Constellations

The Deep Photographic Guide to the
Constellations

The constellation of the month
AUGUST

Vulpecula, Sagitta

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Mark the Deep Sky Objects

Names:

Latin: Vulpecula (Vul), Sagitta (Sge)
English: Fox, Arrow Spanish: Zorra, Flecha
German: Füchschen, Pfeil French: Renard, Fléche

The small and faint constellations of Vulpecula (top) and Sagitta (below) are centered in the above photography (see lines). Also visible at the lower left is the Dolphin. Parts of Cygnus and Lyra are above and Aquila below. Sagitta is a quite distinct group of stars resembling nicely an arrow, whereas it is almost impossible to visually identify the pattern of Vulpecula with its 4th magnitude stars in between the rich milky way.

In mid of August the above field culminates at about 22:30 LT. The declination of these constellations ranges from +16 to +29 degrees.

The milky way is quite prominent in the shown field. A dark band, called the "Great Rift", apparently divides the galaxy into two parts and continues from Cygnus through the shown field further south to Aquila and finally gets lost in Ophiuchus. It's a huge lane of dark interstellar dust that obscures the light of milky way's star population behind. Many galactic deep sky objects join the above field. Well known is the "Dumbbell Nebula" M 27 in Vulpecula, probably the finest Planetary Nebula for small telescopes. The curious star group Cr 399, called the "Coathanger Cluster", is already visible in small binoculars.

© all photographs taken by Till Credner and Sven Kohle