Lacerta

No

• Cepheus
• Swan
• Pegasus
• Andromeda
• Cassiopeia

The lizard ( Lacerta Latin ) is a constellation of the northern sky.

Description

The lizard is an inconspicuous constellation. It consists of a chain of faint stars, of which only one is brighter than the fourth magnitude.

They are found between the striking constellations Cassiopeia and Swan ( Cygnus ).

Due to the northern part of the lizard, the Milky Way draws.

History

The constellation was introduced in 1687 by the Gdańsk astronomer Johannes Hevelius.

The Frenchman Augustin Royer summed up the star in 1697 in honor of the Sun King Louis XIV, the " Sceptre " ( the scepter ) together. Johann Elert Bode in 1787 suggested the name " Honore Frederic " ( " Frederick's honor ") prior to commemorate the one year before the late Prussian King Frederick the Great. However, both constellations could not prevail.

1929 discovered Cuno Hoffmeister in the lizard an object whose brightness changed with no apparent periodicity. It was considered a variable star and called it according to the usual nomenclature as BL Lac. Only later it was discovered that it is the active galactic nucleus (English: Active Galactic Nucleus AGN) negotiated a galaxy. BL Lacertae was the first discovered Blazar and namesake of one type of galaxies, which are now referred to as BL Lacertae objects.

Celestial objects

Stars

α Lacertae, the brightest star in the lizard, is a 100 light-years distant, whitish shining star of spectral type A2 V.

Double stars

8 Lacertae is a double star system 2,000 light years away. The two most luminous components belong to the spectral type B2. You may already be observed with a small telescope.

Messier and NGC objects

In the lizard, there are three open star clusters that can be resolved with an average telescope into individual stars.

The galaxy is very faint BL Lac with a brightness of 14.5 m. To watch them, you need a larger telescope.