I chose to report on the constellation Lynx. I had never heard of this constellation, but I liked the name of it so I wanted to learn more about it. This constellation was created in the 17th century by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius; he stated that anyone wishing to find this constellation would need the eyes of a Lynx because the stars were so dim. Lynx is nothing more than a bumpy line running south. The constellation appears low in the northern sky in the spring, and can best be seen in the month of March. This collection of stars is visible between 90 degrees N and 35 degrees S latitudes.
STAR: There is one star within the constellation Lynx that is named. It is 31 Lyncis, also known as Alsciaukat (which means thorn) and it is classified as a K4 star. The apparent magnitude of Alsciaukat is 4.24, and the absolute magnitude is -1.13. Through even a small telescope, this star which is 390 light years (119.190 parsecs) away breaks into two components that are 2.6 seconds of an arc apart. The brighter is a fourth magnitude dwarf star, while the fainter (and cooler) sixth magnitude companion is something of a mystery. Even though no orbital motion is seen, the two stars have been tracking each other since at least 1780, showing the duality to be real. Observations reveal that 31 Lyncis B is really two stars very close together, at best about 0.2 seconds of arc. There is even similar evidence that the A component is a close double. So maybe this is actually a quadruple star.
GALAXY: The brightest galaxy in Lynx can be found straight up from the constellation Cancer. If you extend a line from the Beehive Cluster at the center of Cancer through the star Iota Cancri, you will come to NGC 2683 just across the border into Lynx. NGC 2683 is magnitude 9.69 and about 16 million light-years away. It is a spiral galaxy seen from a nearly edge-on perspective. Its coordinates are, RA: 8h 52m 41.3s and declination: +33° 25" 19'. Because of its appearance, NGC 2683 was nicknamed the UFO Galaxy by the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory site. The small yellowish core in the center of the galaxy consists of older stars.
GALAXY: Another galaxy of note is found near the center of the constellation. The Bear Paw Galaxy, NGC 2537, is magnitude 11.7. It consists of a half circle shape with a line sticking out of it, similar to the icon for a power button on a computer. This galaxy is very small and bright, and considered an irregular Dwarf galaxy. The Bear Paw falls under the irregular category of galaxies according to the Hubble classification of galaxies because it is considered neither spiral nor elliptical morphology.
GLOBULAR CLUSTER: An object of interest in the Lynx constellation includes NGC 2419, one of the most distant globular clusters of the Milky Way galaxy. It was discovered by William Herschel on December 31, 1788. There is a very good reason why this elusive globular cluster is so special. Most commonly known as the Intergalactic Wanderer, the NGC 2419 is so distant that it was at one time believed to actually be outside our own galaxy. Almost all globular clusters are found within our galactic halo, a region which exists about 65,000 light years around the galactic center. Our faint friend is at least 210,000 light years from where it should be.
This website told me all about the Intergalactic Wanderer, or NGC 2419. It was helpful because it gave me information about this globular cluster that I did not know before completing this assignment.
NGC 2683 (no date) Retrieved November 28, 2009 from NGC 2683This website told me all about the UFO Galaxy, or NGC 2683. I did not know anything about this galaxy before looking at this website.
Lynx constellation (2009, November 26) Retrieved November 28, 2009 from Lynx ConstellationThis website was helpful because it gave me a ton of information about my chosen constellation. It was the most useful website I used for this project.
Observing the constellation Lynx (2008, January 8) Retrieved November 28, 2009 from Constellation LynxThis website was helpful because it told me all about Lynx, including the creation, finding the constellation, the stars of the Lynx, and deep sky observing targets.
Constellation of the month: Lynx (2006, March 23) Retrieved November 28, 2009 from Month ConstellationThis website was useful to me because it listed some of the stars in the constellation, gave me a picture, and talked about the deep sky objects.