Universe Today Guide to the Constellations
Written by Fraser Cain
I just like to take a second and direct your attention to an amazing resource developed for Universe Today by our astronomy guide Tammy Plotner. It's a guide to all 88 constellations in the sky. Each entry has a chart for the region of the sky, descriptions of the major objects you'll find there, background mythology, and a guided tour through each constellation with binoculars or a telescope. I'm really grateful for Tammy's work on this, and I hope you find it really helpful, whether you're an experienced astronomer or want to start exploring the constellations. Of course, it's totally free for you all to use.
Here's the full list of all the constellations:
- Andromeda
- Antila
- Apus
- Aquarius
- Aquila
- Ara
- Aries
- Auriga
- Bootes
- Caleum
- Camelopardalis
- Cancer
- Canes Venatici
- Canis Major
- Canis Minor
- Capricornus
- Carina
- Cassiopeia
- Centaurus
- Cepheus
- Cetus
- Chamaeleon
- Circinus
- Columba
- Coma Berenices
- Corona Australis
- Corona Borealis
- Corvus
- Crater
- Crux
- Cygnus
- Delphinus
- Dorado
- Draco
- Equuleus
- Eridanus
- Fornax
- Gemini
- Grus
- Hercules
- Horologium
- Hydra
- Hydrus
- Indus
- Lacerta
- Leo
- Leo Minor
- Lepus
- Libra
- Lupus
- Lynx
- Lyra
- Mensa
- Microscopium
- Monoceros
- Musca
- Norma
- Octans
- Ophiuchus
- Orion
- Pavo
- Pegasus
- Perseus
- Phoenix
- Pictor
- Pisces
- Piscis Austrinus
- Puppis
- Pyxis
- Sagitta
- Sagittarius
- Scorpius
- Sculptor
- Scutum
- Serpens Caput
- Serpens Cauda
- Sextans
- Taurus
- Telescopium
- Triangulum
- Triangulum Australe
- Tucana
- Ursa Major
- Ursa Minor
- Vela
- Virgo
- Volans
- Vulpecula
Filed under: Astronomy
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June 14th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Tammy – great work, but (nitpicking) should your 'North-east', and 'South west' be 'North west' and 'South East' when describing the positions of Betelgeuse and Rigel in the section about Orion?
June 14th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Tammy~ Thak you for an *easy* to use skymap! This awesome
June 14th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Tammy, congratulations on this monumental effort to document all 88 constellations and some of the interesting objects within. This sort of reminds me of an electronic version of 'Burnham's Celestial Handbook' but updated and easily accessible to anyone. I particularly enjoy your mention of meteor shower radiants in certain constellations, something overlooked in Burham's handbooks. Thanks for this useful reference
June 14th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
my thanks for the compliments!
because i am very human and do not use computer generated observing programs to create lists, (yep, it's all from experience) you might find typographical errors here and there that simply happen. i try very hard to double check myself, but they do slip through and i am certainly not offended when someone finds one! (actually, i'm happy when you do – because that means i can perfect the resource and that benefits us all.) in the case of orion, don't forget when looking at a sky chart that north is up, south is down, east is to the left and west is to the right.
when using these constellation guides, if you should happen to spot any errors, please feel free to write me directly (since i might not catch your post) and i'll make every effort to go back and correct any mistakes. just click on my name and it will take you to my home observatory site and webmaster will get you right to me.
enjoy the resource… and the stars!
June 14th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Amazing effort Tammy. You should write a book! 'Plotner's Guide to the Stars', or 'Plotner's Celestial Companion' or something similar has a certain ring to it, I reckons.
June 14th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Books are so last decade. It's all on the interwebs now.
June 15th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Another huge effort Tammy and it is a handy to down load and print off as an aid memoire when in the field.
I know Fraser has a vested interest and UT is top of the pile but books have a very important part to play. Especially in astronomy. My friends in publishing are going great guns.
Brian Sheen
June 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Actually, I've been thinking about putting it together as another free PDF book and giving it away.