08m the brightest star in Fuhrmann. It is a spectroscopic binary star system 42 light years away, consisting of two giant stars of spectral type G5 with the 70 -fold and 90 -fold luminosity of our sun. The two stars orbit each other so closely spaced that they can not be separated with an optical telescope. Only the investigation of its spectrum shows that there are two stars. The name Capella is Latin and means " kids ". The Arabic name Alhajoth also derives from "goat".
Observable multiple stars
θ Aurigae is a potential binary star system with an angular distance of about 4 seconds of arc; a third optical component is about 50 arcseconds away. To watch all three stars you need a mid- telescope from 8 cm opening.
ω Aurigae is a binary star system in 250 light years away, with two whitish shining stars of spectral types A0 and F5. Due to the wide angular spacing of 5 arc seconds, the system can already be resolved with a smaller telescope in single stars.
Variable Stars
The second brightest star, β Aurigae is 82 light years away. He is, as Capella, a spectroscopic binary and also an eclipsing variable star, ie, two stars of different luminosity orbit each other. If the darker component moves in front of the lighter, decreases the apparent brightness. The name is of Arabic origin and means Menkalinan as much as " the shoulder of the rein holder ( Fuhr man ) ".
ε Aurigae is an eclipsing variable star Algol type in 4,000 light-years away. Of all known eclipsing binaries, it has around 27 years to the greatest period, the phase of minimum brightness is about 18 months.
ζ Aurigae is also an eclipsing binary Algol type. The system consists of a red supergiant of spectral type K4, which is orbited by a smaller bluish companion star of spectral type B. The system has the second longest known period: All 2.66 years pushes the bluish star in front of the main star and the observed brightness decreases. The system is about 790 light years away.
The star ε and ζ Aurigae are also referred to as Haedus I and II ( Greek " the children ").
RT Aurigae is a Pulsationsveränderlicher star, similar to the Cepheids in 2,500 light-years away. The star varies rhythmically, in 3 days, 7 hours and 28 minutes, its brightness.
AE Aurigae is about 1460 light years distant variable star whose brightness varies irregularly from 5.78 to 6.08 m. In a dark night, he is still just visible with the naked eye. Measurements of the proper motion showed that the star with an extremely high speed of 100 km / s moves. He belongs together with 53 Arietis in Aries and μ Columba in the pigeon to the class of runaway stars ( outliers). Perhaps they were once members of a multiple star system and were thrown as a result of a supernova explosion or by the close encounters of another system before pulling two to three million years ago from the Orion association.
Messier and NGC objects
In Fuhrmann there are three open clusters, which started the French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier in his catalog of nebulous objects ( Messier catalog). All three clusters are about 4,000 light-years away and offer a beautiful sight in binoculars or a telescope. They can be relatively easily found by the area of the vehicle man searches the galaxy for them.
M36 can already be resolved with a larger binoculars in 20 to 30 single stars. It contains about 60 stars of the 9th to 14th magnitude.
M37 is the most impressive star cluster in Fuhrmann. In binoculars, however, you can see only a misty spot. In a telescope the cluster can be resolved in an impressive number of single stars. In total it contains 150 single stars 9 to 12.5 m.
M38 is also visible in binoculars only as a misty patch. In a telescope about 100 individual stars from 8 to 12m are visible, which are arranged interesting.
NGC 1931 is an emission nebula, just east of M36. Here, a cloud of gas from nearby stars is stimulated to emit light. The fog is already visible in a smaller telescope. In a larger telescope, four are close together show star in the mist.
NGC 2126 is a loose cluster of 20 stars from 11 to 14m.
NGC 2281 was discovered in 1788 by William Herschel. He is a bit west of the transit man, almost halfway to the twins. He is also an interesting open cluster, which consists of lighter, scattered stars. From its size and brightness to it is comparable with the Messier objects.