PEGASUS-- The flying horse. The winged steed, Bellerophon, that the hero Perseus rode to save the maiden Andromeda.

M15
RA 21hr 30min Dec +12 10 Mag 6.4 Size 12'
A globular cluster that contains at least half a million stars. It is 42,000 light years distant and about 130 light years across. Try high power, there are many beautiful star chains.

ANDROMEDA-- The chained lady. She is a princess, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Andromeda is rescued by Perseus before she can be eaten by Cetus, the sea monster. All these people and animals are in the sky.

M31
RA 00hr 42min Dec +41 16 Mag 3.5 Size 178'X40'
The largest, brightest SPIRAL galaxy near the Milky Way. It is easily naked eye from a dark site and was plotted on the star charts of a Persian astronomer Al Sufi in 950 A.D. 2.2 million light years distant. 150,000 light years across, about the size of the Milky Way. This is approximately what the Milky Way would look like from outside. Two companions nearby.

CASSIOPEIA--The queen. The mother of Andromeda and mother in law of Perseus. She was supposed to be very vain and was made to hang upside down over the North Pole because of it.

M 52
RA 23hr 24min Dec +61 35 Mag 6.9 Size 13'
An excellent open star cluster. It is 3000 light years distant and 10 to 15 light years across. A nice orange star is involved and there are several dark lanes among the stars.

PERSEUS--the hero. The rescuer of Andromeda and eventually her husband. He is pictured in the sky as holding the head of the Gorgon, the snake-haired woman, in his hand. This place is the location of Algol, the famous variable star.

NGC 884 and NGC 869
RA 02hr 22min Dec +57 07 Mag 4.4 Size 60'
The Double Cluster is a unique and lovely pair of excellent star clusters that are so close together that they will fit in one wide field of view. The ancient Greek observer Hipparchus included it in a scroll he wrote in 150 BC. The clusters are about 8000 light years distant. That means that the ten brightest stars are about 60,000 times more luminous than our Sun. The Sun would be a magnitude 18 star and only visible in the very largest amateur telescopes.

AURIGA--the Charioteer. Honors Erechthonius, King of Athens, who invented the four horse chariot.

M 37
RA 05hr 52min Dec +32 33 Mag 5.6 Size 24'
One of the best winter open clusters. Any telescope will show hundreds of members with several bright stars and beautiful dark lanes winding among the stars. About 4600 light years distant. There is a lovely orange (or yellow) star near center that is NOT
a cluster member, it has a different motion than the cluster.

ORION--the Hunter. He was fatally stung by Scorpius and put in the sky in a location opposite Scorpius, so that they are never above the horizon at the same time.

M-42
RA 05hr 35min Dec -05 23 Mag 4 Size 66'X60'
The Great Orion Nebula was discovered only two years after Galileo invented the telescope. About 1900 light years away. Cleopatra was Queen of Egypt when light started its way here. Density of the gas in this glowing nebula is a vacuum by laboratory standards, but enough material to make 10,000 Suns. 30 light years across the nebula, which is 20,000 Solar Systems. Stars are being born within the nebulosity right now, our Sun hatched in such a cloud of material. Trapezium of four stars in the center. Over 50 variable stars involved within the nebulosity.

TAURUS--the Bull that Jupiter transformed into when he wished to carry off Europa, daughter of the king of Crete. The constellation consists of two of the best open clusters in the sky, the Hyades and the Pleiades.

Pleiades
RA 03hr 47min Dec +24 07 Mag 1.2 Size 100'
One of the best star clusters in the sky, M45 is named for the half sisters of the HYADES. All had Atlas for a father. 410 light years distant. 10 light years across. 500 member stars. 3 full moons fit across. Many lovely chains of stars. Our Sun would be a pretty insignificant star of 10th magnitude if at the distance of this group, so the brightest stars all giant stars. The Japanese name of this star cluster is Subaru and there is a representation of the cluster on the back of every Subaru automobile.

GEMINI--the Twins are Castor and Pollux, represented by the two brightest stars at the "head of the twins".

