The constellation Andromeda for children is a short story. Constellation Andromeda

According to ancient legends, most of the constellations we know represent immortalized events from the distant past. Powerful gods placed heroes and various creatures in the sky in memory of their accomplishments, and sometimes as punishment for misdeeds. Eternal life was often granted in this way. The Andromeda constellation is one of these celestial designs. It is famous, however, not only for its legend: its territory is home to the famous neighbor of the Milky Way and several other interesting space objects.

Mythological plot

Andromeda in ancient Greek legends was the daughter of the king of Ethiopia Kepheus (Cepheus) and his wife Cassiopeia. There are several versions of the legend associated with the constellation. According to one of them, the beautiful Andromeda was so beautiful that the Nereid sea maidens envied her. They suffered and wasted away before our eyes. Poseidon decided to rectify the situation by sending a terrible monster to Ethiopia. Every day it came ashore and destroyed villages and killed residents. Kefei turned to the Oracle for advice and learned that in order to stop the disaster, he needed to give the monster Andromeda. The saddened parents nevertheless chained their daughter to a rock and left her until the monster arrived. However, there was no tragedy: Perseus, who was flying by and fell in love with Andromeda at first sight, came to the beauty’s aid. He defeated the monster with his head and married a beautiful maiden. Since then, Perseus has existed and Andromeda now shines in the heavens. The gods also immortalized Cassiopeia, Kepheus and even a sea monster in the vast expanses of space.

Location

The constellation Andromeda has a well-recognized shape: three chains of luminaries radiating from one point. This celestial pattern occupies a vast area and is one of the largest in both hemispheres. The brightest star in the constellation Andromeda, the one from which the chains begin, is located on the border with the image of Pegasus. Until the 17th century, the luminary was considered to belong to both celestial patterns. This star is the northern corner of Pegasus Great Square.

Andromeda can be admired throughout the vast territory of Russia. In summer and September it is located on the eastern side of the sky, and in late autumn and early winter - in its southern part.

Alpha

The brightest point of this celestial pattern is Alferaz (Andromeda's alpha). It was finally fixed as part of the described constellation in 1928. For Ptolemy, Alferats belonged to Pegasus. The name itself testifies to the history of the luminary: it means, translated from Arabic, “the navel of a horse.”

Alferaz is a blue-white subgiant that emits 200 times more light than the Sun. In addition, it is the main component of the dual system. Its companion shines 10 times less.

Alferaz A is one of the brightest representatives of an unusual class of mercury-manganese stars. The high concentration in the atmosphere of the metals included in the name of the type is explained by the difference in the effect of the star’s gravity and its internal pressure on various chemical elements.

Alpherats is also a variable star. The gloss range is from +2.02 m to +2.06 m. Changes occur with a period of 23.19 hours.

Nebula

The Andromeda constellation is known to many not because of the impressive size or beauty of the stars, but because of the M31 galaxy located on its territory. The famous neighbor of the Milky Way is one of the few such objects that can be seen with the naked eye. The Andromeda nebula is located slightly above the star Mirakh (beta Andromeda). To view the structure of the galaxy, you will need at least binoculars.

The Andromeda nebula is more than twice the size and contains about 1 trillion stars. Near it there are also two satellites: the galaxies M32 and NGC 205. The distance from the Sun to the three objects exceeds 2 million light years.

Supernova

The constellation Andromeda became the object of observation by many astronomers in 1885. Then it was illuminated by a flash. It became the first such object found outside the Milky Way. Supernova S Andromeda is located in the galaxy of the same name and is still the only such cosmic body in it. The luminary reached its maximum brightness on August 21-22, 1885 (it amounted to 5.85 m). After six months it decreased to 14 m.

Today, S Andromeda is classified as a Type Ia supernova, although its orange color and light curve do not match the accepted description of such objects.

The Andromeda constellation, photos of the objects that make it up, and an image of a neighboring galaxy appear quite often in the media. And this is not surprising: the vast space occupied by the celestial pattern can tell a lot about the laws of space and the interconnection of its individual parts. Many telescopes are aimed here in the hope of obtaining new information about remote objects.

