2.3 KiB
| name | created_by | created_date | updated_by | updated_date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pisces | skybber | 2021-07-17 17:54:48.746398 | skybber | 2021-07-17 17:56:28.282327 |
A large, faint constellation of the zodiac lying almost entirely in the northern sky between Aries and Aquarius. On its long journey along the ecliptic, the Sun enters the constellation of Pisces on March 11 and remains there until April 17, so it is best seen in the evening sky from October to December. In the constellation south of the star ω Piscium lies the vernal point - the intersection of the ecliptic with the celestial equator. It is the point where the Sun passes through the celestial equator and heads further into the northern hemisphere. It is the time of the vernal equinox, which occurs annually around March 21. In the northern hemisphere it marks the beginning of spring, in the southern hemisphere it marks the beginning of autumn. This intersection is also the starting point of the celestial longitude coordinate - the rectangular line is calculated from it. Declination, or the equivalent of latitude, is calculated from the celestial equator. As a result of precession, the position of the spring point changes. More than 2000 years ago, this imaginary point was located in the constellation Aries.
From the perspective of the ordinary amateur astronomer eager to see a few cosmic beauties, this constellation is not very interesting. The line of fainter V-shaped stars encircling Pegasus square in the illuminated city can only be discerned with certainty once the atmosphere has been cleared, and even under the darker skies of the countryside no deep-sky object was seen in the triad. Indeed, Pisces lies quite far from the Milky Way belt, and although it occupies a good portion of the sky, it includes only a few nice binaries, some of which are color contrast pairs. There is no shortage of faint, relatively small galaxies, some visible in ordinary 200mm binoculars as hazy patches of light, but visually uninteresting in larger amateur telescopes. The most beautiful formation of the constellation is probably the ring of seven stars of about 4th magnitude, sometimes called the Ring Ornament. It represents the head of the more southerly placed fish and consists of the stars γ, κ, λ, ι, θ, 7 and 19 Piscium. The eastern fish is marked by the stars σ to φ Piscium.