2.3 KiB
| name | created_by | created_date | updated_by | updated_date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carina | skybber | 2021-06-06 08:40:05.845624 | skybber | 2022-02-11 18:15:01.419258 |
Keel is the dominant constellation in the southern sky, with the entire eastern part of the constellation delving into one of the richest regions of the Milky Way, with an extensive array of deep-sky objects. Six bright open clusters can be found here in binocular alone. Three of them are real showpieces: NGC 2516 and NGC 3532 are very bright, large and contain many stars. IC 2602 is a group of other bright stars popularly known as the Southern Pleiades. The second brightest star in the sky, Canopus, and the η Carinae Nebula, the brightest region of ionized hydrogen in the Milky Way, occupy an area of four degrees in the sky. In its interior lies a very interesting 6th magnitude star, also called η Carinae. It is a pity that the constellation of the keel is practically impossible to observe from Europe.
Of particular note here is the bright and sharply defined Milky Way cloud, which spills over into the neighbouring Southern Cross. Of all the parts of the Milky Way, it appears the most colourful - white, with a very slight tendency to a bluish hue. It is important to note that at this point our view turns directly along the axis of Sagittarius' spiral arm. You can trace its northeastern part all the way to the constellation of the Shield, where it bends again at the point of the Cloud in the Shield. However, if you look more closely you will see that while the Cloud in the Shield is only 25 degrees from the centre of the Galaxy, the star cloud in Kyle is a good 75 degrees away. The explanation is simple. The arm of Sagittarius starts from the centre of the Galaxy in the direction of the constellation of the Shield and stretches further south, while in Kyle it is already far from it, encircling the centre and disappearing in the distance behind it. While objects in Sagittarius are on average five thousand light-years away, NGC 6231 in Scorpius is already 6,000 light-years away and NGC 4755 in the Southern Cross is 8,000 light-years away. Within the star cloud itself, there are a couple of diverse subdivisions that look like dark smudges in triads over a very rich star field surrounding several of the aforementioned clusters. A truly unique sight.