Lecture 3 – The Sky

Constellations, Star Names, and Magnitudes

 The Constellations

•Origins
• Star patterns named by
ancient peoples after gods,
goddesses, animals,
monsters, and mythic
heroes.
• The constellations used by
Western Culture today
originated in Mesopotamia
around 3,000 B.C.
The Constellations
• Only certain stars were part
of the pattern and belonged
to the constellation. Faint
stars were not part of any
constellations.
• Frequently constellations
were named for their
brightest star.
• Of the constellations defined
by the Babylonians,
Egyptians, and Greeks, 48
are still used today.
The Constellations

• The ancient civilizations

we got the 48 classical
constellations from
couldn’t see the entire
southern sky.
• During the Age of Sail,
European explorers
added 40 modern
constellations in the
“uncharted” areas of the
sky.
The Constellations

• The 48 classical and the 40 modern

constellations make up the 88 official
constellations used by astronomers today.
• The term constellation also now has a new
meaning:
• No longer refers to the pattern of stars itself.
• Now refers to a well defined region of the sky that
contains the traditional star pattern.
• Everything inside that region of the sky is now part
of the constellation, like a “celestial state”.
The Constellations
What Is An Asterism?
• In addition to the 88
official constellations
there are several
unofficial but popular
star patterns.
• Called asterisms.
• Examples:
• The Big Dipper
• The Little Dipper
• The Northern Cross
• The Great Square
 3D Constellations
• The stars of a
constellation only
appear to be close
to one another
• Usually, this is only
a projection effect.
• The stars of a
constellation may
be located at very
different distances
from us.
The Celestial Sphere
• Many ancient cultures,
including the Greeks and
Romans, assumed that the
Earth was stationary in the
center of the Universe.
• Given this assumption, they
concluded that the Sun,
Moon, planets, and stars were
attached to gigantic crystalline
spheres that surrounded the
Earth.
• Today we call this imaginary
globe the Celestial Sphere.
 Celestial Sphere Concepts
THE CELESTIAL SPHERE REPRESENTS THE APPARENT VIEW
OF THE UNIVERSE AS SEEN FROM THE EARTH.
• A huge globe of stars surrounding the Earth.
• An ancient concept of the Cosmos.
IT IS A USEFUL CONCEPT TODAY BECAUSE:
• it is understandable in terms of spherical geometry.
• it can be used to extend map concepts for the Earth to the
sky.
• it is useful in navigation.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE VISIBLE SKY
• The visible sky is 1/2 the celestial sphere.
• Half of the celestial sphere is above the horizon, while the
other half is below the horizon.
 The Celestial Sphere
Zenith = Point on
the celestial sphere
directly overhead
Nadir = Point on the
c.s. directly
underneath (not
visible!)

Celestial equator =

projection of Earth’s
equator onto the c. s.

North celestial
Angular Measure In The Sky

• 360o = A COMPLETE
CIRCLE
• 1o = 60’ (minutes)
• 1’ = 60” (seconds)
Latitude Affects Visible Sky

• What we see in the sky depends on our latitude.

• At the north pole, the north celestial pole is at the
zenith.
• At the equator, the north celestial pole is at the
horizon.
• The altitude of the north celestial pole = latitude.
The Sky From Abilene – 32.4o N

• North Celestial Pole is 32.4o above the northern

horizon.
• Celestial Equator is 57.6o above the southern
horizon.
• Circumpolar stars lie within 32.4o of the North
Celestial Pole.
• Rising & Setting stars are visible from 32.4o away
from the South Celestial Pole.
• Stars within 32.4o of the South Celestial Pole are
never visible from Abilene.
Looking North
• The stars appear to circle around the North Celestial Pole
(near Polaris) once in 24 hours.
• Stars within the angle of the observer's latitude away from
the North Celestial Pole never rise or set.
• They are always above the horizon (circumpolar stars).
 Circumpolar Constellations
• Never Rise Or Set
• Are Always Above The Horizon
• Circumpolar Region Depends On Latitude
Naming The Stars

•The brightest stars have had proper

names for thousands of years.
• Typically from Arabic
• Islamic astronomers produced many detailed star
charts during the middle ages.
• Also many stars have names that are from
the Greek
• Greek astronomers also produced many star charts.
Naming the Stars

• Proper names are often a literal description of the

star’s location in the constellation:
• Betelgeuse – “Shoulder of the giant”
• Rigel – “Foot”
• Deneb – “Tail”
• Procyon – “Before the dog”
• Algol – “Eye of the ghoul”
• Star proper names also sometimes describe the
star.
• Sirius – “Scorching”
• Antares – “Rival of Mars”
• Kochab – “Star”
Scam Alert!

• NO organization has been

given official legal power to
name the stars.
• Astronomers consider the
names designated by the
International Astronomical
Union official, but the IAU has
no true legal authority to
name stars (or demote
planets, for that matter).
• Companies that sell star
names as gifts are a SCAM!
 Bayer Letter Names
•Johann Bayer
• Bavararian lawyer
• Published a sky atlas: Uranometria.
• Assigned lower case greek letters to brighter
stars in each constellation.
• Usually assigned in rough order of brightness.
• Alpha = brightest star.
• Beta = second brightest
• Gamma = third brightest
• And so on…
• Astronomers continue to use these “Bayer
letters”
Bayer Letter Names
• A star’s Bayer Letter Name is:
• It’s greek letter first…
• …followed by the possessive form of the constellation name.
• Example: The star Rigel Kentarus is the brightest star in the
constellation Centarus:
• Alpha Centauri
The Magnitude Scale

• Invented by the Greek

Astronomer Hipparchus in
the 2nd century B.C.
• Called the brightest stars
in the night sky “stars of
the first magnitude.”
• Second brightest were
“stars of the second
magnitude.”
• All the way down to “stars
of the sixth magnitude.”
The Magnitude Scale

•Very useful system, but not perfect

• Technically, it refers to Apparent Visual
Magnitude
• Brightness in visible wavelengths as seen from Earth
• Does NOT tell how bright the star actually is
(absolute magnitude) because it does not take
into account how far away the star is from us.
• Still useful because it is related to the
brightness that you “see” (even through a
telescope).
 The Magnitude Scale
•Used for centuries, and then refined by modern
astronomers.
• 1st magnitude stars are 100 times brighter than 6th
magnitude stars.
• So 5 “steps” in the magnitude scale corresponds to a 100×
difference in brightness.
• What brightness difference corresponds to 1 step in magnitude?
• Need to know what number you have to multiply by itself five
times to get 100.
• That number is 2.5118864315095…. (usually rounded to 2.512
when used in calculations).
• So 1 step in magnitude corresponds to a 2.512× difference in
brightness.
 The Magnitude Scale

If Star A is has a …then Star A is this

magnitude this much many times brighter
less than Star B… than Star B.
1 2.512×
2 6.310×
3 15.85×
4 39.82×
5 100×
 The Magnitude Scale
The magnitude scale system can be extended towards
negative numbers (very bright) and numbers > 6 (faint
objects):

Sirius (brightest star in the sky): mv = -1.42

Full moon: mv = -12.5
Sun: mv = -26.5
 The Magnitude Scale This thing in
parentheses
• Here’s the actual equation: here is an
exponent. So
I /I = (2.512) (mB-mA) say mB – mA is a
A B number we’ll
call X. You
would read
this equation
This number right here is “how asbright
“2.512star A
is compared to star B” raised to the X
power.” than
If it is >1, then star A is brighter
star B.