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88 Modern Constellations
In contemporary astronomy, 88 constellations are recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Each constellation is a region of the sky, bordered by arcs of right ascension and declination. Together they cover the celestial sphere, with their boundaries adopted officially by the International Astronomical Union in 1928 and published in 1930. The ancient Sumerians, and later the Greeks (as recorded by Ptolemy), established most of the northern constellations in international use today. The constellations along the ecliptic are called the zodiac. When explorers mapped the stars of the southern skies, European astronomers proposed new constellations for that region, as well as ones to fill gaps between the traditional constellations. In 1922, the International Astronomical Union adopted three-letter abbreviations for 89 constellations, the modern list of 88 plus Argo. After this, Eugène Joseph Delporte drew up boundaries for each of the 88 constellations so that eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vela Constellation
Vela is a constellation in the southern sky, which contains the Vela Supercluster. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship ''Argo Navis'', which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis. With an apparent magnitude of 1.8, its brightest star is the hot blue multiple star Gamma Velorum, one component of which is the brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the sky. Delta and Kappa Velorum, together with Epsilon and Iota Carinae, form the asterism known as the False Cross. 1.95-magnitude Delta is actually a triple or quintuple star system. History Argo Navis was one of the 48 classical constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and represented the ship ''Argo'', used by Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. German cartographer Johann Bayer depicted the constellation on his ''Uranometria'' of 1603, and gave the stars Bayer designations f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser
Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser (occasionally Petrus Theodorus; – 11 September 1596) was a Dutch navigator and celestial cartographer who mapped several constellations on the southern celestial hemisphere. Voyages and star observation Little is known of Keyser's life outside of his astronomical observations and East Indies voyages. After making several voyages under the Portuguese flag, including one to Brazil, Keyser participated as the chief navigator and head of the steersmen for the first Dutch voyage to the East Indies (the " Eerste Schipvaart"), which left Texel with four ships on 2 April 1595 under Cornelis de Houtman. He had been trained by cartographer Petrus Plancius in mathematics and astronomy. Plancius, a key promoter to the Dutch East Indies expeditions, had instructed Keyser to map the skies in the southern hemisphere, which were largely uncharted at the time. When the fleet finally was able to obtain fresh supplies at Madagascar on 13 September, 71 of the 248 sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uranometria
''Uranometria'' is a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer. It was published in Augsburg in 1603 by Christoph Mangle (''Christophorus Mangus'') under the full title ''Uranometria: omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aereis laminis expressa''. This translates to "Uranometria, containing charts of all the constellations, drawn by a new method and engraved on copper plates". The word "Uranometria" derives from Urania, muse of the heavens and "uranos" (''oυρανός'') the Greek word for sky / heavens. A literal translation of "Uranometria" is "Measuring the Heavens" (to be compared with "Geometry"—''"Geometria"'' in Greek, literally translated to "Measuring the Earth"). It was the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere. Charts ''Uranometria'' contained 51 star charts, engraved on copper plates by Alexander Mair ( 1562–1617). The first 48 charts illustrate each of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations. The 49th chart introduces 12 new constell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apus
Apus is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern sky. It represents a bird-of-paradise, and its name means "without feet" in Greek language, Greek because the bird-of-paradise was once wrongly believed to lack feet. First depicted on a celestial globe by Petrus Plancius in 1598, it was charted on a star atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 ''Uranometria''. The French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted and gave the brighter stars their Bayer designations in 1756. The five brightest stars are all reddish in hue. Shading the others at apparent magnitude 3.8 is Alpha Apodis, an orange giant that has around 48 times the diameter and 928 times the luminosity of the Sun. Marginally fainter is Gamma Apodis, another ageing giant star. Delta Apodis is a double star, the two components of which are 103 Minute and second of arc, arcseconds apart and visible with the naked eye. Two star systems have been found to have exoplanet, planets. Hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpha Antliae
Alpha Antliae (Alpha Ant, α Antliae, α Ant) is the brightest star in the constellation of Antlia but it has not been given a proper name. It is approximately 320 light-years from the Solar System. It is a K-type giant star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.25. This star has 2.2 times the mass of the Sun and has expanded to 41 times the solar radius. Compared to the Sun, it has only 41% of the abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium. α Antliae has been reported to vary in brightness between magnitude 4.22 and 4.29, first in 1879 by Benjamin Gould, but this has not been confirmed in modern times. The evolutionary state of α Antliae isn't clear but it is suspected of being on the asymptotic giant branch The asymptotic giant branch (AGB) is a region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram populated by evolved cool luminous stars. This is a period of stellar evolution undertaken by all low- to intermediate-mass stars (abo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Pump
