Why do I want to see the constellation Andromeda. Constellation Andromeda

“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.

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 dim 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 Capella - the main star of the 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?

Cold autumn evening... Distant stars tremble and twinkle above the tops of yellowed trees. In the south you can see the Great Summer Triangle - the three brightest stars. But its time passes: closer to midnight, the triangle approaches the horizon, and on the southern slope the place is occupied by a large bucket of the constellations Pegasus and Andromeda.

For more than two thousand years, since the times of Hipparchus and Eratosthenes, the constellation autumn sky Andromeda twinkles brightly among a scattering of distant stars.

Legend of the constellation Andromeda

In a time when magic ruled the world, in the era of the gods of Olympus, King Cepheus ruled in a distant country called Ethiopia. He had a wife, Cassiopeia, and a daughter, Andromeda.

And everything would be fine in the country of King Cepheus, if not for the boasting of his lovely wife Cassiopeia. Once the king’s wife boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids and nymphs. The sea beauties heard about this. The resentment overflowed, and they complained to the god of the seas, Poseidon. Being his daughters and granddaughters, they understood that he would listen to them and would not leave the terrible insult unpunished.

Then Poseidon became angry and sent a terrible monster to Ethiopia. The Terrible Whale constantly came out of the sea and destroyed the country. Then King Cepheus was saddened, having learned the whole truth from his wife, and went for advice to the oracle of Zeus. He listened to him and advised him to give his daughter Andromeda to the monster - Keith, in order for peace to come in the country. But how could you sacrifice your own daughter? In complete confusion, Cepheus wandered home. After some time, the people learned about the oracle's advice and forced the king to resolve this issue.

Pay

Andromeda, chained to a rock, awaited her death in horror.

But suddenly Perseus suddenly appeared, having learned the whole truth, he began to wait for the monster to fight him.

Happy ending to the story

As in any good mythical legend, good triumphed over evil.

But there were some incidents. Andromeda was betrothed to Finney, brother of Cepheus. He appeared at the wedding of Perseus and Andromeda and demanded the return of the bride. But Perseus was not going to give up the beautiful bride. He took out the head of the Gorgon Medusa and turned Phineus into stone. This is the story of the times of magic and the gods. And we will involuntarily remember her, watching in the sky how brightly Andromeda flickers - the constellation, the legend of which is so beautiful and instructive.

How to find Andromeda in the sky?

After reading an interesting legend, most likely you will want to see Andromeda with your own eyes. It's not difficult to find. The easiest time to spot the constellation is in the fall. Between September and early December, the constellation Andromeda can be seen from early twilight until morning. In the evening, the asterism is in the east, a little closer to midnight - in the south. Closer to the morning it shifts in a westerly direction. First you will need to find a giant quadrangle - the Pegasus Square.

To the left of the Square you can see a chain of stars of the same luminosity. These are precisely the stars of the Andromeda constellation.

You can find the desired asterism in another way. First, find the constellation Cassiopeia, it looks like the letter M or W, depending on the position of the asterism in the sky. The Andromeda stars are located directly below this “letter”. With the onset of December, the constellation Andromeda shifts to the west. Closer to spring, the asterism is already in the northwest direction. And with the approach of summer, it comes out only at dawn, and it is quite difficult to notice it.

The city lights are fading and the stars are shining

Of course, it’s difficult even for a person with a rich imagination to imagine a girl looking at the “handle” in the sky. However, these three stars are not the entire constellation - Andromeda (photo below) occupies much large area in the sky. On the northern side, the asterism is bordered by the constellations Pegasus and Cassiopeia, on the south by the Triangle and Pisces, and on the west by the Lizard and Pegasus.

However, to see all the stars of the Andromeda constellation, you will need to travel outside the city limits, where there is no night light. Once you get used to the darkness a little, you will be amazed at the huge number of stars in the sky that are visible naked eye. Take a look at our constellation Andromeda - Alpha Andromeda forms the upper left corner of Pegasus Square - the girl's head. The following objects δ, σ and θ form Andromeda's shoulders, β, μ and ν constellations form her waist. Other objects are γ and M51 Andromeda - her legs. The girl's hands are marked with stars λ on one side and ζ on the other.

