A little ramble through Monceros the Unicorn

 If you think that finding a Unicorn on the Earth wait until you look for one in the night sky.

A faint but fascinating constellation between Orion and Canis Minor.  Jakob Bartsch, a German mathematician and son in law of Johannes Kepler brought it into general use on his star chart of 1624, although there are references to such a constellation in this position in earlier works by astronomers. there are some reports that in 1564 it was regarded as “The other horse south of the Twins and the Crab”. There are even earlier references to the constellation being represented on Persian star globes.

Its location in the Milky Way ensures that it is well stocked with nebulae and clusters.

The three stars Betelgeuse in Orion, Procyon in Canis Minor and Sirius in Canis Major form what astronomers call the Winter Triangle. The Unicorn is found within this triangle.

Alpha has a magnitude of only 3.9 and lies 148 light years away. It is a G class giant star.

The brightest star is beta at magnitude 3.7, however beta is a system of three stars and under the very best of conditions you might be able to make them out. A pair of binoculars will easily show the three stars. Beta lies at a distance of about 700 light years.

With the Milky Way flowing through Monoceros the area is very rich in faint stars also there are various clusters of stars.

M 50 is an obscure open cluster in an equally obscure constellation If your sky is very clear and dark you might just glimpse it. Its 3,000 light years away. There are over 500 stars.

NGC 2232 an open cluster centred around the star 10 Monoceros. Its brightness is magnitude 4.0 and lies at a distance of 1,600 light years.

NGC 2237 the Rosette Nebula magnitude 9.0 and lies at a distance of 5,000 light years. It is a very complicated region which contains NGC 2238, 2239,2244 and 2246. It is an area often photographed by astronomers. The whole complex of nebula covers an area of 130 light years.

NGC 2261 Hubble’s Variable Nebula which is illuminated by the variable star R Monocertis which varies between 10 to 12. It is so named because it was the first object photographed by Edwin Hubble when the Palomar 200 inch telescope was used for the first time.   It is mag 9.0 and lies at a distance of 2,500 light years.

NGC 2264 The Christmas tree or Cone nebula Magnitude 4.0 and 2,600 light years away inside the nebula is a the bright luminous star S Monocerotis or 15 Monocerostis which varies very slightly S has a magnitude of 4.6

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Cooke Telescope Tales - small telescope in 1868

 I have come across another astronomer who purchased a small Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope. 

In this case it is J. Hullett of Clarence Lodge, Purbrook, Cosham, Hampshire who in 1868 purchased  a 2.75 inch refractor, which I would assume would have been mounted on a small tripod. 

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A little ramble through 19th century library - book donation to RAS library in 1876

 Nature March 16^th 1876

Miss Sheepshanks has presented to the Royal Astronomical Society 200 volumes of works on astronomy, some of them very rare; Lord Lindsay has presented a large and valuable collection of the late Mr Carrington’s MSS on the subject of sun spots.

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The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the award-winning Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, probably the only regular astronomy show on any radio station in the country. 

I will take my weekly look at the night sky and look at all the latest news in astronomy. There will be the astronomical anniversaries this week plus the latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

 

Cooke Telescope tales - telescope sent to Calcutta in 1903

 In 1903 Thomas Cooke & Sons of York supplied a 4.5 inch telescope to the Government Observatory in Calcutta, India. The head of the observatory was Mr Evershed, Attached to the telescope was a 5 inch Camera also supplied by Cookes.

The telescope was mounted on a Cooke iron pillar which were housed in a shed. This shed was mounted on wheels and rails that allowed it to be moved when the telescope was to be used.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - University of Toronto Observatory in 1880

 The University of Toronto’s David Dunlap observatory at Richmond Hill near Toronto, Canada today houses a 74 inch Grubb Parsons reflector that was installed in 1935. However there was a much older observatory in Toronto. 

This was the Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory at the University of Toronto which  housed a 6 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope that was installed in 1880. The Cooke was used in particular for the study of sun spots in conjunction with magnetic measurements made at the observatory. I believe that the Cooke may have been used until around 1910.

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A little ramble through astronomy - The Dog Days of Summer

The “dog days of summer” is a phrase used to describe the hot and humid days of summer. It can be traced back thousands of years. It refers to the dates from July 3 through August 11, which is 20 days prior and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction [sharing the same spot in our sky] with the sun. Sirius was known as the “Dog Star,” because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog).

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. The name Sirius comes from an ancient Greek word for “scorching” or “glowing.”

Since Sirius is in conjunction with the sun on July 23, the dog days of summer center around then. The dog days of summer fall between July 3 to August 11, and that’s when we have many of our warmest days in the Northern Hemisphere.

Now we often have very hot days before or after July 3 to August 11 however the legend of the dog days has survived.

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