Lacerta is one of the 88 modern

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

s defined by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

. Its name is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

. A small, faint constellation, it was defined in 1687 by the astronomer

Johannes Hevelius Johannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish: * * * * * * * Some sources refer to Hevelius as German: * * * * *of the Royal Society * (in German also known as ''Hevel''; ; – 28 January 1687) was a councillor and mayor of Danz ...

. Its brightest stars form a "W" shape similar to that of

Cassiopeia Cassiopeia or Cassiopea may refer to: Greek mythology * Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda), queen of Aethiopia and mother of Andromeda * Cassiopeia (wife of Phoenix), wife of Phoenix, king of Phoenicia * Cassiopeia, wife of Epaphus, king of Egy ...

, and it is thus sometimes referred to as 'Little Cassiopeia'. It is located between Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda on the northern

celestial sphere In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, ...

. The northern part lies on the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

Notable features

Lacerta is typical of

constellations: no bright

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...

, nor

globular cluster A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards its center. It can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars, all orbiting ...

s, but instead

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of tens to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...

s, for example NGC 7243, the faint

planetary nebula A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. The ...

IC 5217 and quite a few

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

s. It also contains the prototypic blazar

BL Lacertae BL Lacertae or ''BL Lac'' is a highly variable, extragalactic active galactic nucleus (AGN or active galaxy). It was first discovered by Cuno Hoffmeister in 1929, but was originally thought to be an irregular variable star in the Milky Way gala ...

. Lacerta contains no Messier objects.

Stars

Alpha Lacertae is a blue-white hued

main-sequence In astronomy, the main sequence is a classification of stars which appear on plots of stellar color versus brightness as a continuous and distinctive band. Stars on this band are known as main-sequence stars or dwarf stars, and positions of star ...

star of magnitude 3.8, 102 light-years from Earth. It has a

spectral type In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a prism or diffraction grating into a spectrum exhibiting the ...

of A1 V and is an optical

. Beta Lacertae is far dimmer, a yellow giant of magnitude 4.4, 170 light-years from Earth. Roe 47 is a multiple star consisting of five components (magnitudes 5.8, 9.8, 10.1, 9.4, 9.8). ADS 16402 is a

binary star A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...

system in Lacerta, around which a

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

orbits with some unusual properties.Puzzling Puffy Planet, Less Dense Than Cork, Is Discovered - New York Times
/ref> The

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

-sized planet exhibits an unexpectedly low density, about the same as cork. This planet is dubbed HAT P-1. EV Lacertae is a rapidly spinning magnitude 10

red dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

with a strong

magnetic field A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...

. It is a

flare star A flare star is a variable star that can undergo unpredictable dramatic increases in brightness for a few minutes. It is believed that the flares on flare stars are analogous to solar flares in that they are due to magnetic reconnection, the magne ...

that can emit powerful

flares A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...

potentially visible to the naked eye, thousands of times more energetic than any from Earth's sun. HD 215441 (22h 44m.2 / +55° 35') is known as Babcock's Magnetic Star. Source: ''Sky Catalogue 2000.0 Volume 2: Double Stars, Variable Stars and Nonstellar Objects'', page xlv, chapter ''Glossary of Selected Astronomical Names''.

Deep-sky objects

NGC 7243 is an

2500 light-years from Earth, visible in small amateur telescopes. It has a few dozen "scattered" stars, the brightest of which are of the 8th magnitude.

is the prototype of the BL Lacertae objects, which appear to be dim variable stars but are actually the variable nuclei of

elliptical galaxies An elliptical galaxy is a type of galaxy with an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless image. They are one of the three main classes of galaxy described by Edwin Hubble in his Hubble sequence and 1936 work ''The Re ...

; they are similar to

quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

s. It lent its name to a whole type of celestial objects, the BL Lacertae objects (a subtype of blazar). The object varies irregularly between magnitudes 14 and 17 over a few days.

History

Centred on a region of the sky without apparently bright stars, Lacerta was apparently not regarded as a constellation by ancient Western astronomers.

created the constellation in 1687 and initially named it "Stellio" (the

stellion ''Laudakia stellio '' is a species of agamid lizard.Baig KJ et al. (2012)"A morphology-based taxonomic revision of ''Laudakia'' Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Agamidae)".''Vertebrate Zoology'' 62 (2): 213–260. (''Stellagama'', new genus, p. 222). also ...

), a lizard with star-like dorsal spots found along the Mediterranean coast. Other Europeans who sought to name this new constellation included Augustin Royer, who created Sceptrum et Manus Iustitiae (the Hand of Justice and Sceptre) to honor

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in 1670, and Johann Elert Bode, who created Frederici Honores (Frederick's Glory) to honor

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

in 1787. Both Sceptrum and Frederici Honores are now

obsolete Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when comp ...

, while Lacerta still survives.

Equivalents

Although not included in ancient star charts of Europe and the Near East, the stars of Lacerta, along with some in the eastern portion of Cygnus, were coincidentally combined by early Chinese astronomers into their " Flying serpent". Similarly, the

Chumash people The Chumash are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now Kern County, California, Kern, San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis O ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

call this part of the sky 'Lizard' and include it in multiple stories.

Namesakes

USS Lacerta (AKA-29) was an attack cargo ship in the United States navy named after the constellation.

References

Sources

* *

External links

The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Lacerta
*Weasner's Mighty ETX Site

(a constellation guide for amateur astronomers) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacerta, Constellation Northern constellations Constellations listed by Johannes Hevelius