• Astronomy

    Apus Constellation

    Apus is a faint constellation in the southern sky. Its name means “no feet” in Greek and it represents a bird-of-paradise, which were once believed to have no feet. It was one of the twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius in the late 16th century. The first known depiction of the constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria of 1603. Bird-of-Paradise after which the Apus constellation was named. Credit & Copyright: Roderick Eime. For more constellations see the Constellations Guide.

  • Astronomy

    Introduction to Astronomy – Apparent magnitude

    Yesterday I have used the term “apparent magnitude” in my article about the Antlia Constellation. Since some of you may be new to astronomy, I decided to start a new series of articles to introduce you to the topic. Each article of the series will focus on one scientific term used in astronomy. The series will not be a regular one: I will only write an article after using a complicated astronomy term that some of you would need me to explain. Definition The apparent magnitude (noted as m) of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth. Since the apparent brightness…

  • Astronomy

    Antlia Constellation

    Antlia is a constellation in the southern sky and therefore has been unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Its name means “pump” and it specifically represents an air pump. It was created by the French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who created fourteen constellations for the southern sky to fill some of the faint regions. He originally named it Antlia pneumatica to commemorate the air pump invented by the French physicist Denis Papin. It was later adopted by the International Astronomical Union as one of the 88 modern constellations under the shortened name of Antlia. Main Stars and Deep Sky Objects The Antlia constellation has no bright stars.…

  • Astronomy

    Astronomy Picture of the Week – Leonid Meteor Shower

    Today is the peak of the Leonid meteor shower. It is one of the best meteor showers to watch because it produces an average of 40 meteors per hour during the peak. All meteors seem to come from the Leo constellation, hence it’s name. This picture features a few meteors from the 2001 Leonid meteor shower streaking over Joshua Tree National Park in California, USA. Image credit & copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics) & Tony Hallas (Astrophoto) Unfortunately for me the weather is really bad where I live: it is really cloudy with intermittent rain. So I hope some of you had better luck!

  • Astronomy

    Andromeda Constellation

    Andromeda is a constellation in the northern sky. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. The Andromeda Galaxy is named after the constellation, as it appears within its boundaries.

  • Astronomy

    Stargazing with Google Sky

    Today I downloaded the Google Sky app on my Android smartphone. So when it finally got dark today, I went out stargazing to try it out. I find this application really useful as it follows the movement of the phone and identifies the constellations, stars, planets and other celestial bodies you are pointing at. If you love stargazing and have an Android phone, then you really should download this free app! Google Sky Application for the Android. Image credit: Google While looking at the eastern sky, I saw a really bright star close to the Aquarius constellation, so I scanned it with my phone and I found out that it…