Everything about Monoceros totally explained
Monoceros () is a faint
constellation in the
winter night sky, surrounded by
Orion to the west,
Gemini to the north,
Canis Major to the south and
Hydra to the east. Other bordering constellations include
Canis Minor,
Lepus and
Puppis.
Notable features
Monoceros is a constellation that isn't very easily seen with the naked eye, with only a few fourth magnitude stars.
Alpha Monocerotis has a
visual magnitude of 3.93, slightly brighter than
Gamma Monocerotis, which has a visual magnitude of 3.98.
However, Monoceros does have some interesting features to observe with the aid of a small
telescope.
Beta Monocerotis is an impressive
triple star system, the three stars form a triangle which seems to be fixed. The visual magnitudes of the stars are 4.7, 5.2 and 6.1.
William Herschel discovered it in
1781 and commented that it's 'one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens'.
Epsilon Monocerotis is a fixed
binary, with visual magnitudes of 4.5 and 6.5.
S Monocerotis, or 15 Monocerotis, is a bluish white
variable star and is located at the center of
NGC 2264. However the variation of its magnitude isn't too great. It has a companion star of visual magnitude 8.
V838 Monocerotis had an outburst starting on
January 6,
2002.
Monoceros also contains Plaskett's Star, which is a massive binary system estimated to be almost 100 Suns put together.
Notable deep sky objects
Monoceros contains many clusters and nebulae, most notable among them;
History
Monoceros is a modern constellation. Its first certain appearance is on the globe by the Dutch cartographer
Petrus Plancius in
1612 or
1613, and was later charted by
Jakob Bartsch as Unicornus in his star chart of
1624.
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers and
Ludwig Ideler indicate the constellation may be older, quoting an astrological work from
1564 that mentioned "the second horse between the
Twins and the
Crab has many stars, but not very bright"; these may ultimatly be due to
Michael Scot of the
13th century, but refer to a horse and not a unicorn, and its position doesn't quite match.
Joseph Scaliger is reported to have found it on an ancient
Persian sphere.
Citations
Further Information
Get more info on 'Monoceros'.
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