Different constellations. The name of the constellations in the sky and their description

Pleiades, cohort, conjunction, celestial compass, square Dictionary of Russian synonyms. constellation see galaxy Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011… Dictionary of synonyms

CONSTELLATION, a group of stars forming an imaginary figure in the sky. The stars that are part of such a group can lie at very different distances from the Earth, and therefore the division by constellation is deprived physical meaning. In 1930, at the congress... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

CONSTELLATION, constellations, cf. (astro.). A group of stars conventionally united by a common name. Twelve constellations of the zodiac. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

CONSTELLATION, I, Wed. 1. One of 88 sections into which the starry sky is divided for ease of orientation and designation of stars (special); a separate group of stars. Bright village 2. transfer Connection (celebrities, talents) (high). S. names. S. talents... ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Wed. koopa, a flock of stars randomly collected under one common name. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. V.I. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

- (Constellation) a group of stars forming some kind of figure. Ancient astronomers saw in these groups similarities with animals and different objects and in accordance with this they gave the names of S. (Ursa Major, Libra, etc.). Dividing the sky into N... ... Marine Dictionary

constellation- Groups of stars in the sky (88 in total), highlighted for ease of orientation on the celestial sphere and sometimes used for orientation to the cardinal points... Dictionary of Geography

A group of stars named after a religious or mythical character or animal, or after some notable object, ancient or modern. Constellations are unique monuments of ancient human culture, its mythology,... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

An area of ​​the sky or a group of stars distinguished by the characteristic arrangement of stars in this area, which has its own name. There are 88 constellations in total. Constellations differ in the area they occupy on the celestial sphere and the number of stars in them. If we look at history... ... Astronomical Dictionary

constellation- CONSTELLATION, I, Wed A collection of celestial bodies of stars in an area of ​​the sky, united by a common name. Virgo constellation... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

Books

• Constellation, . 1978 edition. The condition is satisfactory. The authors of the works included in the collection explore the moral problems of the future society, reflect on alien civilizations,...
• Constellation, . The basis of the collection "Constellation" was the works of poets of the fraternal republics of our country in translation and such masters of words as A. Akhmatova, N. Tikhonov, Vs. Rozhdestvensky, A. Prokofiev, M.…

Watching the stars, it seems that they are all chaotically scattered across the sky and do not correspond to their names at all. What guided astronomers when singling them out into constellations and giving them names? We'll figure it out.

Small Lions and large Hydras

The stars that we see from the earth may be millions of light years away from each other, but it seems to us that they are very close and form a certain shape - a cross, a crown, a triangle... The first constellations were identified a long time ago, about five thousand years ago . It all started when people noticed that the sky was not randomly dotted with sparkling dots, that every night the same stars with familiar outlines appeared from behind the horizon. In fact, the constellations we know are very different from how the ancients imagined them.

In the era of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, people identified only groups of the brightest stars. It often happened that dim and inconspicuous stars were not included in any constellations.

Only in the XVI-XVII centuries. they were included in star atlases. Even ancient astronomers mentioned several stars above the bright constellation Leo, but only in 1690 the Pole Jan Hevelius gave them a name and called them “Little Leo”. In 1922, at the First Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, the sky was divided into 88 sectors, according to the number of recognized constellations. Of these, about fifty were known to the ancient Greeks, and the names of the rest appeared later, when the stars of the Southern Hemisphere were discovered.

Modern constellations are not the figures of lions and unicorns: the sky is divided into conventional areas, between which precise boundaries are drawn; the brightest stars are designated by Greek letters (Alpha, Beta, Gamma...). The largest constellation by area is Hydra; it occupies 3.16 percent of the sky, the smallest being the Southern Cross.

There are also “unofficial” constellations - bright stars inside other constellations that have their own name (sometimes called “asterisms”) - for example, Orion’s Belt inside the constellation Orion or the Northern Cross in the constellation Cygnus.

If an ancient astronomer had looked at the current map of constellations, he would hardly have been able to understand anything about it.

Over centuries and millennia, the stars have changed their position greatly.

So, for example, the large star Sirius from the Canis Constellation changed its location by four diameters of the Moon, the star Arcturus in the constellation Bootes moved even further - by eight diameters of the Moon, and many even moved to another constellation. Any constellations are very conditional; they include luminaries from different areas outer space, different distances from the Earth, different brightness, accidentally ending up in the same area of ​​the sky. Nothing more unites the stars of the same constellation, except that from Earth we see them in the same part of the sky.

In 1952, the American children's writer and amateur astronomer H.A. Ray came up with new shapes for the constellations. He guessed to connect the most noticeable stars in the simple figures, corresponding to the name of the constellation. Sometimes Ray's diagrams look strange or funny (for example, why in the constellation Virgo the brightest star, Spica, was somewhere below Virgo's back?), but the figure of a girl in a short skirt is easier to remember and then see in the sky than just a dozen lines.

Ancient hunt

What people see in the sky is directly related to their material culture. Thus, many peoples see Ursa Major as hunters and prey. In this constellation, next to the star Mizar, there is a tiny star - Alcor. Many tribes of North American Indians and the peoples of Siberia believed that Alcor was a kettle for cooking meat.

The Iroquois said that one day six hunters went after a bear. One pretended to be sick, and the others carried him on a stretcher; a man with a bowler hat walked behind. When the tired hunters saw the bear, the cunning man jumped off the stretcher and was the first to catch up with the beast. They all ended up in heaven; That’s why the leaves turn red in the fall—bear’s blood drips from the sky onto them.

The Khanty, Kets and Evenks know similar stories in Siberia. The Mohawk Indians consider the dipper of the Big Dipper to be a bear, and the stars in the “handle” of the dipper to be hunters with a dog (Alcor). Alcor and many other peoples – Ukrainians, Estonians, Basques – consider Alcor to be a dog or a wolf.

The ancient Greek astronomer Arat wrote that Ursa Major and Ursa Minor - Gelika and Kinosura - were she-bears who fed the god Zeus with their milk. According to other versions, Ursa Major was once the lover of Zeus and her name was Callisto; Zeus turned her into a bear and took her to heaven.

Orion - a hunchbacked hunter with a large sword

Three bright stars - Orion's belt - are easy to spot in the sky. Orion is known to almost all peoples of the world. Usually in this constellation they see not only the belt, but also the sword, shield and club of Orion.

Among the Greeks, Orion was a hunter who haunted the seven Pleiades sisters, daughters of the titan Atlas and the nymph Pleione. Orion boasted that he could kill all the animals on earth; Frightened, Mother Earth sent a scorpion to him, which bit him and the hunter died. Orion, Scorpio, and the Pleiades appeared in the sky and became constellations.

The Australians believed that Orion was an old man who chased his seven sisters and drowned them when they rejected him. But the Chukchi thought that Orion’s belt was his back. It turns out that Orion was married, and his wife did not like him pestering the Pleiades. The wife hit Orion on the back with a board; after that he became hunchbacked. The Pleiades rejected the hunchback. He tried to kill them, but missed: the star Aldebaran is his arrow. By the way, both the Chukchi and the peoples of the Sahara believe that the sword of Orion is not a sword at all, but part of the body of a loving hunter.

In addition to Scorpio, thanks to Orion, the constellations included the hunting Dog (the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor), as well as the Hare: “Below both feet of Orion, the Hare rotates, chased day and night,” wrote Arat.

"Animal Circle"

The most famous constellations are the 12 constellations located along the path along which the Sun, Moon and planets move. The Greeks called this orbit the zodiac, which literally means “beast circle.”

The Greco-Roman zodiac known to us came from Babylonia, but in ancient times it was a little different: there was no Libra (this group of stars was considered the claws of Scorpio) and the circle of the zodiac began not with Aries, but with Cancer - the days associated with this sign fall summer solstice.

The ancient Sumerians called Aries the “Mercenary” (“Penor”). This rural worker began to be identified with the shepherd god Dumuzi, and from here it is not far to the ram-Aries. The Greeks believed that this was the same ram that had a magical skin - the golden fleece. As for Taurus, both the Sumerians and the Greeks saw only half a bull in the sky. According to myth, the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh rejected the love of the goddess Inanna; she sent the monstrous bull Gugalanna to attack him. Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu killed the bull, and Enkidu tore off its hind legs. Therefore, only the front part of the bull was in the sky.

In the constellation Gemini, two bright stars shine: the ancient Greeks considered them twins - Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux in Latin). They were the brothers of Helen of Troy and the sons of Leda, and the father of Polydeuces was Zeus, and Castor was a mortal. When Castor died, Polydeuces persuaded Zeus to allow his brother to return from the kingdom of the dead and grant him immortality. In ancient Mesopotamia, it was believed that the names of the Twins were Lugalgir (Great King) and Meslamtaea (He who returned from the underworld). Sometimes they were identified with the moon god Sin and the god of the underworld Nergal.

The Greeks considered the constellation Cancer to be a monster cancer that attacked Hercules; in Babylon it was called the Crab, and the ancient Egyptians called it a sacred scarab. In the constellation Leo, the Babylonians distinguished the Chest, Thigh and even the Hind Paw (now it is the star Zaviyava, or Beta Virgo). In Greece it was the Nemean lion that Hercules killed.

The Heavenly Maiden was considered Rhea, the wife of Kronos (Saturn) or the goddess Astraea - the defender of goodness and truth. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Virgin was called the Furrow.

The patroness of this constellation was the goddess Shala, who was depicted with an ear of corn in her hand: the star, now called Gamma Virgo, was considered by the Babylonians to be the Ear of Barley. The Greeks did not know the constellation Libra in ancient times, but the Babylonians did; Libra in Mesopotamia was considered the patron of justice and called this constellation “Judgment.”

Scorpio, the killer of Orion, was revered and feared in Mesopotamia. In the constellation Scorpio, the Babylonians distinguished the Tail, Sting, Head, Chest and even the Navel of Scorpio. In the constellation Sagittarius, the Greeks saw a centaur, and the Sumerians called Sagittarius Pabilsag - “Priest” or “Elder”. Pabilsag was one of the oldest Sumerian gods; The Assyrians depicted him as a winged centaur with two heads - a man and a lion, and two tails (a horse and a scorpion).

The Greeks considered Capricorn to be the harmless goat Amalthea, who fed Zeus with her milk. The constellation Aquarius in antiquity was associated with global flood and with the hero Deucalion, who survived the disaster. Among the Sumerians, Aquarius was a good river god named Gula (“Giant”); then he was also called Lahmu (“Hairy”). He was depicted as a naked, hairy giant, from whose shoulders flowed streams of water full of fish.

The Greeks depicted fish in the form of two fish connected with a rope: they say that one day the goddess of love Aphrodite and her son Eros walked along the river. The monster Typhon chased after them. Aphrodite and Eros jumped into the river, turned into fish and at the same time tied themselves with a rope so as not to get lost. In Mesopotamia, it was believed that one fish in this constellation was a flying one (it was also called the Swallow-Fish), and the other was the incarnation of the goddess of war Anunitu.

How the fox's goose was taken away from him

During the Age of Discovery, Europeans saw the sky of the southern hemisphere for the first time. Peter Keyser, navigator on the ship of the Dutch merchant de Houtman, while sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in 1595-1596, saw and named twelve southern constellations. Among them were the Crane, Golden Fish, Fly, Peacock, Southern Triangle and others. In the northern hemisphere, several new constellations have also been identified - the Fox with the Goose, the Lizard, the Lynx. Not all of these constellations have received recognition: for example, Chanterelle became simply Chanterelle (although the brightest star of Chanterelle is still called Goose).

In the middle of the 18th century. Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, at the same Cape of Good Hope, described seventeen more southern constellations. He chose names mainly from the field of science and art: Telescope, Compass, Painter's Easel, Chemical Furnace. The large constellation "Ship Argo", which Greek sailors could see low above the horizon, was divided by Lacaille into Carina, Stern and Sails. He named another constellation Table Mountain - after a mountain on the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, where he conducted astronomical observations.

Subsequently, these constellations were redrawn and renamed more than once. In the 18th century They proposed placing in the sky, in addition to just the Telescope, the Herschel Telescope (with the help of which Herschel discovered the planet Uranus) and the Small Herschel Telescope: this idea did not find support. Gradually, the “Chemical Furnace” became simply a Furnace, the “Sculptor’s Workshop” became a Sculptor, and the “Painter’s Easel” became a Painter. The Printing House, the Electric Machine, and the Wall Quadrant could not stay in the sky.

Of course, the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere had their own names for the constellations even before the arrival of Europeans. The Polynesians had a constellation of the Great Bird (Manuk): Sirius considered it the head (or body), Canopus and Procyon - the wings. The Southern Cross was called the triggerfish (Bubu). Polynesia was also well aware of the Magellanic clouds, which Europeans saw only in the 15th-16th centuries: in Tonga they were called Ma'afu lele "Flying Fire" and Ma'afu Toka "Standing Fire", and in Fiji they were called Matadrava ni sautu - " A center of peace and abundance."

Loyal Stars

Scientists and courtiers of the 17th-18th centuries. They came up with a lot of names that could flatter the crowned persons. Edmund Halley in 1679 carved the “Charles Oak” from the long-suffering Argo Ship (in his youth, Charles II hid in the foliage of an oak tree from Cromwell’s soldiers). George's Harp (part of the constellation Eridanus) was named after another English king, George III. From the same Eridanus, the Prussian astronomer G. Kirch identified the Brandenburg Scepter, and from several other constellations - the Swords of the Elector of Saxony.

