The Rambling Astronomer

This is the last of the series looing at Northern Circumpolar Constellations, again a modern group but it does at least have one moderately bright star in Cor Caroli. The constellation can be found beneath the handle of the plough.

Another of the modern constellations, Lynx was introduced by Hevelius in the 1680s. And like most of his constellations it is faint and hard to find. To find the Lynx one has to have Lynx type eyes!!

Camelopardalis the Giraffe has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the dullest constellations in the sky. It is a large group but contains no bright stars.

The mythical dragon, Draco is the constellation that is home to the star that was the North Star, Thuban when the Pyramids were built. In more modern times Draco is associated with the Harry Potter stories

A modern constellation added in the 1670s, it is faint and hard to find, but it has produced at least 3 nova during the 20th century.

The female is often more deadlier than the male but in the sky Queen Cassiopeia is much brighter than King Cepheus. Having said that Cepheus does contain some fascinating stars and is worth while looking for.

The queen in the sky whose actions in upsetting Neptune the god of the sea lead to all the characters in the story being placed in the sky. The story was so famous that the film The Clash of the Titans tells the story.

Ursa Minor or the small bear is much harder to find the the big bear, but it does contain one of the most important stars in the sky. This is Polaris the North Star

Probably the most famous of the constellations that can be seen all year from Britain, Ursa major the Great Bear

Avior of Epsilon Carina has no classical name attached to it. The star is one of 58 that are used by the RAF a navigation stars. Carina is one of the constellations formed in the 1750s when the massive constellation of Argo was broken up.

Sargas or the Arrowhead can be found in the constellation of Scorpio the Scorpion. It is in fact the third brightest star in the constellation.

Another of the stars from the Plough, it is the end star of the handle.

A line drawn down from Sirius and slightly to the left leads to delta or Wezen which means ‘Weight’ which has a magnitude of 1.8 and is a F8 supergiant and is slightly hotter than the Sun, Wezen lies about 1600 light years away. It is thought that in the next 100,000 years Wezen could destroy itself in a supernova explosion.

One of the stars that form the Plough, an asterism in the much larger constellation of Ursa Major the Great Bear. However Dubhe is not just only one of the stars of the Plough it is one of the pointers that indicates the position of the North Star

Mirphak, or alpha Perseus is often overlooked in this constellation because it is Beta or Algol which normally attracts all the attention. Now you can find our more about the brightest star in Perseus

Kaus Australis or Epsilon Sagittarius is the first of out magnitude 1.8 stars. It is also the brightest star in the constellation Sagittarius and part of the famous teapot shape.

Although the name of this star might not be too familiar, its location will be known. It is one of the stars that forms the group of stars known as the Plough. It is one of the three stars in the handle of the Plough and is the closest of these three stars to the four stars that form the blade of the plough.

One of the rare type of Wolf Rayet stars, these are incredibly hot young stars that will end their lives as supernova. Gamma is one of the closest of the Wolf Rayet stars to the Sun

The brightest star in the constellation of Grus the Crane The name of the star Al Nair might not be too familiar to people in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere this star Al Nair which is a fairly bright magnitude 1.7 star.

The first of the mag 1.7 stars, Miaplacidus is in the constellation of carina the keel, part of what was originally the largest constellation in the sky, Argo Navis.

The Geminids are now possibly the most spectacular meteor shower of the year. The Geminds like the Quadrantids are from the dust trail of an asteroid rather than a comet.

The Leonids meteor shower can produce spectacular meteor showers every 33 years when many thousands of meteors can be seen per hour. These are referred to as meteor storms.

The second meteor shower of the year in which we can see the remains of Halley's comet burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere

A normally very poor meteor shower which in the past has caused major meteor showers. the Draconids from the constellation of Draco the Dragon are always worth having a look out for.

Probably the best known of all the annual meteor showers, the Perseids can be seen each August.