Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Face east and find Pegasus. Look for a giant diamond shape in the sky made by four somewhat bright stars. This is the Great Square of Pegasus, the major part of the constellation which represents the mythical winged-horse. The Great Square rises higher and higher into the autumn sky as the night progresses. Other parts of Pegasus are supposed to form the legs and head. The Square comprises most of his body, but it is hard to make out. The Square is not a perfect square by any means but it cannot be mistaken, looking like a kite in the sky.
The brightest star in the Great Square of Pegasus actually "belongs" to Andromeda. This autumn constellation looks like a v-shape and contains the farthest object from earth visible to the naked eye, the Andromeda Galaxy. Your binoculars will easily find this galaxy, about two-thirds of the way up the "v" of Andromeda, a maiden that is being sacrificed to a sea monster according to legend.
Facing Andromeda is Perseus, a backwards "k" through which the Milky Way galaxy runs through. Perseus is the hero that rescues Andromeda. In his hand he holds the head of Medusa, a frightful monster. This is represented by the variable star Algol, which gets dimmer over the course of a few days before getting brighter again. There are more stars than you can count when you look at Perseus with your binoculars.
Cassiopeia is close by to Perseus, another autumn constellation that looks like a letter of the alphabet. This one is an imperfect "w." Cassiopeia is also in the Milky Way and is a beautiful group of stars. She is the mother of Andromeda according to the Greeks. Remember that these three letters, the "v," the "k" and the "w" form a triangle in the autumn sky.
The brightest star in this region of autumn constellations is Capella, within Auriga the Charioteer. Auriga more closely looks like a house on its side with a v-shaped roof. The very bright Capella forms one of the corners of the house. It is what is known to astronomers as a binary system, or a double star. One start is orbiting the other, which is hard to see with the naked eye.