| Constellation tour in Autumn |
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| Date & Time: | Oct 17 2009, 22:16 to 22:41, 22:44 to 23:09 JST(+0900) |
| Mosaic of 2 images with 25min. exposed | |
| Optical: | SMC TAKUMAR f=105mm F2.4, Aperture: F4.0, with Kenko PRO-Softon[A] filter |
| Auto-guided with TAKAHASHI EM-200 Equatorial | |
| Camera: | PENTAX 67 |
| Film: | Fujichrome VELVIA 100 (+2EV pushed) |
| Location: | Subashiri halfway up Mt. Fuji, Shizuoka pref. |
 ASCII/Astroarts StellaNavigator |
Constellation of Cetus is seen at southern sky in autumn with the third largest size in heavens.
It doesn't have so many bright stars; it's fairly hard to recognize that as a monster. The constellation is the monster "Tiamat" that tried to threaten Andromeda before Perseus killed it and rescued the princess. Though the "Cetus" means Whale in any case, the constellation has no relation with a kind of mammal in the ocean. This constellation is famous for the prototype of long range variables and the earliest variables ever discovered. The variable star of "Mira", omicron Ceti, is positioned at the neck of the monster. The star has a magnitude range from about 10 to as bright as 2.0 with the average period of about 330 days. It's considered that Mira is a red supergiant, and has a diameter of over 400 times of that of the sun. |
Guide for Deep Sky Objects| M77 | .....Seyfert galaxy just east of delta Ceti, 47 million ly. away. |
| NGC45 | .....A dimmed irregular galaxy in SW edge, 20 million ly away. |
| NGC157 | .....Spiral galaxy about 10deg. north of beta Cet. |
| NGC210 | .....Spiral galaxy with thin arms positioned 4 deg. north of beta Cet. |
| Around NGC246 | .....Dimmed planetary nebula 6deg. north of beta Ceti, tail of Cetus. |
| NGC247 | .....Large & dimmed galaxy 3deg. south of beta Ceti, 7.5 million ly. away. |
| NGC908 | .....Small sized spiral galaxy in southern edge, 60 million ly. away. |
| NGC1042, NGC1052. | .....Two dimmed spiral galaxies 7.5deg SE of Mira |
| NGC1055 | .....Edge-on galaxy 30' east of delta Cet, 45 million ly away. |
| NGC1087, NGC1090. | .....Two small spiral galaxies 1deg east of M77 |
| IC1613 | .....A large but very dimmed irregular galaxy near border to Pisces. |
| Abell 119 | .....Large-scaled cluster near a border to Psc, 590 million ly away. |
| Abell 151 | .....A galaxy cluster at 5.5 south of eta Cet, 710 million ly away |
| Abell 168 | .....A galactic cluster near a border to Psc, 600 million ly away. |
| HCG16(Arp318) | .....Small scaled compact galaxy group bathed in central region. |
| UA444(WLM) | .....Dimmed Local Group member galaxy in western edge of Cet, 3 million ly away. |
 Perseus |
 Lacerta |
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Copyright(c) 2009 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved. |
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