In memory of the Prussian king Frederick the Great, the astronomer I. Bode named the constellation “Frederick’s Regalia” or “Frederick’s Glory,” almost tearing off Andromeda’s hand for this.

Sometimes, “through acquaintance,” less illustrious persons also went to heaven. Thus, the French astronomer Lalande in 1799 proposed to highlight the constellation Cats: “I love cats, I adore them. I hope that they will forgive me if, after my sixty years of tireless labor, I place one of them in heaven.” Unfortunately, the Cat (as well as the Lonely Blackbird, the Reindeer and the Turtle) was out of luck: in modern list They didn’t include any constellations either.

CHAPTER 5 STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS

Stars(in Greek “ sidus” (Photo. 5.1.) - luminous celestial bodies, the luminosity of which is maintained by thermonuclear reactions occurring in them. Giordano Bruno taught in the 16th century that stars are distant bodies like the Sun. In 1596, the German astronomer Fabricius discovered the first variable star, and in 1650, the Italian scientist Riccoli discovered the first double star.

Among the stars of our Galaxy there are younger stars (they are usually located in thin disk Galaxies) and old ones (which are almost evenly distributed in the central spherical volume of the Galaxy).

Photo. 5.1. Stars.

Visible stars. Not all stars are visible from Earth. This is due to the fact that under normal conditions only ultraviolet rays longer than 2900 angstroms reach Earth from Space. About 6,000 stars are visible in the sky with the naked eye, since the human eye can distinguish stars only up to +6.5 apparent magnitude.

Stars up to +20 apparent magnitude are observed by all astronomical observatories. The largest telescope in Russia “sees” stars up to +26 magnitude. Hubble Telescope – up to +28.

The total number of stars, according to research, is 1000 per 1 square degree of the Earth's starry sky. These are stars up to +18 apparent magnitude. Smaller ones are still difficult to detect due to the lack of appropriate equipment with high resolution.

In total, about 200 new stars are formed in the Galaxy per year. For the first time in astronomical research, stars began to be photographed in the 80s of the 19th century. It should be noted that research has been and is being carried out only in certain areas of the sky.

Some of the last serious studies of the starry sky were carried out in 1930-1943 and were associated with the search for the ninth planet Pluto and new planets. Now the search for new stars and planets has resumed. For this purpose, the latest telescopes* are used, for example space telescope them. Hubble, installed in April 1990 on the space station (USA). It allows you to see very faint stars (up to +28 magnitude).

*In Chile on Mount Paranal, 2.6 km high. a combined telescope with a diameter of 8 m is installed. Radio telescopes (a set of several telescopes) are being mastered. Now they use “complex” telescopes, which combine several mirrors (6x1.8 m) with a total diameter of 10 m in one telescope. In 2012, NASA plans to launch an infrared telescope into Earth orbit to observe distant galaxies.

At the Earth's poles, the stars in the sky never go beyond the horizon. At all other latitudes the stars set. At the latitude of Moscow (56 degrees north latitude), any star that has a culminating altitude of less than 34 degrees above the horizon already belongs to the southern sky.

5.1. Navigation stars.

26 large stars of the earth's sky are navigational, that is, stars with the help of which in aviation, navigation and astronautics they determine the location and course of a ship. 18 navigation stars are located in the Northern hemisphere of the sky and 5 stars in the Southern hemisphere (among them, the second largest after the Sun is the star Sirius). These are the brightest stars in the sky (up to about +2nd magnitude).

In the northern hemisphere About 5000 stars are observed in the sky. Among them are 18 navigation ones: Polar, Arcturus, Vega*, Capella, Aliot, Pollux, Altair, Regulus, Aldebaran, Deneb, Betelgeuse, Procyon, Alpherats (or alpha Andromeda). In the northern hemisphere, Polar (or Kinosura) is located - this is the alpha of Ursa Minor.

*There is some unconfirmed evidence that the pyramids found underground at a distance of approximately 7 meters from the surface of the earth in the Crimea region (and then in many other areas of the Earth, including the Pamirs) are oriented towards 3 stars: Vega, Canopus and Capella. Thus, the pyramids of the Himalayas and the Bermuda Triangle are oriented towards the Chapel. On Vega - Mexican pyramids. And on Canopus - Egyptian, Crimean, Brazilian and Easter Island pyramids. It is believed that these pyramids are a kind of space antennas. The stars, located at an angle of 120 degrees relative to each other, (according to Doctor of Technical Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences N. Melnikov) create electromagnetic moments that affect the location of the earth’s axis, and, possibly, the rotation of the earth itself.

South Pole seems more multistarred than Northern, but it does not stand out with any bright star. Five stars of the Southern sky are navigational: Sirius, Rigel, Spica, Antares, Fomalhaut. The closest star to the South Pole of the world is Octanta (from the constellation Octanta). The main decoration of the Southern sky is the constellation of the Southern Cross. Constellations whose stars are visible at the South Pole include: Canis Major, Hare, Crow, Chalice, Southern Pisces, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Scorpio, Scutum.

5.2. Catalog of stars.

Star catalog southern sky in 1676-1678 it was compiled by E. Halley. The catalog contained 350 stars. It was supplemented in 1750-1754 by N. Louis De Lacaille to 42 thousand stars, 42 nebulae of the southern sky and 14 new constellations.

Modern star catalogs are divided into 2 groups:

• fundamental catalogs - contain several hundred stars with the highest accuracy in determining their positions;
• star views.

In 1603, the German astronomer I. Breier proposed designating the brightest stars of each constellation with the letters of the Greek alphabet in descending order of their apparent brightness: a (alpha), ß (beta), γ (gamma), d (delta), e (epsilon), ξ (zeta), ή (eta), θ (theta), ί (iota), κ (kappa), λ (lambda), μ (mi), υ (ni), ζ (xi), o (omicron), π (pi), ρ (rho), σ (sigma), τ (tau), ν (upsilon), φ (phi), χ (chi), ψ (psi), ω (omega). The brightest star in the constellation is designated a (alpha), the faintest star is designated ω (omega).

The Greek alphabet soon became insufficient, and the lists continued with the Latin alphabet: a, d, c…y, z; and also in capital letters from R to Z or from A to Q. Then in the 18th century, digital designation was introduced (in ascending right ascension). They usually denote variable stars. Sometimes double designations are used, for example, 25 f Taurus.

Stars also bear the names of the astronomers who first described them. unique properties. These stars are identified by a number in the astronomer's catalogue. For example, Leyten-837 (Leyten is the name of the astronomer who created the catalog; 837 is the number of the star in this catalogue).

Historical names of stars are also used (according to P.G. Kulikovsky’s count there are 275 of them). Often these names are associated with the name of their constellations, for example, Octant. Moreover, several dozen of the brightest or main stars of the constellation also have own names, for example, Sirius (alpha Canis Major), Vega (Alpha Lyrae), Polar (Alpha Ursa Minor). According to statistics, 15% of stars have Greek names, 55% have Latin names. The rest are Arabic in etymology (linguistic, and most names are Greek in origin), and only a few were given in modern times.

Some stars have several names due to the fact that each people called them differently. For example, Sirius was called Canicula (“Dog Star”) by the Romans, “Tear of Isis” by the Egyptians, and Voljaritsa by the Croats.

In catalogs of stars and galaxies, stars and galaxies are designated together with a serial number by a conventional index: M, NQС, ZС. The index indicates a specific catalog, and the number indicates the number of the star (or galaxy) in that catalog.

As mentioned above, the following directories are usually used:

• M— catalog of the French astronomer Messier (1781);
• NGWITH— “New General Catalog” or “New General Catalog”, compiled by Dreyer based on the old Herschel catalogs (1888);
• ZWITH— two additional volumes to the “New General Catalog”.

5.3. Constellations

The oldest mention of constellations (in constellation maps) was discovered in 1940 in the rock paintings of the caves of Lascaux (France) - the age of the drawings is about 16.5 thousand years and El Castillo (Spain) - the age of the drawings is 14 thousand years. They depict 3 constellations: the Summer Triangle, the Pleiades and the Northern Crown.

In Ancient Greece, 48 constellations were already depicted in the sky. In 1592, P. Plancius added 3 more to them. In 1600, I. Gondius added 11 more. In 1603, I. Bayer released a star atlas with artistic engravings of all new constellations.

Until the 19th century, the sky was divided into 117 constellations, but in 1922, at the International Conference on Astronomical Research, the entire sky was divided into 88 strictly defined areas of the sky - constellations, which included the brightest stars of this constellation (see Chapter 5.11.). In 1935, by decision of the Astronomical Society, their boundaries were clearly defined. Of the 88 constellations, 31 are located in the northern sky, 46 in the southern and 11 in the equatorial sky, these are: Andromeda, Pump, Bird of Paradise, Aquarius, Eagle, Altar, Aries, Charioteer, Bootes, Incisor, Giraffe, Cancer, Canes Venatici, Major Canis Minor, Capricorn, Carina, Cassiopeia, Centaurus, Cepheus, Whale, Chameleon, Compasses, Dove, Coma Berenice, Southern Crown, Northern Crown, Raven, Chalice, Southern Cross, Swan, Dolphin, Dorado, Dragon , Small Horse, Eridanus, Furnace, Gemini, Crane, Hercules, Clock, Hydra, Southern Hydra, Indian, Lizard, Lion, Small Lion, Hare, Libra, Wolf, Lynx, Lyre, Table Mountain, Microscope, Unicorn, Fly, Square , Octant, Ophiuchus, Orion, Peacock, Pegasus, Perseus, Phoenix, Painter, Pisces, Southern Fish, Poop, Compass, Grid, Arrow, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Sculptor, Shield, Snake, Sextant, Taurus, Telescope, Triangle, Southern Triangle , Toucan, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Sails, Virgo, Flying Fish, Chanterelle.

Zodiac constellations(or zodiac, zodiac circle) (from Greek Ζωδιακός - “ animal") are the constellations that the Sun passes across the sky in one year (according to ecliptic- the apparent path of the Sun among the stars). There are 12 such constellations, but the Sun also passes through the 13th constellation - the constellation Ophiuchus. But according to ancient tradition, it is not classified among the zodiac constellations (Fig. 5.2. “Movement of the Earth along the zodiac constellations”).

The zodiacal constellations are not the same in size, and the stars in them are far from each other and are not connected in any way. The proximity of the stars in the constellation is only visible. For example, the constellation Cancer is 4 times smaller than the constellation Aquarius, and the Sun passes it in less than 2 weeks. Sometimes one constellation seems to overlap another (for example, the constellations Capricorn and Aquarius. When the Sun moves from the constellation Scorpio to the constellation Sagittarius (from November 30 to December 18), it touches the “leg” of Ophiuchus). More often, one constellation is quite far from another, and only a section of the sky (space) is divided between them.

Back in Ancient Greece The zodiacal constellations were allocated to a special group and each of them was assigned its own sign. Nowadays the mentioned signs are not used to identify zodiac constellations; they apply only in astrology for notation zodiac signs . The points of spring (constellation Aries) and autumn (Libra) were also designated by the signs of the corresponding constellations. equinoxes and points of summer (Cancer) and winter (Capricorn) solstices. Due to precession These points have moved from the mentioned constellations over the past more than 2 thousand years, but the designations assigned to them by the ancient Greeks have been preserved. The zodiac signs, tied in Western astrology to the point spring equinox, so the correspondences between There are no coordinates from stars or signs. There is also no correspondence between the dates of the entry of the Sun into the zodiacal constellations and corresponding signs zodiac (Table 5.1. “Annual movement of the Earth and Sun along the constellations”).

Rice. 5.2. The movement of the Earth according to the constellations of the zodiac

The modern boundaries of the zodiacal constellations do not correspond to the division of the ecliptic into twelve equal parts accepted in astrology. They were established at the Third General Assembly International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1928 (which established the boundaries of 88 modern constellations). On at the moment The ecliptic also crosses the constellations e Ophiuchus (however, traditionally, Ophiuchus is not considered a zodiacal constellation), and the limits of the Sun’s location within the boundaries of the constellations can be from seven days (constellation Scorpio ) up to one month sixteen days (constellation Virgos).

Geographical names preserved: Tropic of Cancer (Northern Tropic), Tropic of Capricorn (South Tropic) is parallels , on which the top climax points of the summer and winter solstices, respectively, occurs at zenith

Constellations Scorpio and Sagittarius are fully visible in the southern regions of Russia, the rest - throughout its territory.

Aries— A small zodiac constellation, according to mythological ideas, depicts the Golden Fleece that Jason was looking for. The brightest stars are Gamal (2m, variable, orange), Sheratan (2.64m, variable, white), Mesartim (3.88m, double, white).