Andromeda (lat. Andromeda) is a constellation of the northern hemisphere of the sky. In the constellation Andromeda there are three stars of the 2nd magnitude and a spiral galaxy, visible naked eye and has been known since the 10th century.

Andromeda is visible throughout the northern hemisphere. The constellation is easy to find if you find the Great Square of Pegasus in the southern sky on an autumn evening. In its northeastern corner is the star Alferats (α Andromeda), from which three chains of stars that make up Andromeda diverge to the northeast, towards Perseus.

Its three brightest stars of 2nd magnitude are Alferats, Mirakh and Alamak (α, β, and γ Andromedae), and Alamak is amazing double star. The star Alferaz is also called Alpharet, Alferraz or Sirrah; her full Arabic name is "Sirrah al-Faras", which means "the navel of the horse" (sometimes she was included in the constellation Pegasus

Legend of the Constellation Andromeda

The wife of the king of Ethiopia, Cassiopeia, and her daughter Andromeda were beauties. Because of her beauty, the queen fell into the sin of arrogance and declared that they were more beautiful than the sea nymphs of the Nereids.

Nereids - 50 beautiful and kind daughters of Nereus, a wise sea elder, were offended and complained to their patron, the God of the seas Poseidon (Roman Neptune).

The angry Poseidon, striking with his trident, sent a flood to the shores of Palestine and summoned a sea monster - Whale - from the depths of the sea.
To save the kingdom, King Cepheus turned to the oracle of Amun and learned that his subjects could be saved from the rage of the monster only if the royal daughter Andromeda was sacrificed to Keith. Cepheus could not resist the people, and Andromeda was chained to the rocks near the capital of Ethiopia.

When Keith was already approaching the girl, Perseus appeared at the scene of the tragedy.

Fortunately, Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, flew past the helpless Andromeda, returning from a victorious battle with the Gorgon Medusa.

According to some versions, he moved thanks to winged sandals given to him by Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and courage. However, the indicated group of constellations is more consistent with the version that he flew on the winged horse Pegasus.

Struck by the virgin beauty of Andromeda, Perseus decided to fight the sea monster. In return, he asked Andromeda's father, Cepheus, for her hand in marriage. He naturally agreed.

Confusing the monster with his shadow, Perseus led the monster away from the shore far into the sea, and there dealt him a fatal blow. So, Perseus saved Andromeda.
Beyond the Greek legend remains the more mysterious symbolism of the constellation Andromeda, as evidenced by its very name, meaning “ruler over men.”

As the Roman poet Manilius (1st century AD) wrote, “he who slayed Medusa was struck by the beauty of Andromeda.” So, perhaps Andromeda is not as innocent and helpless as it seems at first glance, but rather similar to Aphrodite, personifying feminine attractiveness.

Confirmation of this can be found in Mesopotamian mythology, where this constellation was identified with Astarte, the Goddess of love and war. Astarte - loving sea ​​goddess temples were dedicated on the Palestinian coast, where, according to myth, Andromeda was sacrificed.

The figure of the chained Andromeda can be fully visible from anywhere on earth north of 37° south latitude. The constellation is located to the west of the constellation Perseus, the savior of Andromeda, although the best reference is the bright W of Cassiopeia, located just to the north.

The head of Andromeda, as if falling, overlaps with the body of the winged horse Pegasus; The brightest star of the constellation, Alpher, is included in the northeastern corner of the Pegasus square. The constellation's midnight culmination occurs in the second week of October.

BRIGHTEST STARS of the Andromeda constellation

Alpha Andromeda α - Alferats- a blue-white subgiant of spectral class B8 with a surface temperature of 13,000 degrees Kelvin, emitting 200 times more light than the Sun. The star is 97 light years away. A study of the spectrum showed that Alpherats is a double star with an orbital period of 96.7 days. The main component of the system, Alferaz A, emits approximately 10 times more light than Alferaz B.

Alferats A is the brightest representative an unusual class of “mercury-manganese stars”. In the atmospheres of such stars there is a significant excess of mercury, gallium, manganese and europium, and the proportion of other elements is extremely small. The anomaly is believed to be caused by the different effects of the star's gravity and radiation pressure on different chemical elements.

