The Rambling Astronomer

Ursa Minor contains the present North Star or Polaris which is within one degree of the the north point.

Ursa Minor is also termed the Little Dipper because its seven brightest stars form a shape like a smaller version of the Plough in Ursa Major.
However it is the stars Beta and Gamma in the blade of the small plough are referred to as the Guardians of the pole. This is our asterism for today. The Guardians are the two stars furthest from the handle of Ursa Minor.

The false cross it sounds like the title of some sort of novel, but its not, the false cross is an asterism of 4 stars in Carina and Vela and is often confused with the constellation of Crux the southern cross. Although the southern cross is smaller it is much brighter.

An ancient constellation representing a pair of fishes tied by their tails, the knot being marked by the star alpha. The two fishes are often referred to as the northern and western fishes. It is however the western fish which astronomers call the circlet in Pisces.

Not to be confused with the cats eye nebula NGC 6543 planetary nebula in Draco ,or the cats eyes in the road!! But it is the two stars lambda and Upsilon Scorpio that I want to look at here.

The three stars of Orion's Belt are part of what is the brightest and grandest of th 88 constellations in the night sky.

Probably the one group of stars that most people can recognise is the plough. Most people will also call it the Great Bear or Ursa Major. This is incorrect because the Plough is an asterism a pattern of stars within the constellation of Ursa Major.

The post of Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford University was stared by Sir Henry Savile, a Yorkshireman.

A faint constellation at the head of Cygnus the Swan. It originated with the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius who called it Vulpecula cum Anser, the Fox and Goose. Alas the Goose is now more, did the Fox get him?

Volans is on the borders or Carina the Keel part of Argo Navis. Volans is not associated with any myths. It was one of the constellations created by the Dutch astronomer and cartographer Petrus Plancius in the late 16th century that first appeared depicted in a star atlas in 1603, in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria. The constellation was originally named Piscis Volans, the flying fish, by Plancius, but the name was eventually shortened to Volans.

The 2nd largest constellation in the sky. Many myths are associated with this constellation which has usually been seen as a beautiful and virtuous maiden. But other legends have associated Virgo with successful harvests, and so she is pictured holding an ear of corn (Spica) in her left hand and a palm leaf in her right hand. In these legends she is identified with the Greek harvest goddess Demeter (the Roman Ceres)