Table 5.1. Annual movement of the Earth and Sun through the constellations

Zodiac constellations	Residence Earth in the constellations (day, month)		Residence Sun in the constellations (day, month)
	Actual (astronomical)	Conditional (astrological)	Actual (astronomical)	Conditional (astrological)
Sagittarius	17.06-19.07	22.05-21.06	17.12-19.01	22.11-21.12
Capricorn	20.07-15.08	21.06-22.07	19.01-15.02	22.12-20.01
Aquarius	16.08-11.09	23.07-22.08	15.02-11.03	20.01-17.02
Fish	12.09-18.10	23.08-22.09	11.03-18.04	18.02-20.03
Aries	19.10-13.11	23.09-22.10	18.04-13.05	20.03-20.04
Taurus	14.11-20.12	23.10-21.11	13.05-20.06	20.04-21.05
Twins	21.12-20.01	22.11-21.12	20.06-20.07	21.05-21.06
Cancer	21.01-10.02	22.12-20.01	20.07-10.08	21.06-22.07
Lion	11.02-16.03	21.01-19.02	10.08-16.09	23.07-22.08
Virgo	17.03-30.04	20.02-21.03	16.09-30.10	23.08-22.09
Scales	31.04-22.05	22.03-20.04	30.10-22.11	23.09-23.10
Scorpion	23.05-29.05	21.04-21.05	22.11-29.11	23.10-22.11
Ophiuchus*	30.05-16.06	—	29.11-16.12	—

* The constellation Ophiuchus is not included in the zodiac.

Taurus— A prominent zodiac constellation associated with the head of the bull. The brightest star in the constellation, Aldebaran (0.87m), is surrounded by the Hyades open star cluster, but does not belong to it. The Pleiades is another beautiful star cluster in Taurus. In total, there are fourteen stars in the constellation brighter than 4th magnitude. Optical binary stars: Theta, Delta and Kappa Tauri. Cepheid SZ Tau. Eclipsing variable star Lambda Tauri. Taurus also contains the Crab Nebula, a remnant of a supernova that exploded in 1054. In the center of the nebula is a star with m=16.5.

Twins (Gemini) - The two brightest stars in Gemini - Castor (1.58m, double, white) and Pollux (1.16m, orange) - are named after the twins of classical mythology. Variable stars: Eta Gemini (m=3.1, dm=0.8, spectroscopic double, eclipsing variable), Zeta Gemini. Double stars: Kappa and Mu Gemini. Open star cluster NGC 2168, planetary nebula NGC2392.

Cancer (Cancer) - Mythological constellation, reminiscent of a crab crushed by the foot of Hercules during the battle with Hydra. The stars are small, with none of the stars exceeding 4th magnitude, although the Manger star cluster (3.1m) at the center of the constellation can be seen with the naked eye. Zeta Cancer is a multiple star (A: m=5.7, yellow; B: m=6.0, goal, spectroscopic double; C: m=7.8). Double star Iota Cancer.

Lion (Leo) - The contour created by the most bright stars This large and noticeable constellation vaguely resembles the figure of a lion in profile. There are ten stars brighter than 4th magnitude, the brightest of which are Regulus (1.36m, variable, blue, double) and Denebola (2.14m, variable, white). Double stars: Gamma Leo (A: m=2.6, orange; B: m=3.8, yellow) and Iota Leo. The constellation Leo contains numerous galaxies, including five from the Messier catalog (M65, M66, M95, M96 and M105).

Virgo (Virgo) - Zodiacal constellation, the second largest in the sky. The brightest stars are Spica (0.98m, variable, blue), Vindemiatrix (2.85m, yellow). In addition, the constellation includes seven stars brighter than 4th magnitude. The constellation contains the rich and relatively nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies. Eleven of the brightest galaxies located within the boundaries of the constellation are included in the Messier catalogue.

Scales (Libra) - The stars of this constellation previously belonged to Scorpio, which follows Libra in the Zodiac. The constellation Libra is one of the least visible constellations of the Zodiac, only five of its stars are brighter than 4th magnitude. The brightest are Zuben el Shemali (2.61m, variable, blue) and Zuben el Genubi (2.75m, variable, white).

Scorpion (Scorpius) - A large bright constellation of the southern part of the zodiac. The brightest star in the constellation is Antares (1.0m, variable, red, double, bluish satellite). The constellation contains another 16 stars brighter than 4th magnitude. Star clusters: M4, M7, M16, M80.

Sagittarius (Sagittarius) - The southernmost zodiac constellation. In Sagittarius, behind the star clouds, lies the center of our Galaxy (Milky Way). Sagittarius is a large constellation containing many bright stars, including 14 stars brighter than 4th magnitude. It contains many star clusters and diffuse nebulae. Thus, the Messier catalog includes 15 objects assigned to the constellation Sagittarius - more than to any other constellation. These include the Lagoon Nebula (M8), the Trifid Nebula (M20), the Omega Nebula (M17) and the globular cluster M22, the third brightest in the sky. The open star cluster M7 (more than 100 stars) can be seen with the naked eye.

Capricorn (Capricornus) — The brightest stars are Deneb Algedi (2.85m, white) and Dabi (3.05m, white). ShZS M30 is located near Xi Capricorn.

Aquarius (Aquarius) - Aquarius is one of the largest constellations. The brightest stars are Sadalmelik (2.95m, yellow) and Sadalsuud (2.9m, yellow). Double stars: Zeta (A: m=4.4; B: m=4.6; physical pair, yellowish) and Beta Aquarius. SHZ NGC 7089, nebulae NGC7009 (“Saturn”) NGC7293 (“Helix”).

Fish (Pisces) - A large but weak zodiac constellation. Three bright stars are only 4th magnitude. The main star is Alrisha (3.82m, spectroscopic binary, physical pair, bluish).

5.4. Structure and composition of stars

Russian scientist V.I. Vernadsky said about stars that they are “centers of maximum concentration of matter and energy in the Galaxy.”

Composition of stars. If previously it was argued that stars consist of gas, now they are saying that they are super-dense cosmic objects with enormous mass. It is assumed that the substance from which the first stars and galaxies were formed consisted mainly of hydrogen and helium with a slight admixture of other elements. Stars are heterogeneous in their structure. Studies have shown that all stars are composed of the same chemical elements, the only difference is in their percentage.

It is assumed that the analogue of the star is ball lightning*, in the center of which is a core (point source), surrounded by a plasma shell. The boundary of the shell is a layer of air.

*Ball lightning rotates and glows with all radii colors, has a weight of 10 -8 kg.

Volume of stars. The sizes of stars reach up to a thousand radii of the Sun*.

*If we depict the Sun as a ball 10 cm in diameter, then the entire solar system will be a circle with a diameter of 800 m. In this case: Proxima Centauri (the closest star to the Sun) would be at a distance of 2,700 km; Sirius – 5,500 km; Altair – 9,700 km; Vega – 17,000 km; Arcturus – 23,000 km; Capella - 28,000 km; Regulus - 53,000 km; Deneb – 350,000 km.

In terms of volume (size), stars differ greatly from each other. For example, our Sun is inferior to many stars: Sirius, Procyon, Altair, Betelgeuse, Epsilon Aurigae. But the Sun is much larger than Proxima Centauri, Kroeger 60A, Lalande 21185, Ross 614B.

The largest star in our Galaxy is located in the center of the Galaxy. This red supergiant is larger in volume than the orbit of Saturn - Herschel's garnet star ( Cepheus). Its diameter is more than 1.6 billion km.

Determining the distance to a star. Distance to star measured through parallax (angle) - knowing the distance of the Earth to the Sun and the parallax, you can use the formula to determine the distance to the Star (Fig. 5.3. “Parallax”).

Parallax — the angle at which the semimajor axis of the earth's orbit is visible from the star (or half the angle of the sector at which the space object is visible).

The parallax of the Sun itself from Earth is 8.79418 seconds.

If the stars were reduced to the size of a nut, the distance between them would be measured in hundreds of kilometers, and the displacement of the stars relative to each other would be several meters per year.

Rice. 5.3. Parallax .

The determined magnitude depends on the radiation receiver (eye, photographic plate). Stellar magnitude can be divided into visual, photovisual, photographic and bolometric:

• visual - determined by direct observation and corresponds to the spectral sensitivity of the eye (maximum sensitivity occurs at a wavelength of 555 μm);
• photovisual ( or yellow) - determined by photographing with yellow filter. It practically coincides with the visual one;
• photographic ( or blue) — determined by photographing on photographic film sensitive to blue and ultraviolet rays, or using an antimony-cesium photomultiplier with a blue filter;
• bolometric - is determined by a bolometer (integrated radiation detector) and corresponds to the total radiation of the star.

The relationship between the brightness of two stars (E 1 and E 2) and their magnitudes (m 1 and m 2) is written in the form of the Pogson formula (5.1.):

E 2 (m 1 - m 2)

2,512 (5.1.)

For the first time, the distance to the three nearest stars was determined in 1835-1839 by the Russian astronomer V.Ya. Struve, as well as by the German astronomer F. Bessel and the English astronomer T. Henderson.

Determining the distance to a star is currently carried out using the following methods:

• radar- based on the radiation through an antenna of short pulses (for example, in the centimeter range), which, reflected from the surface of an object, return back. Using the delay time of the pulse, the distance is found;
  • laser(or lidar) - also based on the radar principle (laser rangefinder), but produced in the short-wave optical range. Its accuracy is higher, but the Earth's atmosphere often interferes.

Mass of stars. It is believed that the mass of all visible stars in the Galaxy ranges from 0.1 to 150 solar masses, where the mass of the Sun is 2x10 30 kg. But these data are constantly being updated. The massive star was discovered by the Hubble Telescope in 1998 in the Southern sky in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (150 solar masses). In the same nebula, entire clusters of supernovae with a mass of more than 100 solar masses were discovered .

The heaviest stars are neutron stars; they are a million billion times denser than water (it is believed that this is not the limit). On Milky Way the heaviest star is  Carinae.

It was recently discovered that van Maanen's star, which is only 12th magnitude (not larger than the globe), is 400,000 times denser than water! Theoretically, it is possible to assume the existence of much denser substances.

It is assumed that in terms of mass and density, the so-called “black holes” are the leaders.

Temperature of stars. It is assumed that the effective (internal) temperature of the star is 1.23 times the temperature of its surface .

The star's parameters change from its periphery to the center. So the temperature, pressure, and density of the star increase towards its center. Young stars have hotter coronas than older stars.

5.5. Classification of stars

Stars are classified by color, temperature, and spectral type (spectrum). And also by luminosity (E), stellar magnitude (“m” - visible and “M” - true).

Spectral class. A quick glance at the starry sky can give the wrong impression that all stars are the same color and brightness. In reality, the color, luminosity (brilliance and brightness) of each star is different. Stars, for example, have the following colors: purple, red, orange, green-yellow, green, emerald, white, blue, violet, violet.

The color of a star depends on its temperature. Based on temperature, stars are divided into spectral classes (spectra), the value of which determines the ionization of atmospheric gas:

• red - the star’s temperature is about 600° (there are about 8% of such stars in the sky);
• scarlet - 1000°;
• pink - 1500°;
• light orange - 3000°;
• straw yellow - 5000° (about 33%);
• yellowish-white* - 6000°;
• white - 12000-15000° (about 58% of them in the sky);
• bluish-white - 25000°.

*In this row is our Sun (which has a temperature of 6000° ) corresponds to the color yellow.

The hottest stars – blue, and the coldest – infrared . Most of all there are white stars in our sky. Cold are also To brown dwarfs (very small, the volume of Jupiter), but they have 10 times more mass than the Sun.

Main sequence – the main grouping of stars in the form of a diagonal stripe on the “spectral class-luminosity” or “surface temperature-luminosity” diagram (Hertzsprung-Russell diagram). This band runs from bright and hot stars to dim and cold ones. For most main sequence stars, the relationship between mass, radius and luminosity holds: M 4 ≈ R 5 ≈ L. But for low- and high-mass stars, M 3 ≈ L, and for the most massive ones, M ≈ L.

Stars are divided into 10 classes by color in descending order of temperature: O, B, A, F, D, K, M; S, N, R. “O” stars are the coldest, “M” stars are the hottest. The last three classes (S, N, R), as well as additional spectral classes C, WN, WC, belong to rare variables(flashing) stars with deviations in chemical composition. Such variable stars about 1%. Where O, B, A, F are early classes, and all the rest D, K, M, S, N, R are late classes. In addition to the listed 10 spectral classes, there are three more: Q - new stars; P—planetary nebulae; W are Wolf-Rayet type stars, which are divided into carbon and nitrogen sequences. In turn, each spectral class is divided into 10 subclasses from 0 to 9, where the hotter star is designated (0) and the cooler star is designated (9). For example, A0, A1, A2, ..., B9. Sometimes they give a more fractional classification (with tenths), for example: A2.6 or M3.8. The spectral classification of stars is written in the following form (5.2.):

S side row

O - B - A - F - D - K - M main sequence(5.2.)

R N side row

Early classes of spectra are designated by Latin capital letters or two-letter combinations, sometimes with numerical clarifying indices, for example: gA2 is a giant whose emission spectrum belongs to class A2.

Double stars are sometimes designated by double letters, for example, AE, FF, RN.

