Constellation Highlights
The constellations are humanity’s oldest map. Every culture that ever looked up drew pictures in the stars β and many of those stories, some thousands of years old, are still the names we use today.
But a constellation is more than its mythology. Each one is a region of sky with its own cast of objects worth finding: bright stars, double stars, clusters, nebulae, galaxies. This series covers both β the stories and the sky β with a guide to what’s actually there and how to find it, whatever equipment you’re using.
Serpens
STARS:
Gliese 710
MESSIER:
5, 16
NGC:
6027, 6118, 6539
OTHER:
Hickson 79
Auriga
STARS:
Epsilon Aur, AE Aur, Capella
CALDWELL:
31
MESSIER:
37
NGC:
1893, 1931
OTHER:
IC 405
Cepheus
STARS:
Delta Cep
CALDWELL:
1, 4
NGC:
188, 7023, 7510
OTHER:
IC 1396, Sh 2-136
Vulpecula
CALDWELL:
37
MESSIER:
27
NGC:
6802, 6820, 6823, 6830
OTHER:
Collinder 399
Scutum
STARS:
Delta Sci
MESSIER:
11, 26
NGC:
6712
OTHER:
Barnard 104, Scutum Star Cloud
Ophiuchus
STARS:
Barnard's Star
MESSIER:
10
NGC:
6384
OTHER:
Barnard 65-67, IC 4665, Rho Ophiuchi
Draco
STARS:
Thuban
CALDWELL:
3, 6
MESSIER:
102
NGC:
4236, 5981, 5982, 5985, 6543
OTHER:
Arp 188
BoΓΆtes
STARS:
Arcturus, Izar
CALDWELL:
45
NGC:
5248, 5466, 5529
OTHER:
Hickson 73
Lynx
CALDWELL:
25
NGC:
2419, 2537, 2552, 2683
OTHER:
Jones-Emberson 1, Purgathofer-Weinberger 1
Gemini
STARS:
Castor
CALDWELL:
39
MESSIER:
35
NGC:
2158, 2371, 2392, 2420
OTHER:
IC 443
Canis Major
STARS:
Sirius
MESSIER:
41
NGC:
2359, 2360
OTHER:
CMa Overdensity, Sh 2-308
Orion
STARS:
Betelgeuse
MESSIER:
42, 43
NGC:
2024, 2169
OTHER:
Barnard 33, LDN 1622
Cetus
STARS:
Mira
CALDWELL:
51, 56, 62
MESSIER:
77
NGC:
246, 247
OTHER:
IC 1613, Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte
Pegasus
STARS:
51 Peg
CALDWELL:
30, 43, 44
MESSIER:
15
NGC:
7331, 7479, 7814
OTHER:
HCG 92