Alpherats belongs to the variable stars of the type α² Canes Venatici‎, the star’s brightness varies from +2.02m to +2.06m with a period of 23.19 hours.

Alferatz (also Alferat, Alpher, Sirra, Sirrah or Sira) - Alpha Andromedae (α And / α Andromedae), the brightest star in the constellation Andromeda, is located northeast of the constellation Pegasus. The names "Alferaz" and "Sirra" come from Arabic. سرةالفرس‎‎, şirrat al-faras, which translated means “the navel of a horse.”

Since antiquity, during the Middle Ages, until the 17th century and even later, this star was considered to belong simultaneously to two constellations - Andromeda and Pegasus.

Thus, Ptolemy describes it as belonging to the constellation Horse (Pegasus) “The star on the navel, common with the star on the head of Andromeda.”

For some time, Alferaz was also called the Pegasus delta (δ Peg). The final decision on whether this star belongs to the constellation Andromeda was made by the IAU in 1928. Currently, the constellation Pegasus does not have a star δ.

Mirakh(Mirac, Beta Andromedae, β Andromedae) is a star, a red giant in the constellation Andromeda.
There are two versions of the origin of the name Mirakh. The first is from the Arabic word المراق al-maraqq, meaning “lower back”, “buttocks”.

The second is from the Arabic mi "zar, “belt.” Both versions of the name are associated with the position of the star in the figure of the constellation. In Ptolemy’s Almagest, the star is described as “the more southern of the three above the belt.” In Latin, the star was sometimes called Umbilicus Andromedae (“Navel Andromeda").

Alamak(Almah, Almaah, Almaak, Al Maak, γ And / γ Andromedae / Andromeda Gamma) is the third brightest star in the Andromeda constellation, a multiple star system consisting of four components.

γ Andromedae is one of the most beautiful double stars visible in a small telescope. The main yellow-orange star γ1 +2.1 magnitude has a bluish companion γ2 with a magnitude of +4.84m at a distance of 9.6 arcseconds. γ1 is a bright giant of spectral class K3 with a surface temperature of 4500 K, exceeding the Sun in luminosity by 2000 and in radius by more than 70 times.

γ2 is a double star and consists of a pair of bluish main sequence stars with magnitudes +5.1m and +6.3m, orbiting with a period of 61 years. Due to the small distance between the components (no more than 0.5 seconds), only a large telescope can separate this pair. The brighter component of the pair is in turn a spectroscopic double star with an orbital period of 2.67 days.

The name of the star is usually associated with the Arabic al-canāq al-arđ̧, meaning an animal of the mustelid family. The translation of the name as “sandal” is associated with the location of the star in the constellation figure and is apparently erroneous. In Ptolemy's Almagest, the star is described as “the star above the left foot” of the female figure.

Andromeda's nebula(M31) is the most important object in the constellation Andromeda. This is a spiral galaxy with its satellites - the dwarf galaxies M32 and NGC 205. On a moonless night, it is visible even to the naked eye at an angular distance of just over 1° west of the star n Andromeda.

Although the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi observed the Andromeda Nebula back in the 10th century, calling it a “little cloud,” European scientists discovered it only at the beginning of the 17th century.

This is the closest spiral galaxy to us, approximately 2.2 million light years away. Although it resembles an elongated oval, since its plane is inclined only 15° to the line of sight, it is apparently similar to our Galaxy, has a diameter of more than 220 thousand light years and contains approx. 300 billion stars.

Learning to find Perseus, Andromeda and Auriga

Prepared by O. Malakhov

Today we propose to find three constellations: Perseus, Andromeda with the famous Andromeda nebula, Auriga with the bright star Capella, as well as the diffuse star cluster The Pleiades, part of the constellation Taurus. To find Auriga and the Pleiades, it is recommended to look at the sky around midnight in August, around 11 pm in September, and after 10 pm in October. To begin our walk through the starry sky today, find the North Star, and then the constellation Cassiopeia. On these August evenings, it is visible high above the northeastern part of the sky in the evening.

Extend your arm forward, placing the thumb and index finger of that hand at the maximum possible angle. This angle will be approximately 18°. Now point forefinger on Cassiopeia, and lower your thumb perpendicularly down. There you will see stars belonging to the constellation Perseus. Match the observed stars with a fragment of the star map and remember the location of the constellation Perseus.