Main spectral types (main sequence):

“O” (blue)- have a high temperature and a continuous high intensity of ultraviolet radiation, as a result of which the light from these stars appears blue. The most intense lines are ionized helium and multiple ionized some other elements (carbon, silicon, nitrogen, oxygen). The weakest lines are neutral helium and hydrogen;

“B” (bluish-white) - neutral helium lines reach their greatest intensity. The lines of hydrogen and the lines of some ionized elements are clearly visible;

“A” (white) - the hydrogen lines reach their highest intensity. The lines are clearly visible ionized calcium, weak lines of other metals are observed;

“F” (slightly yellowish) - the hydrogen lines become weaker. The lines of ionized metals (especially calcium, iron, titanium) become stronger;

“D” (yellow) - hydrogen lines do not stand out among the numerous lines of metals. The lines of ionized calcium are very intense;

Table 5.2. Spectral types of some stars

Spectral classes	Color	Class	Temperature (degree)	Typical stars (in constellations)
Hottest	Blue	ABOUT	30000 and above	Naos (ξ Korma) Meissa, Heka (λ Orion) Regor (γ Sail) Hathisa (ι Orion)
Very hot	bluish-white	IN	11000-30000	Alnilam (ε Orion) Rigel Menkhib (ζ Perseus) Spica (α Virgo) Antares (α Scorpio) Bellatrix (γ Orion)
	White	A	7200-11000	Sirius (α Canis Major) Deneb Vega (α Lyra) Alderamine (α Cepheus)* Castor (α Gemini) Ras Alhag (α Ophiuchus)
Hot	yellow-white	F	6000-7200	Vasat (δ Gemini)Canopus Polar Procyon (α Canis Minor) Mirfak (α Perseus)
	Yellow	D	5200-6000	Sun Sadalmelek (α Aquarius) Chapel (α Charioteer) Aljezhi (α Capricorn)
	Orange	TO	3500-5200	Arcturus (α Bootes) Dubhe (α Ursa Major) Pollux (β Gemini) Aldebaran (α Taurus)
Atmospheric temperature is low	Reds	M	2000-3500	Betelgeuse (α Orion) Mira (O Whale) Mirach (α Andromeda)

* Cepheus (or Kepheus).

“K” (reddish) - hydrogen lines are not noticeable among the very intense lines of metals. The violet end of the continuum is noticeably weakened, indicating a strong decrease in temperature compared to earlier classes, such as O, B, A;

“M” (red) - metal lines are weakened. The spectrum is crossed by absorption bands of titanium oxide molecules and other molecular compounds.

Additional classes (side row):

“R”— there are absorption lines of atoms and absorption bands of carbon molecules;

“S”— Instead of titanium oxide strips, zirconium oxide strips are present.

In table 5.2. “Spectral classes of some stars” presents data (color, class and temperature) of the most famous stars. Luminosity (E) characterizes total quantity energy emitted by a star. It is assumed that the source of the star's energy is the nuclear fusion reaction. The more powerful this reaction, the greater the luminosity of the star.

Based on their luminosity, stars are divided into 7 classes:

• I (a, b) - supergiants;
• II - bright giants;
• III - giants;
• IV - subgiants;
• V - main sequence;
• VI - subdwarfs;
• VII - white dwarfs.

The hottest star is the core of planetary nebulae.

To indicate the luminosity class, in addition to the given designations, the following are also used:

• c - supergiants;
• d - giants;
• d - dwarfs;
• sd - subdwarfs;
• w - white dwarfs.

Our Sun belongs to the spectral class D2, and in terms of luminosity to group V, and the general designation of the Sun is D2V.

The brightest supernova occurred in the spring of 1006 in the southern constellation of the Wolf (according to Chinese chronicles). At its maximum brightness it was brighter than the Moon in the first quarter and was visible to the naked eye for 2 years.

Luminosity or apparent brightness (illuminance, L) is one of the main parameters of a star. In most cases, the radius of a star (R) is determined theoretically based on an estimate of its luminosity (L) over the entire optical range and temperature (T). The luminosity of a star (L) is directly proportional to the values ​​of T and L (5.3.):

L = R ∙ T (5.3.)

—— = (√ ——) ∙ (———) (5.4.)

Rс is the radius of the Sun,

Lс is the luminosity of the Sun,

Tc is the temperature of the Sun (6000 degrees).

Stellar magnitude. Luminosity (the ratio of a star's luminous intensity to its sunlight) depends on the distance of the star to the Earth and is measured by magnitude.

Magnitude— a dimensionless physical quantity characterizing the illumination created by a celestial object near the observer. The magnitude scale is logarithmic: in it, a difference of 5 units corresponds to a 100-fold difference between the light flux from the measured and reference sources. This is the minus sign logarithm to the base 2.512 of the illumination created by a given object on an area perpendicular to the rays. It was proposed in the 19th century by the English astronomer N. Pogson. This is the optimal mathematical relationship that is still used today: stars that differ in size by one differ in brightness by a factor of 2.512. Subjectively, its value is perceived as brightness (for point sources) or brightness (for extended sources). The average brightness of stars is taken to be (+1), which corresponds to the first magnitude. A star of second magnitude (+2) is 2.512 times fainter than the first. The (-1) magnitude star is 2.512 times brighter than first magnitude. In other words, the magnitude of the source is positively numerically greater, the weaker the source*. All large stars have a negative (-) magnitude, and all small stars have a positive (+) magnitude.

Stellar magnitudes (from 1 to 6) were first introduced in the 2nd century BC. e. Ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea. He classified the brightest stars as first magnitude, and those barely visible to the naked eye as sixth. Currently, a star of initial magnitude is taken to be a star that creates an illumination on the edge of the earth's atmosphere equal to 2.54 x 10 6 lux (that is, as 1 candela from a distance of 600 meters). This star creates a flux of about 10 6 quanta per 1 sq.cm throughout the entire visible spectrum. per second (or 10 3 quanta/sq. cm. with A°)* in the region of green rays.

* A° is an angstrom (unit of measurement of an atom), equal to 1/100,000,000 of a centimeter.

Based on their luminosity, stars are divided into 2 magnitudes:

• "M" absolute (true);
• "m" relative (visible from Earth).

Absolute (true) magnitude (M) — is the magnitude of the star normalized to a distance of 10 parsecs (pc) (equal to 32.6 light years or 2,062,650 AU) to Earth. For example, the absolute (true) magnitude is: Sun +4.76; Sirius +1.3. That is, Sirius is almost 4 times brighter than the Sun.

Relative apparent magnitude (m) — This is the brightness of a star visible from Earth. It does not determine the actual characteristics of the star. The distance to the object is to blame for this. In table 5.3., 5.4. and 5.5. Some stars and objects in the earth's sky are presented by luminosity from the brightest (-) to the faintest (+).

Biggest star the famous one is R Dorado (which is located in the southern hemisphere of the sky). It is part of our neighboring star system - the Small Magellanic Cloud, the distance to which from us is 12,000 times greater than to Sirius. This is a red giant, its radius is 370 times that of the Sun (which is equal to the orbit of Mars), but in our sky this star is visible at only +8 magnitude. It has an angular diameter of 57 milliarcseconds and is located at a distance of 61 parsecs (pc) from us. If you imagine the Sun the size of a volleyball, then the star Antares will have a diameter of 60 meters, Mira Ceti - 66, Betelgeuse - about 70.

One of the smallest stars our sky - the neutron pulsar PSR 1055-52. Its diameter is only 20 km, but it shines strongly. Its apparent magnitude is +25 .

The closest star to us- this is Proxima Centauri (Centauri), 4.25 sv away. years. This +11th magnitude star is located in the southern sky of the Earth.

Table. 5.3. Magnitudes of some of the brightest stars in the earth's sky

Constellation	Star	Magnitude		Class	Distance to the Sun (pc)
		m (relative)	M (true)
—	Sun	-26.8	+4.79	D2 V	—
Big Dog	Sirius	-1.6	+1.3	A1 V	2.7
Small Dog	Procyon	-1.45	+1.41	F5 IV-V	3.5
Keel	Canopus	-0.75	-4.6	F0 I in	59
Centaurus*	Toliman	-0.10	+4.3	D2 V	1.34
Bootes	Arcturus	-0.06	-0.2	K2 III r	11.1
Lyra	Vega	0.03	+0.6	A0 V	8.1
Auriga	Chapel	0.03	-0.5	D III8	13.5
Orion	Rigel	0.11	-7.0	B8 I a	330
Eridanus	Achernar	0.60	-1.7	B5 IV-V	42.8
Orion	Betelgeuse	0.80	-6.0	M2 I av	200
Eagle	Altair	0.90	+2.4	A7 IV-V	5
Scorpion	Antares	1.00	-4.7	M1 IV	52.5
Taurus	Aldebaran	1.1	-0.5	K5 III	21
Twins	Pollux	1.2	+1.0	K0 III	10.7
Virgo	Spica	1.2	-2.2	B1 V	49
Swan	Deneb	1.25	-7.3	A2 I in	290
Southern Fish	Fomalhaut	1.3	+2.10	A3 III(V)	165
Lion	Regulus	1.3	-0.7	B7 V	25.7

* Centaurus (or Centaurus).

Farthest star of our Galaxy (180 light years) is located in the constellation Virgo and is projected onto the elliptical galaxy M49. Its magnitude is +19. The light from it takes 180 thousand years to reach us. .

Table 5.4. Luminosity of the brightest visible stars in our sky

№	Star	Relative magnitude ( visible) (m)	Class	Distance to the Sun (pc)*	Luminosity Relative to the Sun(L = 1)
1	Sirius	-1.46	A1. 5	2.67	22
2	Canopus	-0.75	F0. 1	55.56	4700-6500
3	Arcturus	-0.05	K2. 3	11.11	102-107
4	Vega	+0.03	A0. 5	8.13	50-54
5	Toliman	+0.06	G2. 5	1.33	1.6
6	Chapel	+0.08	G8. 3	13.70	150
7	Rigel	+0.13	B8. 1	333.3	53700
8	Procyon	+0.37	F5. 4	3.47	7.8
9	Betelgeuse	+0.42	M2. 1	200.0	21300
10	Achernar	+0.47	B5. 4	30.28	650
11	Hadar	+0.59	B1. 2	62.5	850
12	Altair	+0.76	A7. 4	5.05	10.2
13	Aldebaran	+0.86	K5. 3	20.8	162
14	Antares	+0.91	M1. 1	52.6	6500
15	Spica	+0.97	B1. 5	47.6	1950
16	Pollux	+1.14	K0. 3	13.9	34
17	Fomalhaut	+1.16	A3. 3	6.9	14.8
18	Deneb	+1.25	A2. 1	250.0	70000
19	Regulus	+1.35	Q7. 5	25.6	148
20	Adara	+1.5	B2. 2	100.0	8500

* pc – parsec (1 pc = 3.26 light years or 206265 AU).

Table. 5.5. Relative apparent magnitude of the brightest objects in the earth's sky

Object	Visible stellar magnitude
Sun	-26.8
Moon*	-12.7
Venus*	-4.1
Mars*	-2.8
Jupiter*	-2.4
Sirius	-1.58
Procyon	-1.45
Mercury*	-1.0

*Shine with reflected light.

5.6. Some types of stars

Quasars - these are the most distant cosmic bodies and the most powerful sources of visible and infrared radiation observed in the Universe. These are visible quasi-stars that have an unusual blue color and are a powerful source of radio emission. A quasar emits energy per month equal to the entire energy of the Sun. The size of the quasar reaches 200 AU. These are the most distant and fastest-moving objects in the Universe. Opened in the early 60s of the 20th century. Their true luminosity is hundreds of billions of times greater than the luminosity of the Sun. But these stars have variable brightness. The brightest quasar ZS-273 is located in the constellation Virgo, it has a magnitude of +13m.

White dwarfs - the smallest, densest, low-luminosity stars. The diameter is about 10 times smaller than the solar one.

Neutron stars - stars made primarily of neutrons. Very dense, with huge mass. They have different magnetic fields and have frequent flashes of varying power.

Magnetars– one of the types of neutron stars, stars with rapid rotation around its axis (about 10 seconds). 10% of all stars are magnetars. There are 2 types of magnetars:

v pulsars– opened in 1967. These are ultra-dense cosmic pulsating sources of radio, optical, x-ray and ultraviolet radiation that reach the Earth's surface in the form of periodically repeating bursts. The pulsating nature of the radiation is explained by the rapid rotation of the star and its strong magnetic field. All pulsars are located from Earth at a distance of 100 to 25,000 light years. years. Typically, X-ray stars are binary stars.

v IMPGV— sources with soft, repeating gamma bursts. About 12 of them have been discovered in our Galaxy; these are young objects, they are located in the Galactic plane and in the Magellanic clouds.

The author suggests that neutron stars are a pair of stars, one of which is central, and the second is its satellite. At this time, the satellite reaches the perihelion of its orbit: it is extremely close to the central star, has a high angular velocity of rotation and rotation, and therefore is maximally compressed (has super-density). What happens between this couple strong interaction, which is expressed in powerful radiation of energy from both objects*.

* A similar interaction can be observed in simple physical experiments when two charged balls come together.

5.7. Star orbits

The proper motion of stars was first discovered by the English astronomer E. Halley. He compared the data of Hipparchus (3rd century BC) with his data (1718) on the movement of three stars in the sky: Procyon, Arcturus (the constellation Bootes) and Sirius (the constellation Canis Major). The movement of our star, the Sun, in the Galaxy was proved by J. Bradley in 1742, and finally confirmed in 1837 by the Finnish scientist F. Argelander.