You see that the girl’s arms are spread out to the sides. Why? The answer is obvious: she is chained to a rock. If you look closely, the Andromeda constellation really resembles the figure of a girl chained to a rock.

Taking a walk away from the city lights, you saw how the “handle” took on the shape of a girl from an ancient legend.

Some terms in simple language

It may be a little difficult to remember or understand some of the description.

We will explain to you in simple language Some terms and expressions used in the article:

Giants are stars much larger than our Sun (which is a yellow dwarf).
Temperature in Kelvin is 273 degrees higher than Celsius (0 degrees Celsius translates to 273 degrees Kelvin).
A light year is the distance that light travels in one year (for example, light travels from the Sun to Earth in 8 minutes 19 seconds).
Often referred to as "spectral class" - scientists determine the temperature of a distant star using a certain spectrum (like a rainbow with different widths of bands of all colors).
The stars of constellations (objects) are designated, starting with the brightest, using the Greek alphabet: α, β, γ and so on. They may also have a separate name. For example: Alferats or α Andromeda.

Constellation Andromeda: description of stars

Let's start with the brightest star of our asterism.

Alferaz is the brightest star in the constellation Andromeda, with Arabic translated means “navel of a horse.” From antiquity and the Middle Ages to the 17th century, this star belonged simultaneously to two constellations - Pegasus and Andromeda.

Alferaz is a blue subgiant with a temperature of 13,000 degrees Kelvin, emitting light 200 times more than the Sun. It is located 97 light years from Earth. A study of the spectrum showed that Alferaz is a pair star. She is considered a prominent representative an amazing class of mercury-manganese stars.

Their atmosphere may contain an excess of europium, gallium, mercury and manganese, and the proportion of all other elements is insignificant. Scientists suggest that the main reason for the anomaly may be the strong influence of radiation and gravity of the star.

β constellation Andromeda - Mirax, a fairly large object, belongs to the group of red giants.

Alamak - γ Andromedae, is the third brightest star in the constellation. This is a complex system that consists of four bright components. Alamak is one of the beautiful double stars, which can be observed even through a small telescope. Its main yellow star has a bluish companion and is considered a K3 giant. The object's temperature reaches about 4500 K. Almak's radius is 70 times greater than that of our star.

These are the main characteristics of the three most bright stars in the constellation Andromeda.

So where was the rock that Andromeda was chained to? This question was asked by many geographers of the past. According to Strabo, the rock was located in Iop, near the city of Tel Aviv. The Jewish chronicler Josephus (1st century AD) even claimed that imprints of Andromeda's chains and the remains of a monster could be found on the shore!

As for Ethiopia, it is quite far from Israel. Obviously, this rock was located on the shores of the Red Sea, and Andromeda herself was a black woman. True, according to Herodotus, all the events described took place on the territory of India. Definitely the question remains open. It is quite possible that the legend told about real events, but transformed into some kind of myth that has survived to our time.

The closest neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way is Andromeda. It is significantly larger in size than our galaxy and, according to various estimates, can be 2.5-5 times more stars than our Milky Way. It can be easily seen in the night sky from Earth. It is located in the constellation Andromeda, which is how it got its name.

The Andromeda Galaxy has attracted the attention of scientists for centuries. The first written mention of this galaxy is contained in the Catalog of Fixed Stars by the Persian astronomer Al-Sufi (946), who described it as a “small cloud”. Interest in it is due not only to its close proximity to us, but also to some other interesting features, which we will talk about today.

Also known as Messier 31, or M31

It received this name from Charles Messier, the French astronomer, who included it in his famous catalog under the definition of M31. Messier cataloged many objects in the Northern Hemisphere, although not all of them were discovered by Messier.

