- Constellation: Sagittarius
- Right Ascension: 18h 49m 49.36216s
- Declination: –23° 50′ 10.4291″
- Distance: 9.7 ly
- Apparent Magnitude: 10.4
Ross 154, also known as V1216 Sgr is a red dwarf UV Ceti type flare star. Studied by Frank Elmore Ross in the 1920's for its variability and its proper motion. Located some 9.7 light years away, makes it currently the 6th closest star to our solar system. Despite the closeness, being a red dwarf, its magnitude is only 10.4 which requires an optical aid to see it. It's estimated to be a relative young star at an age of 1 billion years. And so far no planets or circumstellar dust disk has been detected around it.
- Details
- Category: Stars
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
- Constellation: Sagittarius
- Right Ascension: 17h 52m 00.72665s
- Declination: −28° 01′ 20.5622″
- Distance: 1,359 - 6,000+
- Apparent Magnitude: 8.59 - 11.0
A very large red giant star located withing the constellation bounds of Sagittarius. If it was located where our Sun was, it would extend out past Mars. A pulsating long period variable star with a long period of around 670 days. It varies in magnitude from 8.5 to 11.0 over its long period, with a smaller magnitude pulsation period of around a third of a day. There are no reliable distance measurements other that its far enough away that parallax measurements are currently unreliable. It is the reddish brighter star located near the center. A rich star field for a back drop as we look towards the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
- Details
- Category: Stars
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
- Constellation: Ursa Major
- Right Ascension: 09h 47m 30.71
- Declination: +63° 14` 53.3
- Distance: 246 ly
- Apparent Magnitude: 6.94
HD 84406 is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, and a yellow star of spectral type G, and shines at a magnitude of 6.9, just dimmer than a person can see without optical aid.
What is special about HD 84406? Actually not too much as stars go, but that is a good thing as it was used for the initial focusing of the new James Webb space telescope.
Some of the constraints were the star would have to be in the field of view for the telescope for the entire collimation of the mirrors. The star couldn't be too bright which would cause issues with the sensors. Also the star needed to be in an uncrowded area by other stars. And of course the star needs to be stable with a constant magnitude.
- Details
- Category: Stars
- Telescope: GSO RC10
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
- Constellation: Leo
- Right Ascension: 10h 56m 28.99s
- Declination: +07° 00′ 52.0″
- Distance: 7.9 ly
- Apparent Magnitude: 13.5
A red dwarf star located in the constellation of Leo, its the reddish star located in the center of the image. It's name comes from astronomer Max Wolf who studied that exhibit large proper motion across the sky. A star with a large proper motion appears to move across the sky over the years. Most are relative close stars that their movement can be measured over the years.
One of the closer stars at 7.9 light years, but because its one of the dimmest of the local red dwarfs, its magnitude is a faint 13.5.
Image of Wolf 359 taken in 2015, compared to its current location shows its movement over the years.
- Details
- Category: Stars
- Telescope: GSO RC10
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
- Constellation: Canis Major
- Right Ascension: 07h 22m 58.32877s
- Declination: −25° 46′ 03.2355″
- Distance: 3,820 lly
- Apparent Magnitude: 6.5–9.6
VY Canis Majoris is a hyper giant star, one of the larger known stars. If this star was placed where our Sun was, it would extend out past Jupiter. The star is loosing mass due to its low surface gravity and extreme stellar wind, and is surrounded by a envelope caused by the mass loss. Due to its extreme size and mass, for a star, it will have a short lifetime and probably will go supernova within 100,000 years.
Annotated image follows.
- Details
- Category: Stars
Read more: VY Canis Majoris (2022)
- Telescope: GSO RC10
- Camera: ZWO 2600 MM
- Constellation: Perseus
- Right Ascension: 04 29 18.85
- Declination: +43 54 23.0
- Apparent Magnitude: 8.5 - 15
Discovered Nov 25, 2020, this time-lapse of Nova Per 2020 covering the period of Dec 8 - Mar 18. Images were taken about every two weeks weather permitting. Started with a brightness of mag 9, fading to mag 15.
- Details
- Category: Stars
- Telescope: Explore Scientific 127 Refractor
- Camera: ZWO 1600 MM