In the 20s of our century, G. Strömberg discovered that the velocities of stars in the Galaxy are different. The fastest star in our sky is Bernard's star (flying) in the constellation Ophiuchus. Its speed is 10.31 arcseconds per year. The pulsar PSR 2224+65 in the constellation Cepheus moves in our Galaxy at a speed of 1600 km/s. Quasars move at approximately the speed of light (270,000 km/s). These are the most distant stars observed. Their radiation is very enormous, even greater than the radiation of some galaxies. Gould Belt stars have (peculiar) velocities of about 5 km/s, indicating expansion of this star system. Globular clusters (and short-period Cepheids) have the highest velocities.

In 1950, Russian scientist P.P. Parenago (MSU SAI) conducted a study on the spatial velocities of 3000 stars. The scientist divided them into groups depending on their location on the spectrum-luminosity diagram, taking into account the presence of various subsystems considered by V. Baade and B. Kukarkin .

In 1968, the American scientist J. Bell discovered radio pulsars (pulsars). They had a very large rotation around their axis. This period is assumed to be milliseconds. In this case, the radio pulsars traveled in a narrow beam (beam). One such pulsar, for example, is located in the Crab Nebula, its period is 30 pulses per second. The frequency is very stable. Apparently this is a neutron star. The distances between stars are enormous.

Andrea Ghez from the University of California and her colleagues reported measurements of the proper motions of stars at the center of our Galaxy. It is assumed that the distance of these stars to the center is 200 AU. Observations were carried out at the telescope named after. Keck (USA, Hawaiian Islands) for 4 months since 1994. The speeds of the stars reached 1500 km/s. Two of those central stars never moved more than 0.1 pc from the galactic center. Their eccentricity is not precisely determined, with measurements ranging from 0 to 0.9. But scientists have precisely determined that the foci of the orbits of the three stars are located at one point, the coordinates of which, with an accuracy of 0.05 arcseconds (or 0.002 pc), coincide with the coordinates of the radio source Sagittarius A, traditionally identified with the center of the Galaxy (Sgr A*). It is assumed that the orbital period of one of the three stars is 15 years.

Orbits of stars in the Galaxy. The movement of stars, like planets, obeys certain laws:

• they move along an ellipse;
• their movement is subject to Kepler’s second law (“a straight line connecting a planet with the Sun (radius vector) describes equal areas(S) at equal intervals of time (T).”

It follows from this that the areas in perigalactia (So) and apogalactia (Sa) and time (To and Ta) are equal, and the angular velocities (Vо and Va) at the perigalactia point (O) and at the apogalactia point (A) are sharply different, then is: with So = Sa, To = Ta; the angular velocity in the perigalactia (Vo) is greater, and the angular velocity in the apogalactia (Va) is less.

This Kepler law can be conditionally called the law of “unity of time and space.”

We also observe a similar pattern of elliptical motion of subsystems around the center of their systems when considering the movement of an electron in an atom around its nucleus in the Rutherford-Bohr atomic model.

It was previously noticed that the stars in the Galaxy move around the center of the Galaxy not in an ellipse, but in a complex curve, shaped like a flower with many petals.

B. Lindblad and J. Oort proved that all the stars in globular clusters, moving at different speeds in the clusters themselves, simultaneously participate in the rotation of this cluster (as a whole) around the center of the Galaxy . Later it was found out that this was due to the fact that the stars in the cluster have a common center of revolution*.

* This note is very important.

As mentioned above, this center is the largest star in this cluster. A similar thing is observed in the constellations Centaurus, Ophiuchus, Perseus, Canis Major, Eridanus, Cygnus, Canis Minor, Cetus, Leo, Hercules.

The rotation of stars has the following features:

rotation occurs in the spiral arms of the Galaxy in one direction;

• the angular velocity of rotation decreases with distance from the center of the Galaxy. However, this decrease is somewhat slower than if the stars rotate around the center of the Galaxy according to Kepler's law;
• the linear speed of rotation first increases with distance from the center, and then at approximately the distance of the Sun it reaches its greatest value (about 250 km/s), after which it decreases very slowly;
• As they age, stars move from the inner to the outer edge of the Galaxy's arm;
• The Sun and the stars in its surroundings make a complete revolution around the center of the Galaxy, presumably in 170-270 million years (d data from different authors)(which averages about 220 million years).

Struve noticed that the colors of stars differ the more, the greater the difference in the brightness of the component stars and the greater their mutual distance. White dwarfs make up 2.3-2.5% of all stars. Single stars are only white or yellow*.

*This note is very important.

And double stars are found in all colors of the spectrum.

The stars closest to the Sun (Gould belts) (and there are more than 500 of them) predominantly have spectral types: “O” (blue); “B” (bluish-white); “A” (white).

Dual system - a system of two stars orbiting around a common center of mass . Physically double star- these are two stars visible in the sky close to each other and connected by gravity. Most stars are double. As mentioned above, the first double star was discovered in 1650 (Ricciolli). There are over 100 different types of dual systems. This is, for example, a radio pulsar + a white dwarf (neutron star or planet). Statistics say that double stars often consist of a cool red giant and a hot dwarf. The distance between them is approximately 5 AU. Both objects are immersed in a common gas shell, the material for which is released by the red giant in the form of stellar wind and as a result of pulsations .

On June 20, 1997, the Hubble Space Telescope transmitted an ultraviolet image of the atmosphere of the giant star Mira Ceti and its companion, a hot white dwarf. The distance between them is about 0.6 arcseconds and it is decreasing. The image of these two stars looks like a comma, the “tail” of which is directed towards the second star. It appears that Mira's material is flowing towards her satellite. At the same time, the shape of the atmosphere of Mira Ceti is closer to an ellipse than to a sphere. Astronomers knew about the variability of this star 400 years ago. Astronomers realized that its variability is associated with the presence of a certain satellite near it only a few decades ago.

5.8. Star formation

There are many options regarding star formation. Here is one of them - the most common.

The picture shows the galaxy NGC 3079 (Photo 5.5.). It is located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 50 million light years.

Photo. 5.5. Galaxy NGC 3079

At the center there is a burst of star formation so powerful that winds from the hot giants and shock waves from supernovae have merged into a single bubble of gas that rises 3,500 light-years above the galactic plane. The expansion speed of the bubble is about 1800 km/s. It is believed that the burst of star formation and bubble growth began about a million years ago. Subsequently, the brightest stars will burn out, and the bubble’s energy source will be exhausted. However, radio observations show traces of an older (about 10 million years old) and more extensive emission of the same nature. This indicates that bursts of star formation in the core of NGC 3079 may be periodic.

Photo 5.6. "Nebula X in the galaxy NGC 6822" is a shining nebula (region) of star formation (Hubble X) in one of the nearby galaxies (NGC 6822).

Its distance is 1.63 million light years (slightly closer than the Andromeda nebula). The bright central nebula is about 110 light years across and contains thousands of young stars, the brightest of which are visible as white dots. Hubble X is many times larger and brighter than the Orion Nebula (the latter is comparable in scale to the small cloud below Hubble X).

Photo. 5.6. Nebula X in the galaxyNGC 6822

Objects like Hubble X form from giant molecular clouds of cold gas and dust. It is believed that intense star formation in Xubble X began about 4 million years ago. Star formation in clouds accelerates until it is abruptly stopped by the radiation of the brightest stars born. This radiation heats and ionizes the medium, transferring it to a state where it can no longer compress under the influence of its own gravity.

In the chapter “New Planets” solar system"The author will give his version of the birth of stars.

5.9. Star energy

The energy source of stars is assumed to be nuclear fusion reaction. The more powerful this reaction, the greater the luminosity of the stars.

Magnetic field. All stars have a magnetic field. Stars with a red spectrum have a lower magnetic field than blue and white stars. Of all the stars in the sky, about 12% are magnetic white dwarfs. Sirius, for example, is a bright white magnetic dwarf. The temperature of such stars is 7-10 thousand degrees. There are fewer hot white dwarfs than cold ones. Scientists have found that as the age of a star increases, both its mass and magnetic field increase. (S.N.Fabrika, G.G.Valyavin, SAO) . For example, magnetic fields on magnetic white dwarfs begin to grow rapidly with increasing temperature from 13000 and above.

Stars emit very high energy (10 15 G) magnetic field.

Source of energy. The source of energy for X-ray (and all) stars is rotation (a rotating magnet emits radiation). White dwarfs rotate slowly.

The magnetic field of a star increases in two cases:

1. when a star contracts;
2. as the star's rotation accelerates.

As mentioned above, the methods for spinning up and compressing a star can be moments when stars come together when one of them passes the perihelion of its orbit (double stars), when matter flows from one star to another. Gravity holds the star back from exploding.

Starbursts or stellar activity (SA). Starbursts (soft, repeating gamma-ray bursts) of stars were discovered recently - in 1979.

Weak bursts last about 1 second, and their power is about 10 45 erg/s. Faint bursts of stars last a fraction of a second. Superflares last for weeks, and the star's luminosity increases by about 10%. If such an outbreak occurs on the Sun, then the dose of radiation that the Earth will receive will be fatal to all vegetation and animal life of our planet.

New stars flare up every year. During flares, a lot of neutrinos are released. The Mexican astronomer G. Haro first began to study flaring stars (“explosions of stars”). He discovered quite a few such objects, for example, in the association of Orion, Pleiades, Cygnus, Gemini, Manger, Hydra. This was also observed in the M51 (“Whirlpool”) galaxy in 1994, and in the Large Magellanic Cloud in 1987. In the mid-19th century, an explosion occurred at η Kiel. He left a trail in the form of a nebula. In 1997 there was a surge of activity at Mira Whale. The maximum was on February 15 (from +3.4 to +2.4 mag. mag.). The star burned red-orange for a month.

A flaring star (a small red dwarf with a mass 10 times less than the Sun) was observed at the Crimean Astronomical Observatory in 1994-1997 (R.E. Gershberg). Over 25 recent years In our Galaxy, 4 extra flares were recorded. For example, a very powerful star flare near the center of the Galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius occurred on December 27, 2004. It lasted 0.2 seconds. and its energy was 10 46 erg (for comparison: the energy of the Sun is 10 33 erg).

In three photographs (photo 5.7. “XZ Taurus binary system”), taken in different times Hubble (1995, 1998 and 2000), the explosion of a star was filmed for the first time. The images show the movement of clouds of glowing gas ejected by the young binary XZ Tauri system. In fact, this is the base of a jet (“jet”), a phenomenon typical of newborn stars. The gas is ejected from an invisible magnetized disk of gas orbiting one or both stars. The ejection speed is about 150 km/s. It is believed that the ejection has existed for about 30 years, its size is about 600 astronomical units (96 billion kilometers).

The images show dramatic changes between 1995 and 1998. In 1995, the edge of the cloud had the same brightness as the middle. In 1998 the edge suddenly became brighter. This increase in brightness, paradoxically, is associated with the cooling of the hot gas at the edge: cooling enhances the recombination of electrons and atoms, and light is emitted during recombination. Those. When heated, energy is expended to strip electrons from atoms, and when cooled, this energy is released in the form of light. This is the first time astronomers have seen such an effect.

Another photo shows another burst of stars. (Photo 5.8. “Double star He2-90”).

The object is located 8,000 light years away in the constellation Centaurus. According to scientists, He2-90 is a pair of old stars masquerading as one young one. One of them is a swollen red giant, losing material from its outer layers. This material gathers into an accretion disk around a compact companion, which is likely a white dwarf. These stars are not visible in the images due to the dust lane covering them.

Photo. 5.7. Dual XZ Taurus system.

The top image shows narrow, lumpy jets (the diagonal rays are an optical effect). The jet speed is about 300 km/s. The clumps are emitted at approximately 100-year intervals and may be associated with some kind of quasiperiodic instability in the accretion disk. The jets of very young stars behave in the same way. The moderate speed of the jets suggests that the companion is a white dwarf. But gamma rays detected from the region of He2-90 indicate that it may be a neutron star or black hole. But the gamma-ray source could just be a coincidence. The bottom image shows a dark dust lane cutting through the diffuse glow from the object. This is an edge-on dust disk - it is not an accretion disk, since it is several orders of magnitude larger in size. Lumps of gas are visible in the lower left and upper right corners. They are believed to have been thrown away 30 years ago.

Photo. 5.8. Double star He2-90

According to G. Haro, a flare is a short-term event in which the star does not die, but continues to exist*.

*This note is very important.

All stellar flares have 2 stages (it has been noted that this is especially true for faint stars):

1. a few minutes before the flare there is a decrease in activity and luminosity (the author suggests that at this time the star is undergoing extreme compression);
2. then the flash itself follows (the author assumes that at this time the star interacts with the central star around which it rotates).

The brightness of a star during a flare increases very quickly (in 10-30 seconds), and decreases slowly (in 0.5-1 hour). And although the star’s radiation energy is only 1-2% of the total star’s radiation energy, traces of the explosion are visible far in the Galaxy.

In the depths of stars, two mechanisms of energy transfer are necessarily constantly at work: absorption and emission. . This suggests that the star lives a full life, where there is an exchange of matter and energy with other space objects.