M-35
RA 06hr 08min Dec +24 20 Mag 5.1 Size 28'
A very nice open cluster. 2700 light years distant. 30 light years across. About 300 member stars. NGC 2158 is a compact cluster 30' SW in the Milky Way. Nice orange star near the center of the cluster.

NGC 2392
RA 07hr 29min Dec +20 55 Mag 8.6 Size 47"X43"
One of the best planetary nebulae in the sky. It is large and bright for this type of object. 3000 light years distant and 0.6 light years across. Search for it at about 100X or so, you are looking for a grey-green dot. Then switch to high power (about 200X) to look for detail. Called the Clown Face or Eskimo nebula because of dark features that can be glimpsed in the telescope at high power. There is a conspicuous central star on a night with even fair seeing.

CANCER--the Crab. Juno sent the crab to help the Hydra while in battle with Hercules. The muscular brute stepped on Cancer and the sea-crab was transported to the heavens for trying his best.

M-44
RA 08hr 40min Dec +19 59 Mag 3.1 Size 95'
A large, scattered star cluster. It is named Praesepe or the Beehive. The cluster is 525 light years distant and about 13 light years across. So, the Black Death was getting a good grip on Europe about the time the light began its journey to your eyes. Several nice pairs and triples within the cluster at 100X or so.

Iota (è) CNC
RA 08hr 47min Dec +28 48
A nicely colored double star. The stars are 4th and 6th magnitude and separated by 31". I have always seen them as gold and light blue.

HYDRA--the Monster. The largest constellation in the sky has represented a variety of monsters. The most popular association is with the hundred-headed snake that lived in the Lernaen Swamp until it was killed by Hercules.

M-48
RA 08hr 13.8min Dec -05 48 Mag 5.8 Size 42'
A large and bright open cluster. This Messier cluster was 'lost' for many years until it was discovered that Charles Messier made a mistake in the declination of its position when he discovered it in 1771. The cluster is about 1600 light years distant and 20 light years across.

V Hydrae
RA 10hr 51.6min Dec -21.3
This star varies in magnitude from 6.5 to 12 in a 533 day period. It is amazing in the telescope because it among is the reddest stars known. It is a carbon star, one of the rare class that shows strong bands of carbon molecules in its' spectrum. An estimate of the distance to this star is about 1300 light years.

LEO--the Lion. This constellation represents the Nemaen Lion, who was killed by Hercules. He then wore his skin as a symbol of his prowess in combat. In ancient China, this represented the Yellow Dragon.

Gamma Leonis
RA 10hr 19.9min Dec +19.8
This is one of the most beautiful and best observed double stars within reach of a telescope. It is a 2.1 and 3.5 magnitude pair that is separated by 4 arc seconds. The name of this star is Al Geiba in Arabic, which means the Mane, its' position in the body of the Lion. It is about 90 light years distant, which means the stars are 90 and 30 times the brightness of our Sun.

M-66
RA 11hr 20.2min Dec +13 00 Mag 8.9 Size 9'X4'
This galaxy is the brightest in the Leo subgroup. M-66 and M-65 are both fine spiral galaxies and are about 38 million light years distant. Another galaxy, NGC 3628 is also in a wide field of view.

URSA MAJOR--the Large Bear. The most famous of northern constellations, this group represents Callisto, who was transformed into a bear by the jealous Juno, wife of Jupiter. In Britain, it outlines Charles' Wain, the wagon used to transport King Charles I to heaven. The Big Dipper is the outline most easily recognized here and many of the stars in the Big Dipper have the same path through the Milky Way that Our Sun has. That means that the Big Dipper, Our Sun and a few other stars scattered around the sky, form an open cluster that is gravitationally bound together.

Zeta UMA
RA 13hr 23.9min Dec +54.9
This famous double star is named Mizar, which means Girdle or Loins, its position in the Big Bear. The first double star to be discovered, it consists of a 2nd and 4th magnitude pair separated by 15". It is about 88 light years distant. There is a naked eye companion, called Alcor. Mizar and Alcor form the "Horse and Rider" they were used as a test of vision in ancient times.

M-81
RA 9hr 55.6min Dec +69 04 Mag 8.1 Size 26'x14'
This beautiful spiral galaxy is 38 arc minutes from M-82, a bizarre eruptive galaxy. They are about 7 million light years distant.