After this, pay attention to the long chain of stars stretching from Perseus towards the point of the south. This is the constellation Andromeda. If you draw a mental line from North Star through Cassiopeia, then this line will also point to the central part of Andromeda. Using a star map, find this constellation. Now pay attention to the central bright star of the constellation. The star has its own name - Mirach. Above it you can find three bright stars, forming a triangle, and together with Alferats - a figure resembling a slingshot. Between the top stars of this “slingshot” on moonless nights outside the city you can see a faint speck of fog. This is the famous Andromeda nebula - a gigantic galaxy visible to the naked eye from Earth. Within the city limits, you can use small binoculars or a telescope to find it.

While searching for Perseus, you may have noticed a bright yellow star to the left and below Perseus. This is the Chapel - main star constellation Auriga. The constellation Auriga itself is visible under the constellation Perseus, but for a more effective search for it, it is necessary to carry out observations after midnight, although part of the constellation is visible already in the evening (in central Russia, Capella is a non-setting star).

If you follow the chain of stars in the constellation Perseus, as shown on the map, you will notice that the chain first goes vertically down (4 stars) and then turns to the right (3 stars). If you continue the mental straight line from these three stars further to the right, you will find a silvery cloud; upon closer examination, for a person with normal vision, it will break up into 6-7 stars in the form of a miniature “bucket”. This is the Pleiades open star cluster. All that below (very near the horizon) are the stars of the constellation Taurus, but more on that later. Next time the promised Swan and Eagle.

Questions:
1. Have you seen the Andromeda galaxy?
2. How many stars did you see with the naked eye in the Pleiades?

“Andromeda Constellation” report will briefly tell you a lot useful information about a constellation located in the southern part of the sky.

A story about the constellation Andromeda

On star charts, the constellation Andromeda is depicted as a woman with outstretched arms attached to a rock. You can see it without the help of a telescope. It is especially bright during the months of September and October. The constellation is represented by three chains of stars that diverge to the northeast towards Pegasus.

In itself, it is of particular interest to scientists. In addition to double stars and a large nebula, an absolute new star appeared in it in the 19th century. The most amazing and interesting object of Andromeda is a large nebula that is clearly visible to the naked eye. The first mention of the constellation dates back to the 10th century: it was described by the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi. And in Europe they learned about it only in 1612 thanks to the discovery of Simon Marie.

The constellation Andromeda is a regular long ellipse with a central condensation. There are about 1500 stars in it. The brightest star is Al Ras al Mar'ah al Musalsalah (alpha), which means "The Center of the Horse". Due to its location near the northeastern part of the Pegasus constellation, it has long been considered part of it. The second brightest star of Andromeda is Mirach (beta), which is a red giant. It is also worth mentioning another bright star, Caracal (gamma). Its peculiarity is that it is a four star system of contrasting colors.

Other interesting objects in the Andromeda constellation include:

• Triple star system (upsilon). This is a planetary system that consists of 3 exoplanets.
• Blue-white dwarf (iota).
• XI Andromeda (tail) is a yellow giant, double star.

History of the constellation Andromeda

Once upon a time, in the ancient Greek country of Ethiopia, Cepheus reigned, whose wife was Cassiopeia, a very beautiful woman. The goddesses themselves were jealous of her and decided to take revenge. The royal couple had a daughter, Andromeda. They unleashed a bloodthirsty and huge sea monster on Ethiopia. His name was Keith. When he crawled ashore, he ate everyone and everything that came in his way, demolished villages and sank ships. When they tried to pay off the monster, it set a condition: that every day in an appointed place a girl should be chained to a rock for his profit. Soon, Ethiopia ran out of girls. Only Andromeda remained. The poor girl was chained to a rock, and she began to await her fate. The evil goddesses rejoiced; they finally took revenge on Cassiopeia and Andromeda for their beauty. At the same time, Perseus flew past on Pegasus. He saved the beautiful Andromeda from such a fate. Afterwards, Perseus and Andromeda got married and were awarded the honor of entering the starry sky.

