Lepus

Lepus, the Hare.  Just South of Orion
with its Ears on the Top-Right

Lepus is a constellation that looks remarkably like its name.   It sits just south of Orion's feet with its ears sticking northward.   Alas most of the stars of the Hare are rather fainter than those in the neighbourhood of Orion to the north and Canis Major to the east.  Just to the south (below)  of Beta Lepus (or Nihal) lies the distant globular cluster M79.  It is nearly 60,000 light years from the galactic centre and over 40,000 light years from Earth.    What makes M79 especially interesting is that it was probably born not in the Milky Way but in the dwarf irregular galaxy in Canis Major.  This dwarf galaxy is the nearest to the Earth and is currently being shredded by the gravity of the Milky Way.

Best Views in the Solar System

Here are two great views in the solar system simulated using Stellarium.  Not exactly stars but pretty nice!

Mars from the Surface of Phobos

Saturn from the Surface of Mimas

Alkab or Iota Aurigae

Auriga labelled by Astrometry.Net!

I thought that we would spend some more time in Auriga since it is high up right now. It turns out the Gregory Chaucer (of Canterbury Tales fame) wrote a book about how to use an astrolabe.  An astrolabe is a navigational instrument that allows you to calculate the positions of the stars on the sky --- think about a medieval Celestia or Stellarium.   Alkab is a bright giant  of spectral type K, so it is the same colour as the nearby giant Arcturus but it is inherently much brighter at about 500 light years distant (Arcturus is only 30 ly away).

Alkaid's Neighbors

I mentioned Vancouver's zenith star, Alkaid, a few posts ago. In and of itself Alkaid is not particularly remarkable, but two of its neighbours in sky are. Within a couple of degrees of Alkaid are two of the most beautiful galaxies in the firmament, M51 (The Whirlpool Galaxy) and M101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy). Here are some photos from the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA/ESA).

M51 - The interacting Whirlpool Galaxy

M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy