Both they and the one we all live in, the Milky Way galaxy, are the best examples of a group known as the local group. I say group but we are not completely sure how many individual galaxies are members – it is thought to be something like 50-130. Amongst them we are certain the three mentioned are the biggest and most dominant. Like the three which are Spiral, many others are elliptical in shape, while others are classed as irregular.
It gets even more strange when we realise this “local” group is part of another larger group called the Virgo Supercluster, which is thought to contain around 50,000 /100,000 thousand galaxies which is part of an even bigger group known as the Laniakea Supercluster which in turn is thought to have at least 100,000 galaxies. To get my head around all this I think of a set of decreasing in size wooden Russian Dolls. Our local group would fit in the smallest doll.
Last month I explained how to go about finding M31 using naked eye and a pair of 10X50 binoculars. It can still be viewed this month, halfway up from the Southern Horizon, locate the great square of Pegasus, from the top left hand star, count two stars up and M31 will be just in the field of view looking for all the world like a star out of focus. The stars emanating to the left and upwards from the top star in Pegasus belong to the constellation Andromeda. Once upon a time this top left-hand star was in Andromeda, but later map makers pinched it because it looked much better showing a great square. Never mind the confusion to beginners trying to learn the sky, it looked so much nicer showing four corners of a square.
Finding M33 you need to know the good and bad bits. First the good. It is in a constellation that looks like what it says on the tin, Triangulum, three naked eye stars that really do look like a Triangle. What’s more, you do not have to cast your gaze far from the square of Pegasus as the triangle lies to its left and below Andromeda. If you need binoculars, sweep slowly left from the top left star of the square. Once you locate the triangle look for the one that appears brighter than the other two.
Now comes the bad bit, if you fix the binoculars on the brightest star and move them very slowly upwards in the direction of Andromeda you should again see a small fuzzy ball looking like an out of focus star. Should you own a large telescope and point it at M33 the chances are you will see nothing. This is simply down to the angle we see the galaxy, in fact from a dark site this galaxy is best observed with the naked eye and will get progressively worse the more powerful the instrument used. So, it will take a little practice to move the binoculars slow enough to carefully examine what you can see.
The planet Saturn can be seen below the bottom left star of the square. If you don’t have binoculars, remember, stars twinkle, planets do not, so look for a bright dull yellowish object.
Towards the West (right) of the square the summer triangle still dominates this part of the sky, while over in the East, the winter constellations are on the rise.
Mars will become more prominent as the month grows, one of the best views will however be after midnight as it moves amongst the stars of Cancer. The morning October 10 will see it close to M44 the Beehive open cluster, and over the next two mornings Mars will be right amongst the cluster. Should be a spectacular sight in a pair of binoculars.
The Orionid meteor shower peaks this month. Orionids can be seen from October 2 through to the end of the first week of November, but the peak will be on 21/22 October. The radiant is near the bright star Betelgeuse and on the night of maximum an observer may be lucky to see 10/15 meteors per hour, but unfortunately best views will be just after midnight, but if you can’t sleep find yourself a place free from bright artificial lights, sit in a chair, wrap up warm, and watch the sky. Orionids are fast and are known to leave dusty trails. Don’t look directly at Betelgeuse but to one side.
The moon is new on October 10, so this time of the month is great for stargazing. First quarter is October 18, and its full on October 26. It is said to be in Capricornus on the 20th, and Aquarius by the 22nd, it then moves to Pisces by the 24th when it will be above the planet Saturn, by the 26th it moved to Aries and the 28th sees it located in Taurus.
Keep an eye on our website http://www.barryastronomical.wordpress.com
