Constellations

The Deep Photographic Guide to the
Constellations

The constellation of the month
DECEMBER

Perseus

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Mark the Deep Sky Objects

Names:

Latin: Perseus (Per)
English: Perseus Spanish: Perseo
German: Perseus French: Persée
The constellation Perseus is shown in the image and parts of last months Cassiopeia right above (see lines).

In mid of December Perseus culminates at 22:00 LT (10 pm). The declination ranges from +31 to +59 degrees. The galactic equator is crossing our field of view, whereas in these fields pointing so far away from the galactic center, the star fields are not very dense. A couple of interesting deep sky objects can be seen in Perseus. Most famous is the double star cluster h + chi Persei (NGC 869 + 884), already visible by naked eye as a fuzzy double patch in the night sky. The star Algol is well known as a variable star with a period of 2.87 days. It is an eclipsing binary star that dims its brightness by remarkable 1.3 magnitudes during the 10 hour lasting eclipse.

© all photographs taken by Till Credner and Sven Kohle