Post by glactus on Feb 17, 2008 9:25:30 GMT
Cepheus is a northern constellation named after King Cepheus in Greek mythology, and is considered to represent a king. It is also one of the 88 modern constellations.
The main star is Aldemarin which will become the north polar star in about 4000 ad. There are other giant stars in the constellation which include:
Delta Cephei is a "prototype variable," a very fine binary with a colour contrast.
Mu Cephei is a brilliantly coloured star, a deep red which moved William Herschel to call it "The Garnet Star". The colour depends on the size of one's telescope; the larger scopes bring out an orange element. It is also a semiregular variable.
Notable attractions are:
NGC 6946
NGC 6946 is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 10 million light-years away, on the border between the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 9, 1798. NGC 6946 is highly obscured by interstellar matter of the Milky Way galaxy, as it is quite close to the galactic plane.
NGC 7822/ Ced 214i
NGC 7822/Ced 214 is a very large area of emission nebulosity located in the constellation of Cepheus. The extended nebulosity consists of a large horizontal arc at the bottom known as NGC 7822 and the bright area at the top known as Cederblad 214. This whole area is very bright in the infrared because of massive, new stars heating the gas and dust clouds.
credits:
Cepheus maps: Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepheus_(constellation)
NGC 4964: INAF
www.tng.iac.es/news/2000/06/28/ngc6946/
NGC 7822: Caelum observatory
www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/apogee3.shtml