In rapidly rotating stars, spots appear near the pole of the star, and its activity occurs precisely at the poles. The activity of the poles in optical pulsars was discovered by Russian SOA scientists (G.M. Beskin, V.N. Komarova, V.V. Neustroev, V.L. Plokhotnichenko). Cool, solitary red dwarfs have spots that appear closer to the equator. .

In this regard, it can be assumed that the cooler the star, the closer its stellar activity (SA) appears to the equator*.

*The same thing happens on the Sun. It has been noted that the higher the solar activity (SA), the sunspots at the beginning of the cycle appear closer to its poles; then the spots begin to gradually slide towards the equator of the Sun, where they disappear completely. When SA is minimal, sunspots appear closer to the equator (Chapter 7).

Observations of flaring stars have shown that during a flare on a star, a luminous gaseous geometrically smooth ring is formed along the periphery of its “aura”. Its diameter is tens or more times larger than the star itself. The matter ejected from the star is not carried outside the “aura”. It makes the border of this zone glow. This was observed in images from Hubble (from 1997 to 2000) by scientists at the Harvard Astrophysical Center (USA) during the explosion of supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The shock wave traveled at a speed of approximately 4500 km/s. and, having stumbled upon this boundary, was detained and shone like a small star. The glow of the gas ring, heated to temperatures of tens of millions of degrees, lasted for several years. Also, the wave at the boundary collided with dense clumps (planets or stars), causing them to glow in the optical range . In the field of this ring, 5 bright spots stood out, scattered around the ring. These spots were much smaller than the glow of the central star. The evolution of this star has been observed since 1987 by many telescopes around the world (see Chapter 3.3. photo “Supernova Explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud of 1987”).

The author suggests that the ring around a star is the boundary of the sphere of influence of this star. It is a kind of “aura” of this star. A similar boundary is observed in all galaxies. This sphere is also similar to the Hill sphere near the Earth*.

*The “aura” of the Solar System is 600 AU. (American data).

The luminous spots on the ring can be stars or star clusters belonging to a given star. The glow is their response to the explosion of the star.

The fact that stars and galaxies change their state before collapse was well confirmed by the observations of American astronomers of the galaxy GRB 980326. Thus, in March 1998, the brightness of this galaxy first decreased by 4m after an outburst, and then stabilized. In December 1998 (9 months later), the galaxy completely disappeared, and in its place something else shone (like a “black hole”).

Scientist astronomer M. Giampapa (USA), having studied 106 sun-like stars in the M67 cluster of the constellation Cancer, whose age coincides with the age of the Sun, found that 42% of the stars are active. This activity is either higher or lower than the activity of the Sun. Approximately 12% of stars have extremely low level magnetic activity (similar to the Maunder minimum of the Sun - see below in Chapter 7.5). The other 30% of stars, on the contrary, are in a state of very high activity. If we compare these data with the SA parameters, it turns out that our Sun is now most likely in a state of moderate activity* .

*This remark is very important for further discussions.

Stellar activity cycles (ZA) . Some stars have a certain cyclicity in their activity. Thus, Crimean scientists discovered that one hundred stars observed for 30 years have a periodicity in their activity (R.E. Gershberg, 1994-1997). Of these, 30 stars belonged to the “K” group, which had periods of about 11 years. Over the past 20 years, a cycle of 7.1-7.5 years has been identified for a single red dwarf (with a mass of 0.3 solar masses). Star activity cycles were also identified in 8.3; 50; 100; 150 and 294 days. For example, a flare near a star in Nova Cassiopeia (in April 1996) according to electronic network observations of variable stars, VSNET had a maximum brightness (+8.1m) and flared with a clear periodicity - once every 2 months. One star in the constellation Cygnus had activity cycles of 5.6 days; 8.3 days; 50 days; 100 days; 150 days; 294 days. But the cycle of 50 days was most clearly manifested (E.A. Karitskaya, INASAN).

Research by the Russian scientist V.A. Kotov showed that oscillations of 50% of all stars occur in the phase of the Sun, and 50% of the remaining other stars - in antiphase. This oscillation of all stars itself is equal to 160 minutes. That is, the pulsation of the Universe, the scientist concludes, is equal to 160 minutes.

Hypotheses about stellar explosions. There are several hypotheses regarding the causes of stellar explosions. Here are some of them:

• G. Seeliger (Germany): a star, moving along its path, flies into a gas nebula and heats up. The nebula pierced by the star also warms up. This is the total radiation of the star and nebula heated by friction that we see;
• N. Lockyer (England): the stars do not play any role. Explosions are formed as a result of the collision of two meteor showers flying towards each other;
• S. Arrhenius (Sweden): a collision of two stars occurs. Before meeting, both stars cooled down and went out, and therefore are not visible. The energy of movement turned into heat - an explosion;
• A. Belopolsky (Russia): two stars are moving towards each other (one of large mass with a dense hydrogen atmosphere, the second is hot with a lower mass). The hot star goes around the cold one in a parabola, warming up its atmosphere with its movement. After this, the stars diverge again, but now both are moving in the same direction. The shine decreases, the “new” one goes out;
• G. Gamov (Russia), V. Grotrian (Germany): the flare is caused by thermonuclear processes occurring in the central part of the star;
• I. Kopylov, E. Mustel (Russia): this is a young star, which then calms down and becomes an ordinary star located on the so-called main sequence;
• E. Milne (England): the internal forces of the star itself cause an explosion, its outer shell is torn off from the star and carried away at high speed. And the star itself shrinks, turning into a white dwarf. This happens to any star at the “sunset” of stellar evolution. A nova flash indicates the death of a star. This is natural;
• N. Kozyrev, V. Ambartsumyan (Russia): the explosion does not occur in the central part of the star, but on the periphery, shallow below the surface. Explosions play a very important role in the evolution of the Galaxy;
• B. Vorontsov-Velyaminov (Russia): a nova is an intermediate stage in stellar evolution, when a hot blue giant, shedding excess mass, turns into a blue or white dwarf.
• E. Schatzman (France), E. Kopal (Czechoslovakia): all emerging (new) stars are binary systems.
• W. Klinkerfuss (Germany): two stars rotate around each other in very elongated orbits. At a minimum distance (periastron), powerful tides, emissions, and eruptions occur. A new one breaks out.
• W. Heggins (England): close passage of stars from each other. False tides, outbreaks, and eruptions occur. These are what we observe;
• G. Haro (Mexico): a flare is a short-term event in which a star does not die, but continues to exist.
• It is believed that during the evolution of stars, its stable equilibrium may be disrupted. While the interior of the star is rich in hydrogen, its energy is released due to nuclear reactions converting hydrogen into helium. As hydrogen burns out, the star's core contracts. A new cycle of nuclear reactions begins in its depths - the synthesis of carbon nuclei from helium nuclei. The core of the star heats up and it is time for thermonuclear fusion of heavier elements. This chain of thermonuclear reactions ends with the formation of iron nuclei, which accumulate in the center of the star. Further compression of the star will increase the core temperature to billions of Kelvin. At the same time, the decay of iron nuclei into helium nuclei, protons, and neutrons begins. More than 50% of the energy is used for illumination and emission of neutrinos. All this requires enormous energy expenditure, during which the interior of the star is greatly cooled. The star begins to collapse catastrophically. Its volume decreases and compression stops.

During the explosion, a powerful shock wave is formed, which throws off its outer shell (5-10% of the matter)* from the star.

“Black cycle of stars (L. Konstantinovskaya). According to the author, the last four versions (E. Schatzman, E. Kopal, V. Klinkerfuss, W. Heggins, G. Aro) are closest to the truth.

Struve noticed that the colors of stars differ the more, the greater the difference in the brightness of the component stars and the greater their mutual distance. Single stars are only white or yellow. Double stars occur in all colors of the spectrum. White dwarfs make up 2.3-2.5% of all stars.

As mentioned above, the color of a star depends on its temperature. Why does the color of a star change? It can be assumed that:

• when the “satellite star” moves away from its central star in a globular cluster (in apogalactic orbit), the “satellite star” expands, slows down its rotation, brightens (“whitens”), dissipates energy and cools down;
• When approaching the central star (perigalactic orbit), the satellite star contracts, accelerates its rotation, darkens (“blackens”) and, concentrating its energy, heats up.

The color change of the star should occur according to the law of spectral decomposition of white color:

• the star expands from dark burgundy to red, then orange, yellow, green-white and white;
• The compression of the star occurs from white to blue, then to blue, dark blue, violet and “black”.

If we take into account the laws of dialectics that any star evolves “from a simple state to a complex one,” then there is no death of a star, but there is a constant transition from one state to another through pulsation (explosions).

Scientists have discovered that during the collapse of a star (flare), its chemical composition: the atmosphere was greatly enriched with oxygen, magnesium, silicon, which synthesized the flash during a high-temperature thermonuclear explosion. Following this, heavy elements were born (G. Israelyan, Spain) .

It can be assumed that when a star pulsates (expansion-compression), the “black” color of the star corresponds to the moment of maximum compression before the explosion. This should occur in binary systems when the star approaches the central star (perigalactic orbit). It is at this time that the interaction of the central star with the satellite star occurs, which generates an “explosion” of the satellite star and the pulsation of the central star. At this time, the star transitions to another, more distant orbit (to another more complex state). Such stars are most likely located in the so-called “black holes” of the Cosmos. It is in these zones that one should expect the phenomenon of a flaring star. These zones are critical (“black”) active points Space.

« Black holes" - (according to modern concepts) this is the name for small but heavy stars (with large mass). It is believed that they collect matter from the surrounding space. The black hole emits X-rays, which is why it is observable with modern means. It is also believed that a disk of trapped matter is formed near the black hole. A black hole appears when the star inside it explodes. In this case, a burst of gamma radiation occurs for several seconds. It is assumed that the surface layers of the star explode and fly apart, while inside the star everything contracts. Holes are usually found in pairs with a star. Photo 5.9. “Star Explosion on February 24, 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud” shows the star a month before the explosion (photo A) and during the explosion (photo B).

Photo. 5.9. Star explosion on February 24, 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

(A - star a month before the explosion; B - during the explosion)

In this case, the first one shows the convergence of three stars (shown by an arrow). It is not known exactly which one exploded. The distance of this star to us is 150 thousand light years. years. Within a few hours of the star's activity, its luminosity increased by 2 magnitudes and continued to grow. By March it reached fourth magnitude and then began to weaken. A similar supernova explosion that could be observed with the naked eye has not been observed since 1604.

In 1899, R. Thorburn Innes (1861-1933, England) published the first extensive catalog of double stars in the southern sky. It included 2140 pairs of stars, and the components of 450 of them were separated by an angular distance of less than 1 arcsecond. It was Thorburn who discovered the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri.