In 1757, the scientist began searching for Halley's Comet, but calculations showed that he was mistaken in the coordinates. However, at the same observation location, he discovered a nebula - the first object he cataloged under the name M1 (also known as the Crab Nebula). Interestingly, the first to observe it was the English astronomer John Bevis back in 1731. An object called M31 was included in Messier's catalog in 1767. By the end of that year, a total of 38 objects had been added to the catalogue. By 1781, the number was already 103 objects, 40 of which were discovered by Messier personally.

Got its name from the constellation Andromeda

You can see the constellation Andromeda in the night sky between the Great Square asterism and the star α Cassiopeia (the second lower corner, if the observer sees the constellation Cassiopeia in the form of the letter W). According to ancient Greek myths, Princess Andromeda, wife of the Greek hero Perseus, turned into a constellation after her death. The constellation was included in the catalog for the first time starry sky Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest. Other stars in the constellation (Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cetus and Cepheus) also received their names in honor of the characters of this myth.

The Andromeda constellation is also home to numerous other objects. It is located outside the galactic plane and does not contain clusters or nebulae of the Milky Way. However, it contains other visible galaxies. One of them is the Andromeda galaxy.

It's bigger than the Milky Way

In astronomy, the concept of light year is often used, with the help of which the distance to certain objects is determined, but some astronomers prefer to use the term parsec. When talking about very large distances, the term kiloparsec is used, which is equal to 1000 parsecs, as well as megaparsec, which is the equivalent of 1 million parsecs. The Milky Way extends over about 100,000 light years, or 30 kiloparsecs. At first glance, this may seem like a very large distance, but in fact, compared to other galaxies, ours looks rather small.

The approximate diameter of the Andromeda Galaxy is 220,000 light years, more than twice the size of the Milky Way. It is the largest galaxy in the local group. If the Andromeda Galaxy were even brighter, it might appear larger than the Moon in the night sky, even though it is much, much further away. Speaking of distance: the galaxy is located approximately 9.5 trillion kilometers from Earth (the Moon, remember, is only 384,000 kilometers away).

Contains a trillion stars

According to rough estimates, the Milky Way may contain between 100 and 400 billion stars. But this is nothing compared to Andromeda, which may contain about one trillion. Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have learned that among this trillion there is a very large and rare population of hot and bright stars.

Hot, young stars tend to appear blue. However, the blue stars discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy appear to be aging, more Sun-like stars that have burned away their inner layers and exposed their hot blue cores. They are scattered throughout the center of the galaxy and are the brightest in the ultraviolet range.

Has a double core

Another interesting fact about the Andromeda galaxy is its double core. Observations have shown that in the central part of the galaxy there are two bright objects (P1 and P2), separated by a distance of only 5 light years. Each of them contains several million young blue stars densely spaced from each other.

Astronomers later discovered that the two cores were not two separate clusters of stars, but rather one donut-shaped cluster and a supermassive black hole with a mass exceeding 140 million solar masses. The stars in the P1 cluster orbit the black hole very closely, like planets around the Sun, creating the effect of having a double core.

Will collide with our galaxy

Intergalactic collapse awaits us. The Andromeda Galaxy is currently moving towards the Milky Way at a speed of 400,000 kilometers per hour. At this speed, you can fly around the globe in just 6 minutes. Astronomers predict that in about 3.75 billion years the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide. What will happen to the Earth after this?

Experts believe that, despite such a large-scale event, the Earth will still survive. Along with the rest of the solar system. Scientists suggest that our planet will hardly suffer from this intergalactic collapse, since both galaxies have a lot of free space. Nevertheless, it will be very interesting to observe the event from Earth (if, of course, life still exists on it by that time). Both galaxies will be attracted to each other until the black holes at their centers eventually merge into one. Once this happens, our solar system will become part of a completely different galaxy - an elliptical one. If the Sun does not engulf the Earth in about 5 billion years, then every night on it will be very bright, thanks to the presence of many new stars. Instead of the Milky Way's streak of light, we'll see a more spheroidal light source.

