- 28 July 2016
Canis Minor is derived from the Latin language and means “the lesser or smaller dog.” It represents the smaller dog following the hunter Orion. It can be found in the second quadrant of the Northern hemisphere and is located specifically between latitudes of +90° and -75°. Along with other constellations, Canis Minor was first catalogued in the 2nd century by the Greek astronomer, Ptolemy.
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- 21 July 2016
Canis Major is derived from the Latin language and means “the greater dog,” representing the bigger dog following Orion. It can be found in the second quadrant of Southern hemisphere and is located specifically between latitudes of +60° and -90°. This constellation was also catalogued by the Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, in the 2nd century.
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- 20 July 2016
Alpha Pegasi is also know as Marak or Marchab which means ‘the saddle of the horse’ in Arabic. It is the third brightest star in the constellation Pegasus and one of the four stars in the asterism ‘Great Square of Pegasus’. Alpha Pegasi is very hot and has expanded to almost five times the radius of the Sun.
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- 14 July 2016
Canes Venatici is derived from the Latin language and means “hunting dogs,” representing the hunting dogs of the herdsman in the Bootes constellation. It can be found in the third quadrant of the Northern hemisphere and is located specifically between latitudes of +90° and -40°. This constellation is also home to the famous Cor Caroli and La Superba stars.
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- 13 July 2016
Alpha Ophiuchi is also called ‘Rasalhague’ and can be found in the constellation of Ophiuchus. It’s a binary star system with its main star being 2.4 times the mass of the Sun. This star system is the brightest in its constellation and the 69th most luminous in the night sky. It came very close to the Sun around 389,000 years-ago.
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- 6 July 2016
Cancer means “the crab” in Latin and is the faintest of the 12 zodiac signs. It can be found in the second quadrant of the Northern hemisphere and is located specifically between latitudes of +90° and -60°. Like all the Zodiac signs, Cancer was first catalogued in the 2nd century by Ptolemy, who was a Greek astronomer.
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- 5 July 2016
Alpha Leporis is located in the constellation of Lepus, ‘the Hare’, and is also called ‘Arneb’. This 13 million year-old star is considered a lower luminosity yellow-white supergiant that may be entering the last phase of its cycle. It has a mass 14 times the Sun and 129 times its solar radius. Arneb was catalogued in the 2nd century by a Greek astronomer, Ptolemy.
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- 1 July 2016
Camelopardalis is the 18th largest constellation covering 757 square degrees in the second quadrant of the Northern hemisphere. It can be viewed specifically at latitudes between +90° and -10°. Camelopardalis represents the giraffe, which was once known as a camel-leopard (it has a long neck like a camel and the spots of a leopard). For this reason it actually gets its name from the Latin derivative of the Greek word for giraffe; camel (Greek kamēlos) and leopard (pardalis).
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- 30 June 2016
Alpha Herculis has been given an ‘Alpha’ designation; however, it’s not the brightest star in its home constellation, it’s actually 129th brightest in the night sky. Its traditional name of Rasalgethi is derived from an Arabic phrase meaning, ‘the head of the Kneeler’. The ‘head’ comes from ancient times when the constellation was shown upside down on star maps.
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- 24 June 2016
Alpha Crucis is made up of two stars and is part of the Southern Cross in its home constellation. Historically, Amerigo Vespucci charted the stars in 1501, then an Italian explorer by the name of Andrea Corsali made a more accurate chart in 1515. This star appeared on celestial globes by both Petrus Plancius in 1598 and also Jodocus Hondius in 1600.
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