Post by glactus on Feb 17, 2008 8:24:17 GMT
Eridanus in Greek is a mythical river and is the sixth largest of the 88 modern constellations, streching from the celestial equator to the far south, The river Eridanus is thought to originate near the star Rigel (belongs to the constellation Orion) and ends at its brightest star alpha Eri.
Important stars
Achernar, (first magnitude) is a very peculiar star because it is one of the flattest stars known. Observations indicate that its radius is about 50% larger at the equator than at the poles. Responsible for this is the fact that Achernar is spinning extremely fast.
Another well-known star in Eridanus is Epsilo Eridani, which has been popular in science fiction because it is relatively close and relatively sun - like. It is now known to have at least one extrasolar planet, which is thought to be a gas giant, like Jupiter.
Notable objects:
NGC 1300
NGC 1300 is a small galaxy lying in the middle of Eridanus meandering in the winter south sky, it is of 11th magnitude and is a long way away at 70 million light years, so it is best seen with larger telescopes. The galaxy is extremely photogenic because of its well-proportioned "bared" structure.
NGC 1232
NGC 1232 is a "Grand Design" spiral galaxy not unlike M101. However, in this case the spiral arms are curiously bent and not gently curved as is more typically the case. The Galaxy is of magnitude 10.52 and is approximately 72 million light years away.
NGC 1300
credits:
Map and text : wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridanus_(constellation)
image: NGC 1300 - spacetelscope
www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/zoomable/opo0501a.html
image: NGC 1232 - noao
www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0680.html
image text: Wingmakers
home.xtra.co.nz/hosts/Wingmakers/Eridanus.html