BAS Observer July 2017

14 BAS OBSERVER Meridian constellations A couple of constellations in the sky along the meridian at about 9 .00 p.m. during the New Moon period are Ara and Ophiuchus. Ara is a small constellation in the southern sky, located near the curly tail of Scorpius. It is not always easy to identify, but it does have a bent rectangle shape (which is supposed to represent an altar where the ancient Greek gods swore allegiance to Zeus before going into battle with the Titans). Ophiuchus is another ancient constellation defined by Ptolemy around 100 ad . Ophiuchus translates to ‘he who holds the serpent’. The adjoining constellation Serpens is the snake that Ophiuchus is carrying. Ara Ara needs a dark sky in order for many of its objects to be seen. Start with globular cluster NGC 63 9 7. Even though it is one of the closest globular clusters to our Sun, it is still 7200 light‑years away and often just looks like a small, hazy disc through a telescope. NGC 6221 is another challenge. It is a small spiral galaxy, located 36 million light‑years from us. Ophiuchus Ophiuchus is best known for globular clusters (about 22 of them), plus some dark and some colourful nebulae, and some distant galaxies. The most impressive globular cluster is Messier 12, located about 16 000 light‑years away from our Sun. While best seen in deep‑sky astrophotos, the dark nebula Barnard 5 9 (or the Pipe Nebula) is an impressive, black dust cloud stretching from Scorpius to Ophiuchus. Ara Ophiuchus ARA OPHIUCHUS