Wide-angle map of the constellation Andromeda

M31 Photographer Rick Krejci



The daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus Andromeda was supposed to become a victim of Poseidon and, chained to a cliff, awaited her fate. Perseus, returning after defeating the Gorgon, found her, freed her and took her as his wife. Andromeda is the 19th largest constellation in the night sky. Together with her mother, father, husband and his winged horse (Pegasus), she takes part in the seasonal procession around the pole.

In my opinion, she doesn't look like a princess at all. I always saw Andromeda as a cornucopia, appearing just in time for the harvest. But whatever you imagine Andromeda to be, it's home to plenty of spectacular deep-sky objects.

At the mention of Andromeda, the imagination of almost every amateur astronomer immediately brings to mind the image of the majestic Andromeda galaxy and its satellites. Even without it there is a lot of interesting things here, but this is undoubtedly one of the brightest heavenly pearls of all time. M31 – a huge galaxy in Andromeda – and its closest satellites

The Andromeda Galaxy (also known as M31) became famous for several reasons, but most probably because it was one of the cornerstones in resolving the Great Debate (are there many galaxies in the Universe or just ours?), and in determining interstellar distances using variable stars Cepheid At the turn of the last century, astronomers wondered whether spiral galaxies like M31 were located in or outside the Milky Way. In 1923, working at the Mount Wilson Observatory with a 100-inch telescope, Edwin Hubble photographed the stars in the halo of M31, discovered Cepheids among them and estimated the distance to the galaxy to be 900,000 light years - much further than what was believed at that time borders of our galaxy. In 1944, German-born astronomer Walter Baade, classified as an enemy alien and barred from participating in defense projects, became stranded on Mount Wilson. Due to the Los Angeles war blackouts, Baade was able to take advantage of the blackest Wilsonian skies and may even have been able to see the breakdown into individual stars throughout M31. These astronomers studied M31 with the most powerful telescopes of the time, but in all but very bright conditions it is visible to the naked eye. Andromeda - 31st in the Messier catalog, according to the most accurate data, covers approximately 5 degrees, is amazingly far from us (from 2.2 to 2.9 million light years) along with its retinue - M32 and M110. A little further, in Cassiopeia, you can find two more bright satellite Andromeda galaxies – NGC 185 and NGC 147. It's fun to experiment with different optics on Andromeda. It's so large that it makes an excellent binocular object, but I prefer the view in a 4" telescope - it makes the brighter areas look quite nice, plus M32 and M110 are visible. To find M32, look for the brighter dense haze near M31, Well, the M110 in a small telescope looks much more like the ghostly smoke of a cigarette. My 8" reflector on a good night easily pulls out one of the dark stripes that are visible in the photographs, and a larger telescope will show both dust lanes in the M31. We're not done with the Andromeda galaxy. We'll be back to visit its brightest globular cluster (as this month's feature), but for now we'll move on. Gamma, NGC 752, Beta and Ghost
Andromeda Gamma First, start at the top of the horn - check the Wide View Finder Map to find Andromeda Gamma. This is a nice bright binary that is easy to spot in a small telescope. Even if you were able to separate it at low magnification, be sure to try going to a higher magnification. I have found that often when changing magnification the colors of the stars change slightly. Gamma illustrates this effect well. At low magnification, I saw an orange tint to both stars, but when I raised the magnification on my 4" refractor to 70, I discovered that the brighter one remained orange, but the dim one had a whitish tint. What do you see? NGC 752 Take your widest eyepiece and scan the sky east of Gamma. Look for a large open star cluster - NGC 752. Because of its large size, it is best viewed through binoculars or a wide-field telescope. In my 4" telescope, the best view is at 36x - I counted several dozen stars. Searchtwo bright golden stars located near this cluster. The size and color of such stars often reminds me of eyes peering at me from the darkness of the night. Beta Andromeda (Mirah) and Ghost of Mirakh (NGC 404)
