Hounds Dogs - a constellation with a long history

Under the Big Dipper, next to the Bootes there are the Canes Dogs, a constellation associated with neighbors with a mythological plot. This heavenly pattern has an interesting destiny and includes many curious cosmic objects.

Constellation of Dog Dogs: a legend

Today, this heavenly image is associated with the dogs of the Arcade, who always wandered over the dome overhead in the form of Bootes. He was the son of Zeus and Callisto (nymph of the goddess Artemis), turned jealous Hero into a bear. A born hunter, Arkad did not recognize his mother in a wild beast and set the dogs on her. Zeus in memory of this event (according to another version, wanting to save the beloved and son from the vengeance of the wife) placed his heroes in the sky. There shone the constellation Beagles Dogs, as well as the Big Dipper and Bootes.

History

Hounds Dogs - a constellation that is not among the oldest. Ptolemy's luminaries included in his composition, related to Bootes and formed his truncheon and some other parts. Actually, the name "Hounds Dogs" is probably connected with the erroneous translation of the Greek word first into Arabic, and from it into Latin. As a result, the "cudgel" turned into "dogs".

The author of the constellation is Jan Hevelius, who first introduced it into his heavenly atlas "Uranographia" in 1690. Asterion and Chara (the "small star" and "joy") - this is the name of the Bootes' dogs in the legend - the image of the astronomer is held back by a long leash, the end of which is in the hands of Arkad.

Location

Hounds Dogs - the constellation is small. In it, under good conditions, up to thirty luminaries can be discerned with the naked eye. You can find the heavenly drawing by following the direction of the Big Dipper, the detection of which, as a rule, does not cause any difficulties. Hounds Dogs are placed exactly under the bucket. The line drawn through the Alpha and the scale of the Great Bear in the southeast direction points to the brightest point of the constellation, the luminary called the Heart of Charles. To the east of the Canes Dogs is Bootes, also well visible in the night sky.

Heart of Karl

Alpha Canes Dogs - the brightest star of this heavenly figure. Such a poetic title was given to her by Charles Scarborough. In 1660, he proposed to put on the sky maps a constellation of the Heart of Charles, consisting of only one star. His wish came true. "Constellation" existed in this form until the end of the XIX century. Then the name passed to the Alpha Hounds Dogs. The star was dedicated to Charles I, who was executed in 1649 and was the father of Charles II, whose court was Charles Scarborough.

Alpha Beagles Dogs - one of the most beautiful binary systems, according to many scientists. Its main component is a blue-white hot star of the main sequence. It is a prototype of the same class of variable stars. The causes leading to a change in the brightness of the star are its rotation and a very strong magnetic field. The latter exceeds the analogous parameter of the Sun by a factor of 100. The glitter of a star with a period of 5.47 days varies from +2.84 m to + 2.94 m. The magnetic field of the luminary, apart from these oscillations, creates staggering spots and inhomogeneities in the photosphere of the described cosmic object.

The second component of the system is a yellowish dwarf belonging to the main sequence.

Beta

The next brightest star of this heavenly figure is called Chara. It is a yellow dwarf and belongs to the spectral class G. In many respects the star is similar to the Sun. Scientists mark it as one of the most interesting objects in the sky. In 2006, the Beta Hounds Dog was identified as the most promising luminary for searching for extraterrestrial life. Together with the alpha of the Canes Dogs, also called Asterion, Chara forms a "southern dog".

Interesting objects

Hounds Dogs are a constellation that can boast of quite a lot of curious cosmic formations besides the luminaries. These are galaxies, and nebulae, and globular clusters. One of them is M51. It is a galaxy called the Whirlpool. From the Earth it is separated by about 23 million light years. The peculiarity of the object is that it consists of two galaxies. Most of them, NGC 5194, have a pronounced spiral structure. One of the sleeves rests against the galaxy-companion NGC 5195. It will be interesting for amateur telescopes to know that the Whirlpool is the only such object that can be considered a spiral structure without professional equipment.

Many fans of astronomy are well aware of the globular cluster of M3. It has more than 500 thousand stars. Not bad, it is noticeable in binoculars, provided it is removed from the urban lighting.

It is no accident that many telescopes are aimed at the constellation of Canes. Photos of objects from its territory, in addition to those named, contain such beautiful galaxies as M63 (Sunflower Galaxy), M106 or M94. In addition, astronomers are not yet known to the stars of this heavenly figure. It is likely that the Hounds Dogs have prepared for us a lot of surprises.