CANES VENATICI--the Hunting Dogs. The names of the two hunting dogs are Asterion (Starry) and Chara (Dear).

Alpha Canes Venatici
RA 12hr 56.1min Dec +38.3
Cor Caroli is the name of this star and it is named for King Charles II of England, the name means "Heart of Charles". The components of this double system are 3rd and 5th magnitude and separated by 20 arc seconds. At their distance of 120 light years the separation equals 770 A.U. A.U. means Astronomical Unit, the distance between Earth and Sun, about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. Therefore, the Solar System would fit 5 times between these stars. This has always been a lovely tinted pair in any telescope I have owned, the colors usually seen as blue-white and green.

M-51
RA 13hr 30min Dec +47 11 Mag 8.8 Size 9'x8'
The Whirlpool Galaxy is the standard example of a spiral galaxy. Its' picture has graced the cover of many astronomical books over the years. Spiral structure was first thought to be examples of other planetary systems in formation. However, in the 1920's they were recognized as huge systems of stars like Our Milky Way.

COMA BERNICES--Bernices' Hair in honor of Bernice II of Egypt. She cut her "golden tresses" as a sacrifice to Aphrodite when her king, Ptolemy III, returned safely from battle. The court astrologer told the royal couple that the golden locks had been transformed into a constellation and it has been included on star maps since the incident. Ptolemy III was king of Egypt from 246 to 221 B.C.

Coma Star Cluster
RA 12hr 25min Dec +26 00 Mag 1.8 Size 6 deg
This large scattered star grouping is best studied in a pair of binoculars or a finderscope. The Coma star cluster is about 250 light years distant. So the British were just starting to overtax the settlers in the colonies when the light started from the cluster to your eye. The brightest members are 50 times as luminous as the Sun, Old Sol would be a 9.3 magnitude star at this distance, just visible in binoculars. There are about 80 members to the cluster.

HERCULES--The Hero. This boisterous adventurer is the stuff of many Greek and Roman legends, including the voyage of the Argonauts and his Twelve Labors. He is placed in the heavens by Jupiter at his death.

M-13
RA 16hr 41.7min Dec +36 28 Mag 6 Size 16'
One of the finest objects in the heavens, M-13 is a large and bright globular cluster. This globular was discovered by Edmond Halley (yes, that Halley) in 1714. Messier adds it to his catalog with the note "round nebula, contains no star". Charles Messier could have done with a better telescope. Best estimates of the number of cluster members are about one million. Theoretical inhabitants of the center of the cluster would see 1000 stars with a brightness between Venus and the Full Moon!! M-13 is about 24,000 light years away and 160 light years across.

SCORPIUS--The Scorpion that stung and killed Orion. So, Jupiter put them into the sky 180 degrees apart, that way Orion does not see the creature who slew him. Hawaiians see the Fish Hook of the god Maui at this point in the sky, placed there after he used it to fish the Hawaiian Islands up from the sea. The Chinese mark this celestial location as the Azure Dragon.

Alpha Sco
RA 16hr 30min Dec -26.4
Antares means "Rival of Mars" because this red super giant star is near the average brightness of Mars and because it is the same ruddy color to the naked eye. Antares is about 10 the mass of the Sun and at least 500 times the size of the Sun. Using 520 light years as its distance, it is 9000 times the brightness of Old Sol. A true super giant star by any standard. The outer layers of the star are very tenuous and would qualify as a laboratory vacuum. There is a 7th magnitude companion that is 3" from Antares, making it a difficult split on nights of poor seeing.

SCUTUM--The Shield.

LYRA--the Lyre. This stringed musical instrument was made from a turtle shell. When played by Orpheus it would cast a spell that charmed all the creatures of the earth.

VULPECULA--The Fox. Originally Vulpecula et Anser, the Fox and Goose, maybe the Fox ate the Goose.

SAGITTARIUS--The Archer. Chiron placed an archer at this location in the sky to guide the Argonauts home after they had found the Golden Fleece.

CYGNUS--The Swan. Jupiter flew to visit the Queen of Sparta as a swan and then placed the swan in the heavens to commemorate the event. This is also the Northern Cross.