5.10. Catalog of 88 sky constellations and their brightest stars.

№	Constellation name			*	S²grad²	Number of stars	Designation	The brightest stars in this constellation
	Russian	Latin
1	Andromeda	Andromeda	And	0	720	100	ab	Mirach Alferaz (Sirrah) Alamak (Almak)
2	Twins	Gemini	Gem	105	514	70	ab	CastorPollux Teyat, Prior (Propus, Prop) Teyat Posterior (Dirah)
3	Big Dipper	Ursa Major	GMa	160	1280	125	ab	DubheMerak Megrets (Kaffa) Alkaid (Benetnash) Alula Australis Alula Borealis Tania Australis Tania Borealis
4	Big	Canis Major	CMa	105	380	80	ad	Sirius (Vacation)Wesen Mirzam (Murzim)
5	Scales	Libra	Lib	220	538	50	ab	Zuben Elgenubi (Kiffa Australis)Zuben Elshemali (Kiffa Borealis) Zuben Hakrabi Zuben Elakrab Zuben Elakribi
6	Aquarius	Aquarius	Aqr	330	980	90	ab	SadalmelekSadalsuud (Elzud Garden) Skat (Sheat) Sadakhbiya
7	Auriga	Auriga	Aur	70	657	90	ab	CapellaMencalinan Hassaleh
8	Wolf	Lupus	Lup	230	334	70
9	Bootes	Boots	Boo	210	907	90	ab	ArcturusMeres (Neckar) Mirak (Isar, Pulcherima) Mufrid (Mifrid) Seguin (Haris) Alcalurops Princeps
10	Veronica's hair	Coma Berenices	Com	190	386	50	a	Diadem
11	Crow	Corvus	Crv	190	184	15	ab	Alhita (Alhiba) Kraz Algorab
12	Hercules	Hercules	Her	250	1225	140	ab	Ras AlgetiKorneforos (Rutilic) Marsik (Marfak)
13	Hydra	Hydra	Hya	160	1300	130	a	Alphard (Heart of Hydra)
14	Pigeon	Columba	Col	90	270	40	ab	FactVazn
15	Hound Dogs	Canes Venatici	CVn	185	465	30	ab	Heart of KarlHara
16	Virgo	Virgo	Vir	190	1290	95	ab	Spica (Dana) Zavijava (Zavijava) Windemiatrix Khambalia
17	Dolphin	Delphinus	Del	305	189	30	ab	SualokinRotanev Jeneb El Delphini
18	Dragon	Draco	Dra	220	1083	80	ab	TubanRastaban (Alvaid) Etamin, Eltanin Nodus 1 (Nod)
19	Unicorn	Monoceros	Mon	110	482	85
20	Altar	Ara	Ara	250	237	30
21	Painter	Pictor	Pic	90	247	30
22	Giraffe	Camelopardalis	Cam	70	757	50
23	Crane	Grus	Gru	330	366	30	a	Alnair
24	Hare	Lepus	Lep	90	290	40	ab	ArnebNihal
25	Ophiuchus	Ophiuchus	Oph	250	948	100	ab	Ras AlhagTzelbalrai Sabik (Alsabik) Yed Prior Yed Posterior Sinistra
26	Snake	Serpens	Ser	230	637	60	a	Unuk Alhaya (Elhaya, Heart of the Serpent)
27	Golden Fish	Dorado	Dor	85	179	20
28	Indian	Indus	Ind	310	294	20
29	Cassiopeia	Cassiopeja	Cas	15	598	90	a	Shedar (Shedir)
30	Centaur (Centaurus)	Centaurus	Cen	200	1060	150	a	Toliman (Rigil Centaurus) Hadar (Agena)
31	Keel	Carina	Car	105	494	110	a	Canopus (Suhel) Miaplecid
32	Whale	Cetus	Set	20	1230	100	a	Menkar (Menkab) Difda (Deneb, Kantos) Deneb Algenubi Kaffaljidhma Baten Kaitos
33	Capricorn	Capricornus	Cap	315	414	50	a	Aljedi Sheddy (Deneb Aljedi)
34	Compass	Pyxis	Pyx	125	221	25
35	Stern	Puppis	Pup	110	673	140	z	Naos Asmidiske
36	Swan	Cygnus	Cyg	310	804	150	a	Deneb (Aridif) Albireo Azelphaga
37	Lion	Leo	Leo	150	947	70	a	Regulus (Kalb) Denebola Aljeba (Algeiba) Adhafera Algenubi
38	Flying fish	Volans	Vol	105	141	20
39	Lyra	Lyra	Lyr	280	286	45	a	Vega
40	Chanterelle	Vulpecula	Vul	290	268	45
41	Ursa Minor	Ursa Minor	UMi		256	20	a	Polar (Kinosura)
42	Small Horse	Equuleus	Equ	320	72	10	a	Kitalfa
43	Small	Leo Minor	LMi	150	232	20
44	Small	Canis Minor	CMi	110	183	20	a	Procyon (Elgomaise)
45	Microscope	Microscopium	Mic	320	210	20
46	Fly	Musca	Mus	210	138	30
47	Pump	Antlia	Ant	155	239	20
48	Square	Norma	Nor	250	165	20
49	Aries	Aries	Ani	30	441	50	a	Gamal (Hamal) Mesartim
50	Octant	Octans	Oct	330	291	35
51	Eagle	Aquila	Aql	290	652	70	a	Altair Deneb Okab Deneb Okab (Cepheid)
52	Orion	Orion	Ori	80	594	120	a	Betelgeuse Rigel (Algebar) Bellatrix (Alnajid) Alnilam Alnitak Meissa (Heka, Alheka)
53	Peacock	Pavo	Pav	280	378	45	a	Peacock
54	Sail	Vela	Vel	140	500	110	g	Regor Alsuhail
55	Pegasus	Pegasus	Peg	340	1121	100	a	Markab (Mekrab) Algenib Salma (Kerb)
56	Perseus	Perseus	Per	45	615	90	a	Algenib (Mirfak) Algol (Gorgon) Kapul (Misam)
57	Bake	Forrnax	For	50	398	35
58	Bird of paradise	Apus	Aps	250	206	20
59	Cancer	Cancer	Cne	125	506	60	a	Akubens (Sertan) Azellus Australis Azellus borealis Presepa (Nursery)
60	Cutter	Caelum	Cae	80	125	10
61	Fish	Pisces	Psc	15	889	75	a	Alrisha (Okda, Kaitain, Resha)
62	Lynx	Lynx	Lyn	120	545	60
63	Northern Crown	Corona Borealis	CrB	230	179	20	a	Alpheka (Gemma, Gnosia)
64	Sextant	Sextans	Sex	160	314	25
65	Net	Reticulum	Ret	80	114	15
66	Scorpion	Scorpius	Sco	240	497	100	a	Antares (Heart of Scorpio) Akrab (Elyakrab) Lesath (Lezakh, Lezat) Graffias Alakrab Graffias
67	Sculptor	Sculptor	Scl	365	475	30
68	Table Mountain	Mensa	Men	85	153	15
69	Arrow	Sagitta	Sge	290	80	20	a	Sham
70	Sagittarius	Sagittarius	Sgr	285	867	115	a	Alrami Arkab Prior Arkab Posterior Cowes Australis Cowes Medius Cowes Borealis Albaldach Altalimain Manubrius Terebell
71	Telescope	Telescopium	Tel	275	252	30
72	Taurus	Taurus	Tau	60	797	125	a	Aldebaran (Palilia) Alcyone Asterope
73	Triangle	Triangulum	Tri	30	132	15	a	Metallah
74	Toucan	Tucana	Tuc	355	295	25
75	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phe	15	469	40
76	Chameleon	Chamaeleon	Cha	130	132	20
77	Cepheus (Kepheus)	Cepheus	Cep	330	588	60	a	Alderamin Alrai (Errai)
78	Compass	Circinus	Cir	225	93	20
79	Watch	Horologium	Hor	45	249	20
80	Bowl	Crater	Crt	170	282	20	a	Alkes
81	Shield	Scutum	Sct	275	109	20
82	Eridanus	Eridanus	Eri	60	1138	100	a	Achernar
83	South Hydra	Hydrus	Hyi	65	243	20
84	Southern Crown	Corona Australis	CrA	285	128	25
85	Southern Fish	Piscis Austrinus	PsA	330	245	25	a	Fomalhaut
86	Southern Cross	Crux	Cru	205	68	30	a	Acrux Mimosa (Becrux)
87	Southern Triangle	Triangulum Australe	TrA	240	110	20	a	Atria (Metallah)
88	Lizard	Lacerta	Lac	335	201	35

Notes: Zodiac constellations are highlighted in bold.

* Approximate heliocentric longitude of the constellation center.

It is very logical to assume that the color of stars in a globular cluster also depends on their position in orbit around their central star. It was noticed (see above) that all bright stars are solitary, that is, they are far from each other. And the darker ones, as a rule, are double or triple, that is, they are close to each other.

It can be assumed that the color of the stars changes in a “rainbow”. The next cycle ends in the perigalaxy - maximum compression of the star and black color. There is a “leap from quantity to quality.” Then the cycle repeats. But during pulsation, a condition is always met - the next compression does not occur in the initial (small) state, but in the process of development, the volume and mass of the star constantly increase by a certain amount. Its pressure and temperature also change (increase).

Conclusions. Analyzing all of the above, we can say that:

explosions on stars: regular, ordered both in space and time. This is a new stage in the evolution of stars;

explosions in the galaxy to expect:

• in the “black holes” of the Galaxy;
• in groups of double (triple, etc.) stars, that is, when stars approach each other.
• the spectrum of an exploding star (one or more) should be dark (from dark blue-violet to black).

5.11. Star-Earth connections

A hundred years ago, solar-terrestrial connections (STE) were recognized. The time has come to pay attention to star-terrestrial connections (STE). Thus, the 1998 flare of a star on August 27 (which is located at a distance of several thousand parsecs from the Sun) had an impact on the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Metals react especially to stellar flares. For example, the spectra of neutral helium (helium-2) and metals responded to the flare of a single red dwarf star (with a mass less than that of the Sun) after 15-30 minutes (R.E. Gershberg, 1997, Crimea).

18 hours before the optical detection of a supernova explosion in February 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, neutrino detectors on Earth (in Italy, Russia, Japan, USA) noted several bursts of neutrino radiation with an energy of 20-30 megaelectronvolts. Radiation in the ultraviolet and radio ranges was also noted.

Calculations show that the energy of stellar flares (explosions) is such that a star flare such as the Foramen star at a distance of 100 light years. years from the Sun will destroy life on Earth.

Among the countless number of stars, there are also those with their own names. Many of them are well-known and have probably been seen at least once on the pages of newspapers and books - Sirius, Fomalhaut... But what other names of stars are there, and what do they mean? Today we will learn more about the names of stars.

Those who have been interested in the constellations and their history know about the beautiful and romantic names that stand behind their names. Heroes of ancient Greek myths, fabulous animals, legendary artifacts - they all found their place in the outlines of the stars of the night sky. It is logical that the stars should also mean something... But everything turned out to be much more prosaic.

The fact is that during the period of antiquity - the ancient era when the foundations of modern sciences were laid - only a few stars were named. They shone brightest in sacred constellations, or served as navigational ones - they pointed to the cardinal directions or rose in certain seasons. We will return to them later. However, most of the other stars remained unnamed, which over time began to annoy astronomers.

The situation with the names of stars became critical in modern times, when new ones began to be added to the ancient 48 constellations - especially in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere, which for the time being was partially hidden from European scientists. In 1592, the first 3 new constellations were added, and before the end of the century their number increased by another 11. And thanks to the fact that astronomy became fashionable among monarchs and rulers, a real madness began to create new constellations in honor of the greats of this world. It got to the point that court astrologers moved the “arms” and “legs” of ancient figures in order to place the beloved and rich king in the sky.

This lawlessness was stopped only in 1922, when the International Conference of Astronomers divided the celestial sphere into 88 constellations, which included entire areas of the sky. The remaining, “illegitimate” constellations, for which there was no place in the main ones, began to be called asterisms.

Stars: from Alpha to Omega

Bayer's "Uranometry" page

The hero's name was Johann Bayer, and he was a lawyer who was passionate about the stars. His love bore fruit that remained forever in the history of astronomy: in 1603, he released the atlas Uranometria, which became the world's first complete map of the starry sky. In addition, he also drew artistic images of the constellations, and gave each star a name corresponding to... its brightness.

The solution turned out to be incredibly simple - the brightest star was named after the first letter of the Greek alphabet, α (Alpha), the next brightest, β (Beta), and so on until the dimmest, ω (Omega). The method was captivating with its clarity and simplicity: this way you can always identify a specific star. As the power of telescopes increased, the number of visible stars in the constellation zones increased, and Latin lowercase letters were added to the Greek letters, and then capital letters. In the 18th century, a digital index appeared that indicated the right ascension of a star. For example, the final astronomical name of the brightest star in the sky became α 9 Canis Majoris (the Latin name for the constellation Canis Major).

However, the years passed, science developed, and the names given in 1603 also did not stand still. Constellations “changed” their outlines during the redistribution of stars. The stars under the gaze of telescopes turned out to be brighter than visible with the naked eye, and the stars themselves changed their brightness due to internal processes. Thus, the star Nat, a “butting” horn in Arabic, previously belonged to another constellation, . It was not the brightest star among its “colleagues”, and therefore was called Gamma, and was confined to the “foot” of the constellation. However, over time, she was transferred to Taurus, where she became Beta. And some constellations are generally deprived of “letters” - in the constellation Chanterelle there is only one star, Alpha. Therefore the most bright star the constellations are also called Lucida in order to avoid confusion with old and new reference systems.

Today, even letter names in professional astronomy have faded into the background. Since the seventeenth century, scientists have been compiling catalogs of the starry sky, which include not only stars, but also other space objects - nebulae, clusters, galaxies, black holes and others. The luminaries are designated in them by a letter index, indicating their belonging to the catalog, and a number, which indicates the position of the star in it. For example, according to Henry Draper's catalog, containing data from 225 thousand luminaries, the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, is designated as HD 48915. There are as many designations as there are catalogs. Despite the apparent confusion, this is much more convenient than classical names: catalogs not only indicate the location of the star, but also valuable information about it.

Famous stars

So, above we learned the harsh truth- most stars have a technical name, depending on its various characteristics. And astronomers themselves were not particularly keen on naming, more willingly paying attention to their movement and constellations in ancient times, and the cosmogonic aspect in modern times.

However, there are also those stars who are lucky to have their own name. Today there are about 270 of them. This number can be stretched to 400-500 - thanks to the relay of scientific championship between the Europeans of Antiquity and the Arabs of the Middle Ages, many stars and constellations acquired several spellings at once. And yet, what secrets do the names of the stars hide?

Names with a trick

Suddenly - the most beautiful and most mysterious names luminaries are of the same utilitarian nature as modern ones. You may have already heard that many of the current names of stars are of Arabic origin - when the Roman Empire, the beacon of science of antiquity, was destroyed by a stream of barbarian peoples, its scientific and philosophical developments were continued by the Arabs.

Religion and worldview did not allow them to develop the Greek naming traditions, tied to myths alien to the Arabs - and at the same time, astronomy as a science required accuracy. In order to identify the most important and brightest stars in the sky, the Arabs decided to give them names that would depend on the position of the star in its constellation. They managed to solve the problem of the namelessness of the luminaries, but the result was very prosaic.

Take, for example, the star Fomalhaut in the constellation Southern Pisces - its name simply translates to “mouth of the fish.” Betelgeuse, Alpha Orionis, sounds even simpler - “the giant’s armpit”, because it is right at the celestial’s fingertips. This practical approach led to the fact that star names were often duplicated. As a result, there are more than a dozen stars named Deneb, which translates as “tail.” Moreover, in some constellations with a long “tail” there may be several Denebs at once - like the constellations Cetus or Eagle.