Has an absolute value of 3.4

In astronomy, the absolute value characterizes the luminosity of an astronomical object. It allows us to determine the brightness of any object, regardless of its distance from us.

The Andromeda Galaxy has an absolute magnitude of 3.4, which makes it the brightest object in the Messier catalog. On a moonless night, the galaxy is visible even to the naked eye. However, it is worth noting that only the central part of the galaxy will be visible to the naked eye. It will look like a dim star. If you look at it through binoculars, it will look like a small elliptical cloud. If observed with a large telescope, it can appear up to six times larger than the Moon.

It's full of black holes

There were once 9 known black holes in the Andromeda Galaxy, but the actual number grew to 35 in 2013. Astronomers observed 26 new black hole candidates, making the galaxy one of the most densely populated with such objects. Most of these new black holes have masses that are 5 to 10 times the mass of our Sun. Seven black holes are located approximately 1,000 light-years from the galactic center.

Astronomers are confident that in the future they will be able to detect even more such objects in this galaxy. For example, in 2017, two more new black holes were discovered. At the same time, it was noted that both objects are in the most dangerous proximity ever documented. They are separated by a distance of only 0.01 light years, which is approximately equal to a couple of hundred distances from the Earth to the Sun. Experts estimate that these black holes could collide with each other in less than 350 years, merging into one supermassive black hole.

Contains 450 globular clusters

Globular clusters are tightly packed collections of old stars tightly bound by gravity. They may contain hundreds of thousands and even millions of stars. Globular clusters help determine the age of the Universe and often help determine where the center of the galaxy is. Astronomers have discovered at least 200 globular clusters in the Milky Way, and about 450 in Andromeda.

The number of globular clusters near Andromeda may be much larger, but the distant reaches of this galaxy still remain poorly understood. If the globular clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy were similar in size to those in the Milky Way, their actual number could be somewhere between 700 and 2800.

The Andromeda Galaxy was once considered a nebula

Nebulae are huge accumulations of gas, dust, hydrogen, helium and plasma in which new stars are born. Galaxies very distant from us were often mistaken for these massive clusters. In 1924, astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that the Andromeda spiral nebula was in fact a galaxy and that the Milky Way was not the only galaxy in the universe.

Hubble has discovered a number of stars belonging to the Andromeda galaxy, including several Cepheids. The latter represent a class of pulsating variable stars with a fairly accurate period-luminosity relationship. He determined how far away these stars were, which helped him calculate the distance the Andromeda Galaxy was from us. It was 860,000 light years away, which is more than 8 times the distance to the farthest stars in the Milky Way. This helped prove that Andromeda is a galaxy, and not a nebula, as was originally proposed. Hubble later confirmed the existence of several dozen other galaxies.

The constellation Andromeda was one of the 48 constellations listed in the 2nd century by the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy. Currently, it remains part of 88 modern constellations and is located north of the celestial equator (the projection of the Earth's equator into space). The name owes its origin to ancient Greek mythology.

Legend

Andromeda - daughter of the crowned couple Kepheus and Cassiopeia. This couple reigned in Ethiopia, and their young child was distinguished by extraordinary beauty. The girl’s appearance aroused the envy of the sea deities of the Nereids. They began to sleep poorly and wasted away before our eyes. To get out of mental depression, the Nereids turned to Poseidon (god of the seas) for help. And he sent a terrible sea monster to the Ethiopian shores.

It began to threaten the subjects of the crowned couple. Horror and confusion arose in the state. And then the oracle announced that salvation could only be achieved if the king’s daughter was given to the monster. The girl’s parents initially categorically refused, but then gave in to the persuasion of their subjects.

The beauty was placed on a high cliff, chained to it and left alone. The girl stood and waited for the sea monster to emerge from the abyss. And at this time, Perseus (the son of Zeus and Diana) flew past in his magic sandals. He saw Andromeda and immediately fell in love with her.