An air pump is a pump for pushing air. Examples include a bicycle pump, pumps that are used to aerate an aquarium or a pond via an airstone; a gas compressor used to power a pneumatic tool, air horn or pipe organ; a bellows used to encourage a fire; a vacuum cleaner and a vacuum pump. All air pumps contain a part that moves (vane, piston, impeller, diaphragm etc.) which drives the flow of air. When the air gets moved, an area of low pressure gets created which fills up with more air. Pumps and compressors use very similar mechanisms, and basically perform the same action, but in different fluid regimes. At some point there is a crossover point in terminology, but here are some stereotypes: • Compressors operate on compressible fluids, typically gases. Pumps operate on fluids, typically liquids, approximated as in-compressible. • Compressors are intended to develop a very high pressure rise against a closed system; pumps are designed to develop relatively little pressure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Louis De Lacaille
Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Good Hope in present-day South Africa. Lacaille observed over 10,000 stars using just a half-inch refracting telescope. Biography Born at Rumigny in the Ardennes in eastern France, he attended school in Mantes-sur-Seine (now Mantes-la-Jolie). Afterwards, he studied rhetoric and philosophy at the Collège de Lisieux and then theology at the Collège de Navarre. He was left destitute in 1731 by the death of his father, who had held a post in the household of the duchess of Vendôme. However, he was supported in his studies by the Duc de Bourbon, his father's former patron. After he graduated, he did not accept ordination as a priest but took deacon's orders, becoming an Abbé. He concentrated thereafter on science, and, through the patrona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antlia
Antlia (; from Ancient Greek ''ἀντλία'') is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. Its name means " pump" in Latin and Greek; it represents an air pump. Originally Antlia Pneumatica, the constellation was established by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. Its non-specific (single-word) name, already in limited use, was preferred by John Herschel then welcomed by the astronomic community which officially accepted this. North of stars forming some of the sails of the ship Argo Navis (the constellation Vela), Antlia is completely visible from latitudes south of 49 degrees north. Antlia is a faint constellation; its brightest star is Alpha Antliae, an orange giant that is a suspected variable star, ranging between apparent magnitudes 4.22 and 4.29. S Antliae is an eclipsing binary star system, changing in brightness as one star passes in front of the other. Sharing a common envelope, the stars are so close they will one day merge to form a singl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alpha Andromedae
Alpha Andromedae (α Andromedae, abbreviated Alpha And or α And), officially named Alpheratz , is 97 light-years from the Sun and is the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda when Beta Andromedae undergoes its periodical dimming. Immediately northeast of the constellation of Pegasus, it is the upper left star of the Great Square of Pegasus. Although it appears to the naked eye as a single star, with overall apparent visual magnitude +2.06, it is actually a binary system composed of two stars in close orbit. The chemical composition of the brighter of the two stars is unusual as it is a mercury-manganese star whose atmosphere contains abnormally high levels of mercury, manganese, and other elements, including gallium and xenon.Alpheratz, Kaler Star2/14/2013 It is the brightest mercury-manganese star known. Nomenclature ''α Andromedae'' ( Latinisation of names, Latinised to ''Alpha Andromedae'') is the star's Bayer designation. Ptolemy considered t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andromeda (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Andromeda (; grc, Ἀνδρομέδα, Androméda or , ''Andromédē'') is the daughter of the king of Aethiopia, Cepheus (father of Andromeda), Cepheus, and his wife, Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda), Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia boasts that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends the sea monster Cetus (mythology), Cetus to ravage the coast of Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is chained to a rock as a sacrifice to sate the monster, but is saved from death by Perseus, who marries her and takes her to Greece to reign as his queen. As a subject, Andromeda has been popular in art since classical times; rescued by a Greek hero cult, Greek hero, Andromeda's narration is considered the forerunner to the "princess and dragon" Motif (narrative), motif. From the Renaissance, interest revived in the original story, typically as derived from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' (4.663ff). Etymology Her name is the Latin, Latinized form of the Greek (''Androm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andromeda (constellation)
Andromeda is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy, and one of the 88 modern constellations. Located in the northern celestial hemisphere, it is named for Andromeda, daughter of Cassiopeia, in the Greek myth, who was chained to a rock to be eaten by the sea monster Cetus. Andromeda is most prominent during autumn evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, along with several other constellations named for characters in the Perseus myth. Because of its northern declination, Andromeda is visible only north of 40° south latitude; for observers farther south, it lies below the horizon. It is one of the largest constellations, with an area of 722 square degrees. This is over 1,400 times the size of the full moon, 55% of the size of the largest constellation, Hydra, and over 10 times the size of the smallest constellation, Crux. Its brightest star, Alpha Andromedae, is a binary star that has also been counted as a part of Pegasus, while ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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