Like the Greeks, the Arabs named stars after their constellations. But when the Greek names of stars demarcated clusters of stars, or revealed more fully their mythological history, the Arabic ones simply repeated the name. The brightest star of the zodiac constellation Capricorn, thanks to the Arabs, is today called Giedi, “the little goat.” Famous star Altair, the lucida of the Eagle, didn't go far either - her name means "flying eagle".

The times of Arab astronomy are long gone, but stars still receive simple names to this day. The red supergiant star μ Cephei is called Garnet with light hand William Herschel, who described its characteristic color this way. The well-known (translated as “closest”) Centauri is so called because it is the star closest to the Sun. And many more names were split up - for example, the already mentioned star Giedi Capricorn was found to have a “twin”, and Giedi became two: Giedi Prima and Secunda.

Modern titles

Some stars received their names completely by accident. NASA astronauts especially distinguished themselves in the field of “baptism” of stars. In astronautics, stars are used as a compass - they are motionless relative to the Sun and can serve as correct landmarks. Of the 36 stars on NASA's navigation charts, 33 had their own memorable names. The remaining three either had no name or had a repetitive Arabic designation. The astronauts had to learn all the stars by heart - and to make the training process easier, they came up with their own nicknames for them.

Virgil Ivan Grissom - " godfather» Navi stars

Gamma Parus, a bright star, became known as "Regor" - a twist on the English word "Roger", representing the name Roger and the phrase "That's right!" Gamma Cassiopeia turned into “Navi” - an inverted name of “Ivan”, and Iota of the Big Dipper - into Dnokes, a twisted word “Second”, “second”. These names were at first unofficial, but were widely used by NASA astronauts, including on the legendary Apollo mission to the Moon, and later in work reports. Gradually, Dnokes, Regor and Navi came into astronomical use.

There is also one scientific tradition: to name various space objects after their discoverers, or simply in honor of outstanding scientists. This is especially visible on the Moon: the craters there are named after Mendeleev, Pavlov, Copernicus... The same thing happens with the stars. The first helium star, discovered in the 40s by Daniel Popper, has since been called by scientists “Popper’s star.” There are also stars of Barnard, Krzeminski, Moiseev... Usually such names are not recognized by the official scientific community, but they go “with a bang” in the press and popular science literature.

Legends of antiquity

Now that we have dealt with the scientific prose of astronomy, we can move on to the lyrics. After all, there are many beautiful luminaries whose names have a thousand-year history behind them.

The oldest star known to man is Sirius. Its name from Greek translates as “brightest, hottest,” which perfectly reflects the two main properties of the star. In addition to being the brightest star in the sky, it appears only with the beginning of the warm season. The rising of Sirius in Egypt was a sign for the beginning of grain sowing - at that very time the Nile, the source of water and fertile lands of the ancient civilization, was flooding.

Due to the fact that Sirius heads the constellation Canis Major, the Greeks called the luminary the Canis of Orion - the constellation is located very close to the celestial figure of the legendary hunter (the one in whose armpit the star Betelgeuse is located). In the Roman Empire, Sirius was called "Vacation", "little dog", and the hot period of summer that comes after its rising - "dog days". Hence the modern term “vacation”. Nowadays this word carries only pleasant associations, but previously “dog-like” heat was a threat to the economy Ancient Rome- and to scare away the hot Sirius, the Romans sacrificed dogs to the gods. By the way, the first written mention of Sirius in the Russian language also has a “dog spirit” - in the 16th century the Slavs called the star Psitsa.

But not all stars were known for their brightness or their association with the seasons. An example of this is the twin stars Castor and Polydeuces, who serve as the brightest stars in the constellation Gemini. The translation of the names itself (“beaver” and “many sweets”) means little - but the story of the two star brothers has been passed down for centuries from plot to plot. In Greek legends they were also twins - only one was the son of a mortal, and the other the son of a god; one after death ascended to Olympus, and the other into the darkness of the kingdom of the dead. Separated by nature, the brothers went through many trials together on Earth, and were eventually reunited in the starry sky.

The history of the most expressive luminary of the constellation, Regulus, is also interesting. The word means "king" in Latin, and it seems logical that it refers to the royal nature of Leo. But this is just not the case - Regulus is one of the few stars that were named before their constellation received a name. Its mentions are found in ancient Mesopotamia, and are of a similar nature to Sirius - Regulus served as a sign of the beginning and end of field work.

Stars have many names, but now they are becoming a thing of the past - the International Union of Astronomers is increasingly bypassing the traditional names of luminaries, preferring their letter designations in constellations or numbers in catalogs. And this is especially true for those star names that are sold for money - they are fundamentally not recognized, even if the purchase is offered by authoritative organizations like Roscosmos. The fact is that anyone can create a star catalogue, where Sirius will be called the Cat, and the North Star - the South Star. But at the same time, such names remain only on paper, and have nothing to do with real astronomy.

Therefore, if you want to perpetuate the names of your family and friends, you should not trust their stars. They are too far away, and every year they fly further and further from us - it is easier and more pleasant to make your name immortal by doing things on.

Looking at the night sky as a child, we try to understand what constellations there are. We are interested in the names formed by the stars of the figure, but not in the definition of the concept of “constellation” itself. Meanwhile, even as adults, we do not always understand what actually lies behind this familiar word.

Projection

A spaceship flying into space will never reach any of the existing celestial patterns. The reason for this is that the stars, which seem to us to lie on the same plane, are actually located at great distances from each other. A constellation is a projection of a separate fragment of the celestial sphere with all the space objects located on it.

A little history

Ideas about what constellations there are differed in different centuries. Today there are 88 celestial patterns, but this was not always the case. The ancient constellations and their names were ordered and described by Ptolemy in his famous treatise “Almagest”. His list included 48 celestial designs. All of them, with the exception of one, have retained their names to this day. The large constellation Argo (the ship of the Argonauts) was subsequently divided into three smaller ones: Carina, Puppis and Parus. Initially, the celestial drawings, called ancient today, were described four centuries before Ptolemy, in 245 BC. e. This was also done by the Greek poet Arat.

The need to supplement the existing list came during the time of the Great Discoveries: the stars marked on the maps did not help navigate the expanses of the ocean. At the end of the 16th century, travelers Frederic de Houtman and Pieter Keyser combined the stars into 12 more celestial designs. Among them were Chameleon, Phoenix, South Hydra. A dozen constellations can still be found today on the map of the southern hemisphere of the starry sky.

In 1613, Peter Plancius depicted several new celestial drawings on his globe, and in 1624, thanks to the German astronomer, physician and mathematician Jacob Bartsch, they began to be used throughout the scientific world. Today, only two of them have survived - the Giraffe and the Unicorn.

Final formation

The list of constellations was not completed here. Jan Hevelius in the 17th century identified seven more star designs (Sextant, Lesser Lion, Lizard, Shield, Lynx, Chanterelle, Hounds). In the next, 18th century, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille also made his contribution. He depicted 17 constellations, completing the list.

However, this is not the end of the history of constellation names. There have been several attempts to rename ancient celestial paintings, replacing Greek gods and heroes with Christian saints. Sometimes reigning persons and military leaders wanted to feel the glory of the Olympians. However, all these attempts were unsuccessful.

Borders

By the end of the 18th century, the modern understanding of what constellations there were was finally established. The names of celestial images are also more or less established. All that remained was to decide on the boundaries.

Today, a constellation is understood not only as certain luminaries that create a recognizable silhouette. It includes the entire “territory” near these stars. The constellations are separated by boundaries approved in 1935 after a long collaboration of several famous astronomers.

Continuous movement

The constellations were fixed in one way or another on the map, but if you watch the stars all night, it is easy to notice that the celestial patterns are constantly moving. Some move around a single center, others describe an arc and disappear behind the horizon. This change in position was called diurnal rotation. If the observer is in and faces south, then the stars for him will move clockwise, rising in the east and disappearing in the west. The highest constellations rise above southern part horizon. If you observe the movement of the stars while facing north, the picture changes somewhat. Some of the luminaries do not go beyond the horizon, but describe a circle in the sky. Its center is the so-called world. The North Star is located near it.

Moreover, the same bright point always rises and sets in a strictly defined place, in contrast to the Sun and Moon, the places of rise and set of which shift every day. and the daylight “travel” from one constellation to another. Thus, they “visit” the twelve celestial drawings. The Sun travels its path over the course of a year, and the Moon takes just over 27 days. Hospitable “houses” that receive the light of day once every twelve months make up the Zodiac circle.

Pillars of Astrology

Perhaps everyone knows what constellations of zodiac signs exist. It is interesting that the celestial pattern in which the Sun is located in a particular month is always hidden from the observer and appears only six months later.

Zodiac signs have been known to mankind for a very long time. Some of their names sounded back in Mesopotamia, the cradle of one of the first civilizations. The word “zodiac” itself is of Greek origin: zodiakos translated means “animal”. The twelve constellations are so named because most of them resemble animals.

The zodiacal circle covers the orbit not only of the Moon, but also of all the planets of the solar system. It is located at an angle to the celestial equator and intersects with it at two points corresponding to the spring and autumn equinox.

Poles of the world

You can answer the question of what constellations there are in different ways. Astronomers have developed a special coordinate system to determine them. The North Pole of the World has already been mentioned above. It is easy to assume that there is also a South one, which is pointed to. And where the poles are, there is the equator. In a coordinate system built on the sky, there is declination (latitude, distance to the equator) and right ascension (longitude).

The equator passes through certain constellations: Orion, Pisces, Whale, Taurus, Eridanus, Sextant, Eagle, Unicorn, Hydra, Ophiuchus, Canis Minor, Leo, Aquarius, Serpent. The peculiarity of these celestial drawings is that they can be observed almost anywhere in the world. This is possible precisely because of the location of the constellations.

North

There are several more classifications that complement our understanding of what a constellation is. All celestial patterns are divided into those belonging to the Northern or Southern hemisphere of the starry sky.

The list of constellations of the Northern Hemisphere includes images of three signs of the Zodiac: Gemini, Aries and Cancer. This also includes celestial drawings of animals: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, Dolphin, Dragon, Giraffe, Hounds, Swan, Fox, Little Horse and Little Lion, Lynx and Lizard. Among the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere there are those named after the characters of ancient mythology: Coma Berenices, Andromeda, Cepheus, Perseus, Pegasus, Hercules, Cassiopeia, Bootes, and denoting objects: Lyra, Sextant, Arrow, Triangle.

From the other side of the Earth

Now let's see what constellations are visible to an observer located in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the celestial designs here are named after inanimate objects and their parts: Altar, Compass, Poop, Keel, Microscope, Bowl, Square, Octant, Telescope, Pump, Cutter, Sails, Furnace, Reticle, Compasses, Clock, Shield, Southern Crown, Southern Cross and Southern Triangle. From zodiac signs to southern constellations include Capricorn, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Of the mythical characters, only the Phoenix and Cepheus are located here, but there are artists (Sculptor and Painter) and a representative of one of the nations (Indian), as well as the embodiment of a natural miracle (Table Mountain). There are also many animals here: Great Dog, Raven, Dove, Wolf, Flying, Golden and Southern Fish, Crane, Hare, Bird of Paradise, Peacock, Fly, Toucan, Chameleon, Southern Hydra.

Winter and summer

This does not exhaust the answer options to the question of what kind of constellation there are. Another principle of classification is the time of year in which the celestial pattern is best observed. After all, in summer, winter, spring and autumn, different images dominate your head.

In June, July and August, the sky is decorated with Lyre and Eagle, the brightest points of which form the Summer Triangle asterism. At this time of year, Bootes, Corona Borealis, Compasses, Hercules and several other celestial patterns are also available for observation.

In winter, the space above your head is no less beautiful than in summer. In the evening, the constellation Orion appears above the horizon. It is easy to find by three bright dots lined up in a row. This is an asterism Below and slightly to the right is Rigel, the most noticeable star in this celestial picture. If the Belt continues to the left and down, then the straight line will soon run into Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris and the brightest star in the whole sky. Both Canis Major and Canis Minor are also winter constellations. From the other end, the straight line passing through Orion's Belt ends up with Aldebaran, which belongs to Taurus.

Autumn and spring

The end of summer is accompanied by a change in the main constellations of the sky. Now Pisces, Cassiopeia and Andromeda become best visible. Although their brightness is inferior to Orion and Cygnus, they decorate the sky no worse and are also worthy of attention.

In spring, the space above your head is illuminated by the stars of Ursa Major, Leo, Virgo, Bootes. Of course, they are noticeable in other periods, but spring is the time of their “reign” in the sky.

The main constellations and names of stars have been known to us since antiquity. Since then, their list has been supplemented and modified. A list of 88 celestial drawings is a comprehensive answer to the question of what constellations there are. Their names give an idea of ​​the time when these star patterns appeared on star charts. Thus, almost all mythical characters shone in the era of Ancient Greece and Rome. Most of the animals familiar to modern man, as well as the silhouettes of artistic figures and various instruments, are the result of a rethinking of the star map in the 17th and 18th centuries. Searching for constellations makes it easier to relate them to the celestial equator and the poles of the world.