What are the characteristics of Pegasus?

In the autumn night sky, you can often see four bright stars arranged in a slightly longer four-box shape, which is called "Pegasus-Fairy Box". The star in the northeast corner of the box is the brightest alpha star in Andromeda, and this alpha star and some stars in the northeast corner are Andromeda. A large part of the starry sky in the square and west is Pegasus, which is one of the six "royal constellations".

Extending from the west side of "Flying Horse-Fairy Box" to the south for about 3 laps, you will meet the brightest star in the southern night sky in autumn-Beiluoshimen; Go north for about four laps, and you will meet the North Star. Extend the same length from the east side of "Flying Horse-Fairy Box" to the south, and reach the vicinity of vernal equinox on the ecliptic. The sun passes this point every year at the vernal equinox (i.e. March 20th or 2 1 day); It extends about four times to the north, which is the position of the North Pole star.

Pegasus is closer to the ecliptic. Aries and Pisces in the east and Aquarius and Capricorn in the southwest are all constellations on the ecliptic.

The four stars that make up the main body of Pegasus are located at the four corners of a square, which are called Virgo I, Virgo II, Gekko I and Gekko II in China. Among them, the second one is the brightest. Although it belongs to Andromeda (the alpha star of Andromeda), it is actually shared by Pegasus and Andromeda.

Pegasus is very charming in the night sky in late autumn and early winter. It is 1 constellation, with an area of 1 12 1 square degree. Its range is right ascension: 2 1% ~ 0 15, and declination:+2 30' ~+36 30'. Including more than 6 1 18 stars, including 3 second-class stars, 2 third-class stars and 8 fourth-class stars. Pegasus is equivalent to the traditional star bedroom, dangerous house and lightning in China. The main bright star is Alpha Pegasus, which is called Spring in the middle and Markab in the west, which means "saddle". Beta Pegasus, whose middle name is Virgo II, is called Sheat in the west, which means "the upper part of the wrist". The gamma star Pegasus, which means "wings", is called Abigail I in Chinese and Argonne II in the west (A 1genib). These three stars and Cedar II form a huge quadrilateral. From the naked eye, there are very few stars in this quadrilateral. In fact, there are more than 20 stars brighter than 6 in this quadrilateral. This quadrilateral is imagined as the body drive of a flying horse. On the west side of the quadrangle, there are a series of stars extending westward at each end. Pegasus's two front legs extend from Beta. The branches extending from Alpha to ε are the neck and head of Pegasus. The ε star of Pegasus, whose middle name is Viburnum III, is called Enif in the west, which means "nose". It's the tip of a flying horse. The second half of the flying horse is invisible and is said to be hidden in the clouds. Pegasus upside down, hooves upside down. Every year125 at 20 o'clock in the evening, 10, flying a horse into the sky.

The flying horse symbolizes the heavenly horse soaring in the sky. According to ancient Greek myths and legends, when Passieux (Poerxiusi), the son of Zeus, cut off the head of the monster Medusa, a handsome flying horse with wings suddenly jumped out of Medusa's body. Passieux immediately mounted Medusa's head, rode on a flying horse, and escaped from danger. After excavation, this flying horse was lifted to the sky and became a flying horse.

Pegasus's Latin name means Pegasus. In Greek mythology, Passieux put Medusa's head in a leather bag, tied it around his waist, and then rode on a flying horse and flew into the sky. On the way, he met the Ethiopian princess Andlau Moda (Andlau Moda) who was about to be swallowed up by the sea monster (Pisces). He fell to the ground and killed the sea monster, rescued the princess and became relatives with her. Later, Pegasus Gasos became the mount of Prince Bellerophon of Corinth. Prince Bellerophon rode Pei Gasos to destroy the strange dragon Carmela. In Greek mythology, there are three monster sisters: gorgon, yekaterina and Medusa. The gorgon is a monster with a woman's head on a bird, which absorbs the souls of dying people. Her hair is full of living poisonous snakes, which is very terrible. The youngest sister is Medusa. Anyone who wants to see her will turn to stone. Urkadena is a beauty above and a poisonous snake below. She gave birth to many monsters, such as Xu Dela, the hydra, Nemea, the lion, and the keeper dog of hades guarding the gates of hell. The sphinx with a female head and a lion and a strange dragon camera are all children born to Urkadena. The Sphinx specializes in solving difficult riddles for travelers. If they can't solve them, they will be eaten by her. Carmela is a monster with a lion and a dragon's tail. Later, Belle Luofeng claimed to compete with the gods in the sky, so he was injured by Zeus with lightning, and Pegasus Pei Gasos broke away from the disabled prince and flew into the sky to become a Pegasus.

On the left side (east side) of Pegasus quadrangle, the connecting line from Andromeda alpha star to Pegasus gamma star extends to the south by the same length, and vernal equinox can be found. Every spring equinox (about 2 1 March), the sun passes through vernal equinox. Polaris can be found four times as far north as the gamma line of Pegasus and the alpha line of Andromeda. Similarly, on the right side (west side) of the Pegasus quadrangle, you will find the Polaris if you extend from the Pegasus alpha line to the Pegasus beta line four times. On the contrary, if you extend 3 times to the south, you will encounter a bright star like 1 in the southern fish constellation-Beiluoshimen.

Alpha Pegasus is a white main sequence star (B9V) with brightness of 249, absolute magnitude of 02 and distance of 86 light years. The brightness of Pegasus beta is 242 and so on. In fact, it is an irregular variable star with brightness ranging from 23 1 to 274. It is a M2 red giant with an absolute magnitude of-14 and a diameter of 55 times that of the sun. The luminosity is 286 times that of the sun, and the distance is 190 light years. The apparent magnitude of Pegasus γ is 283, which is a beta-type pulsating variable in Canis major. This kind of variable is a B-type pulsating variable with spectral type, which is also called β-type variable in Cepheus. The light change period is about 3 ~ 7 hours, and the light amplitude is less than 0. 1. The dimming range of Pegasus γ is 278 ~ 289, and the dimming period is 3: 38: 365,438+02 seconds. It is a B2-type second giant planet with an absolute magnitude of 30 and a luminosity of 65,438+0,247 times that of the sun. The luminosity of Pegasus ε is bigger, 4500 times that of the sun, and its absolute magnitude is -44. It is also an irregular variable star with a brightness as high as 07, a minimum of 35 and an average apparent magnitude of 238. It is a K2 Supergiant star with a diameter of 193 times that of the sun and a distance of 740 light years. ζ Pegasus, named Thunder One in the middle and Homam in the west, which means "the lucky star of heroes", is the main sequence star of 1 B9, with brightness of 34, distance of 160 light years and absolute magnitude of 00. η Pegasus, whose middle name is Gong Li Si and the west name is Matar, which means "timely rain", is a yellow giant (G2 Ⅱ) with an absolute magnitude of -09 and a distance of 190 light years.

There is a bright spiral galaxy NGC73 1 1 in the north-northwest of η knife in Pegasus. On the other hand, a globular cluster M 15(NGC7078) is located about 4 degrees northwest of Pegasus ε. It has a brightness of 70, an angular diameter of 12' and a distance of 34,000 light years.