The beautiful creature, with tears in her eyes, told him about the horror that awaited her. Then the noble Perseus decided to help the girl, but made her promise that she would marry him. She happily agreed, and the two of them began to wait for the terrible monster. Finally, it appeared, and the noble hero pulled out the head of the Gorgon Medusa, whom he had killed, from his bag. The monster looked at her and immediately turned into stone.

Happy ending to the story

As in any good mythical legend, good triumphed over evil. But there were some incidents. Andromeda was betrothed to Finney, brother of Cepheus. He appeared at the wedding of Perseus and Andromeda and demanded the return of the bride. But Perseus was not going to give up the beautiful bride. He took out the head of the Gorgon Medusa and turned Phineus into stone. This is the story of the times of magic and the gods. And we will involuntarily remember her, watching in the sky how brightly Andromeda flickers - the constellation, the legend of which is so beautiful and instructive.

How to see a constellation

This cluster of stars is one of the largest among its 87 brothers. Its area is 722 sq. degrees. It consists of 3 star chains. And their beginning is in the southern part of the northern sky near the Great Square of Pegasus. It is not difficult to find it. The easiest time to spot the constellation is in the fall. Between September and early December, the constellation Andromeda can be seen from early twilight until morning. In the evening, the asterism is in the east, a little closer to midnight - in the south. Closer to the morning it shifts in a westerly direction. First you will need to find a giant quadrangle - the Pegasus Square.

To the left of the Square you can see a chain of stars of the same luminosity. These are precisely the stars of the Andromeda constellation. You can find the desired asterism in another way. First, find the constellation Cassiopeia, it looks like the letter M or W, depending on the position of the asterism in the sky. The Andromeda stars are located directly below this “letter”. With the onset of December, the constellation Andromeda shifts to the west. Closer to spring, the asterism is already in the northwest direction. And with the approach of summer, it comes out only at dawn, and it is quite difficult to notice it.

Andromeda's nebula

The constellation in question is located at a great distance from the plane of the Galaxy, so there are no clusters or nebulae of the Milky Way in it. But the cluster of luminaries itself contains a lot of visible distant galaxies. The most famous is the Andromeda spiral galaxy, or the Andromeda Nebula, or M31, or NGC 224. This is the largest star formation of the local group. And it includes the Milky Way, the Triangulum Galaxy and 30 other small galaxies.

There are about 800 billion stars in this nebula. And our native Galaxy can boast only 400 billion stars. At the same time, these two cosmic giants are approximately equal in mass. Although it was previously believed that the Milky Way makes up only 80% of the distant Andromeda Nebula. It is noteworthy that the two galaxies are moving towards each other and should meet in more than 3 billion years. As a result, a giant elliptical galaxy is formed.

The nebula is visible to the naked eye, and it is located at a distance of 772 thousand parsecs from the Earth. Since ancient times, people have observed it in the form of a small luminous oval spot. However, this speck has a diameter of more than 150 thousand light years and contains a huge number of stars.

There are also many globular clusters in the galaxy. These are stars tightly bound by gravity, orbiting as a satellite around the center of the galaxy. There are 460 such clusters in total. Each of them contains approximately 300 thousand stars. It is possible that these are the cores of dwarf galaxies that were once absorbed by Andromeda.

The galaxy has dwarf satellite galaxies. These are relatively small star systems that contain only a few billion stars. The most famous of them are M32 and M110. They were once spiral, but the Andromeda Nebula, with its tidal forces, destroyed the arms and absorbed them.

Thus, the Andromeda constellation includes the most diverse and countless number of space objects. There are 163 stars in total. These include supernovae, variable stars, and planetary systems. All of them make up a majestic cluster, named after a beautiful girl from the mythology of the ancient Greeks.

Supernova

The constellation Andromeda became the object of observation by many astronomers in 1885. Then it was lit up by a supernova explosion. 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.