Lacerta

Encyclopedia : L : LA : LAC : Lacerta

Lacerta

click for larger image

Abbreviation

Lac

Genitive

Lacertae

Symbology

the Lizard

Right ascension

22.5 h

Declination

45°

Area

List of constellations by area>Ranked 68th

Number of stars
(magnitude < 3)

Brightest star

(Apparent magnitude>App. magnitude 3.8)

Meteor showers

Bordering
constellations

Visible at latitudes between +90° and −35°
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of October

For the biological genus of lizards, see Lacerta (genus).

Lacerta, being Latin for Lizard, is one of the 88 official constellations acknowledged by the International Astronomical Union. It is not among Ptolemy's 48 ancient constellations. Instead it was created ca. 1687 by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. It doesn't contain any really bright stars, no Messier object, no galaxy brighter than 14.5m, no globular clusters and not a single named star. Correspondingly it is rather difficult to find. The northern part lies on the Milky Way. Lacerta is located between Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda on the northern celestial sphere. It looks like a 'little Cassiopeia' as it is W shaped as well.

Contents

1 Notable features
2 Notable deep sky objects
3 Mythology
4 Lacerta in fiction
5 Stars
6 Table of leading stars
7 External links

Notable features

α Lac: this main sequence star of spectral type A1 V has an apparent magnitude of merely 3.77m. There are no other stars brighter than fourth magnitude. α Lac is an optical double star.
Roe 47: a multiple star consisting of five components (magnitudes 5.8, 9.8, 10.1, 9.4, 9.8).

Notable deep sky objects

NGC 7243: an open star cluster of approximately 6.4m.
BL Lacertae: it was discovered quite early and first thought to be a star and therefore given a variable star designation. However, in reality it is represents the core of a galaxy. It lent its name to a whole type of celestial objects, the BL Lacertae objects (a subtype of blazar.) The object varies irregularly between magnitudes 14 and 17 over a few days.

Mythology

Before Johannes Hevelius adopted the name Lacerta several other names had proposed for this part of the sky, among them Sceptrum et Manus Iustitiae (= Sceptre and the hand of Justice) and Frederick's Honors. Being a modern constellation there is no real mythology surrounding Lacerta.

Lacerta in fiction

In the Science Fiction novel Diaspora by Greg Egan, the constellation Lacerta was the origin of a massive wave of radiation, caused by the collision of two neutron stars, that caused the extinction of most life on Earth.

Stars

Stars with Bayer designations:

: 7/α Lac 3.76; 3/β Lac 4.42

Stars with Flamsteed designations:

: 1 Lac 4.14; 2 Lac 4.55; 4 Lac 4.55; 5 Lac 4.34; 6 Lac 4.52; 8 Lac – double 5.73, 6.60; 9 Lac 4.64; 10 Lac 4.89; 11 Lac 4.50; 12 Lac 5.25; 13 Lac 5.11; 14 Lac 5.91; 15 Lac 4.95; 16 Lac 5.60

Table of leading stars

This table lists all stars in Lacerta with either a Bayer designation or Flamsteed designation, or that are of magnitude 4.50 or brighter.

Bayer designation	Flamsteed designation	Variable designation	Other designations	Right ascension	Declination	Magnitude
			ADS 15758	22h 13m 52.7s	+39° 42′ 52″	4.49
	1			22h 15m 58.2s	+37° 44′ 56″	4.13
	2		ADS 15862	22h 21m 01.6s	+46° 32′ 12″	4.57
β	3			22h 23m 33.6s	+52° 13′ 45″	4.43
	4			22h 24m 31.0s	+49° 28′ 35″	4.57
	5			22h 29m 31.8s	+47° 42′ 25″	4.36
	6			22h 30m 29.3s	+43° 07′ 24″	4.51
α	7		ADS 16021	22h 31m 17.5s	+50° 16′ 57″	3.77
	8		ADS 16095	22h 35m 52.3s	+39° 38′ 03″	5.73
	9			22h 37m 22.4s	+51° 32′ 43″	4.63
	10		ADS 16148	22h 39m 15.7s	+39° 03′ 01″	4.88
	11			22h 40m 30.9s	+44° 16′ 35″	4.46
	12	DD		22h 41m 28.6s	+40° 13′ 32″	5.25v
	13		ADS 16227	22h 44m 05.5s	+41° 49′ 09″	5.08
	14	V360		22h 50m 21.8s	+41° 57′ 13″	5.92v
	15		ADS 16325	22h 52m 02.0s	+43° 18′ 45″	4.94
	16	EN	ADS 16381	22h 56m 23.6s	+41° 36′ 14″	5.59v

Source: The Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[Special]

[The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Lacerta]
Weasner's Mighty ETX Site, [GO TO LACERTA] (a constellation guide for amateur astronomers)

Constellations introduced by Johannes Hevelius in the 1690 text Firmamentum Sobiescianum

Obsolete Constellations introduced by Johannes Hevelius in the 1690 text Firmamentum Sobiescianum

Cerberus | Mons Maenalus | Triangulum Minor

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.