Now move towards the base of Andromeda again until you reach Beta. Take a moment and look closely at Beta - you'll notice what looks like a glare on the eyepiece lens. If you weren't specifically looking for it, you might have missed it altogether. This is the galaxy known as Mirach's Ghost - NGC 404. More advanced observers might say that separating NGC 404 from the bright light of Beta is almost impossible - and, unfortunately, they are somewhat right. And yet, fortunately for us, it is not so difficult to see it in a telescope of any size. To be successful in detecting a galaxy, you just need to recognize what would otherwise be dismissed as a glint or an optical illusion. Blue Snowball (NGC 7662) It's a little more difficult to jump to it. The starting point is three bright stars, in the map above they are lined up almost from north to south. In medium-dark areas they are visible to the naked eye. If you can see them, you will successfully reach Snowball. If not, you will have to consult the overview map, which is more detailed than the map above. 7662, i.e. Blue Snowball is DEFINITELY worth the effort. I noted that at 37x in a 4" refractor, it doesn't look like a star and produces an amazing blue tint in both the 8" and 4" telescopes. It's a planetary nebula. Remember how they can handle high magnification? - so now's the time to take advantage of it Plus, you can get a UHC or OIII filter to increase the contrast and see how the image changes - with a small telescope in this case you shouldn't expect much, but in any case it's a good habit.
NGC 891 – The Outer Limits Galaxy) 891 can be seen in a four-inch telescope, but to appreciate it you will need an 8" telescope or larger. One of the first TV stars (after all, the TV series “The Outer Limits” is named after her) looks truly beautiful in a large telescope. exciting. My 8" telescope usually shows it as a graceful spindle, with a barely visible dust lane (under the best viewing conditions). In a telescope of about 15"–20" it already looks like the picture on the left. The galaxy is edge-on to us, making it one of the few galaxies that responds well to the Collins I3, an image-intensifying eyepiece. If you look at it in such a device, it looks simply gorgeous. G1/ Mayall II (Mayall II) It's not too hard to see this thing - provided you have enough aperture - but you have to be really cool to find it.
Fundamentally, this is an exciting goal. Visually, it falls a little short of impressive. So far we've looked at several globulars in our own galaxy, now it's time to look at the brightest globular cluster in the local group. What's the catch? It is not located in our galaxy. It is located in Andromeda. The photo on the right was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster is called G1 or Mayall II, and it orbits the Andromeda galaxy at a distance of 130 thousand light years from its center. What's really surprising is that G1 can actually be seen with a moderately sized amateur telescope. And not just as a point source. It's a long way from breaking up into individual stars, of course, but despite this you can clearly see that there is something there - especially when compared to the two stars in the foreground, to the side of the cluster. At magnitude 13.7 the target is quite faint, so the larger aperture you use, the better chance you have of spotting the globular. The task is undoubtedly feasible for a 10" telescope under decent observing conditions. It is more than plausible to detect a spherical ball with an 8" telescope in a very dark area. I even heard rumors about people who managed to catch it in a 6" telescope. I always start the star trail from M32 and work straight down to a very recognizable asterism (pictured on the left). Then I make my way to G1. Once I know I'm in the right area, I crank up the magnification and start looking at the multiple stars in that area. G1 is located almost halfway between two stars of approximately the same size, and this helps a lot when it comes to fishing for the ballfish. This search map may help you. I flipped the map image to make it easier to navigate the stars in the eyepiece. Notice the circled group of stars on the map above - in a medium-sized telescope this group looks very similar to Cassiopeia. Once you're in the right place, look for three stars in the area marked G1. At high magnification, they resemble Mickey Mouse: the two stars on the side are ears, and Mickey's head is G1. The DSS photo (right) should remind you of what you'll see. Be sure to pump up the magnification, and you'll find that it's not exactly a high point. Visually it’s not very exciting, but once you think about what exactly you’re looking at, it’s simply mind-blowing. I caught it in my 10" telescope, saw a volume of 15", but I got the best view of this object when I watched with Gary Gibbs in his 20" telescope with an image intensifier - a Collins I3 eyepiece. Here it is already obvious that this is not a star - in fact, you can see a star-like core with a fainter halo.In general, the cluster reminded me of the tiny faint globules of the Milky Way that I caught in a small telescope. If you manage to capture it, you can be sure that you have very good search skills, because... you managed to see a goal that very few have achieved. If you liked this article, check out my other posts in the "