گروه نجومی کاسپین

Have you ever become lost in an new city? You might be used to two things to get around: a map and some signposts. In the same way, these items can help you find your way around the night sky in any season. Fortunately, in addition to the seasonal star charts here, the sky provides us with two major signposts. Each seasonal description will talk about the Big Dipper — a group of seven bright stars that dominates the constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear. Meanwhile, the constellation Orion the Hunter plays a key role in finding your way around the sky from late autumn until early spring.

Each map portrays the sky as seen from near 35° north latitude at the times shown below. Located on the edges of the map are the four directions: north, south, east, and west. To find stars above your horizon, hold the map overhead and orient it so a direction label matches the direction you're facing. The stars above the map's horizon now match what's in the sky

Exploring the winter sky
Winter finds the Big Dipper climbing the northeastern sky, with the three stars of its handle pointing toward the horizon and the four stars of its bowl standing highest. The entire sky rotates around a point near Polaris, a 2nd-magnitude star found by extending a line from the uppermost pair of stars in the bowl across the sky to the left of the Dipper. Polaris also performs two other valuable functions: The altitude of the star above the horizon equals your latitude north of the equator, and dropping a straight line from the star to the horizon points due north.

Turn around with your back to the Dipper and you'll be facing the diamond-studded winter sky. The second great signpost in the sky, Orion the Hunter, is central to the brilliant scene. Three closely spaced, 2nd-magnitude stars form a straight line that represents the unmistakable belt of Orion. Extending the imaginary line joining these stars to the upper right leads to Taurus the Bull and its orangish 1st-magnitude star, Aldebaran. Reverse the direction of your gaze to the belt's lower left and you cannot miss Sirius the Dog Star — brightest in all the heavens at magnitude -1.5.

Now move perpendicular to the belt from its westernmost star, Mintaka, and find the red supergiant star Betelgeuse at the upper left of Orion. Nearly a thousand times the Sun's diameter, Betelgeuse marks one shoulder of Orion. Continuing this line brings you to a pair of bright stars, Castor and Pollux. Two lines of fainter stars extend from this pair back toward Orion — these represent Gemini the Twins. At the northeastern corner of this constellation lies the beautiful open star cluster M35. Head south of the belt instead and your gaze will fall on the blue supergiant star Rigel, Orion's other luminary.

Above Orion, and nearly overhead on winter evenings, is brilliant Capella in Auriga the Charioteer. Extending a line through the shoulders of Orion to the east leads you to Procyon in Canis Minor the Little Dog. Once you have these principal stars mastered, using the chart to discover the fainter constellations will be a lot easier. Take your time, and enjoy the journey. Before leaving Orion, however, aim your binoculars at the line of stars below the belt. The fuzzy "star" in the middle is actually the glorious Orion Nebula (M42), a stellar nursery illuminated by bright, newly formed stars.

Have you ever become lost in an new city? You might be used to two things to get around: a map and some signposts. In the same way, these items can help you find your way around the night sky in any season. Fortunately, in addition to the seasonal star charts here, the sky provides us with two major signposts. Each seasonal description will talk about the Big Dipper — a group of seven bright stars that dominates the constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear. Meanwhile, the constellation Orion the Hunter plays a key role in finding your way around the sky from late autumn until early spring.

Each map portrays the sky as seen from near 35° north latitude at the times shown below. Located on the edges of the map are the four directions: north, south, east, and west. To find stars above your horizon, hold the map overhead and orient it so a direction label matches the direction you're facing. The stars above the map's horizon now match what's in the sky

Exploring the winter sky
Winter finds the Big Dipper climbing the northeastern sky, with the three stars of its handle pointing toward the horizon and the four stars of its bowl standing highest. The entire sky rotates around a point near Polaris, a 2nd-magnitude star found by extending a line from the uppermost pair of stars in the bowl across the sky to the left of the Dipper. Polaris also performs two other valuable functions: The altitude of the star above the horizon equals your latitude north of the equator, and dropping a straight line from the star to the horizon points due north.

Turn around with your back to the Dipper and you'll be facing the diamond-studded winter sky. The second great signpost in the sky, Orion the Hunter, is central to the brilliant scene. Three closely spaced, 2nd-magnitude stars form a straight line that represents the unmistakable belt of Orion. Extending the imaginary line joining these stars to the upper right leads to Taurus the Bull and its orangish 1st-magnitude star, Aldebaran. Reverse the direction of your gaze to the belt's lower left and you cannot miss Sirius the Dog Star — brightest in all the heavens at magnitude -1.5.

Now move perpendicular to the belt from its westernmost star, Mintaka, and find the red supergiant star Betelgeuse at the upper left of Orion. Nearly a thousand times the Sun's diameter, Betelgeuse marks one shoulder of Orion. Continuing this line brings you to a pair of bright stars, Castor and Pollux. Two lines of fainter stars extend from this pair back toward Orion — these represent Gemini the Twins. At the northeastern corner of this constellation lies the beautiful open star cluster M35. Head south of the belt instead and your gaze will fall on the blue supergiant star Rigel, Orion's other luminary.

Above Orion, and nearly overhead on winter evenings, is brilliant Capella in Auriga the Charioteer. Extending a line through the shoulders of Orion to the east leads you to Procyon in Canis Minor the Little Dog. Once you have these principal stars mastered, using the chart to discover the fainter constellations will be a lot easier. Take your time, and enjoy the journey. Before leaving Orion, however, aim your binoculars at the line of stars below the belt. The fuzzy "star" in the middle is actually the glorious Orion Nebula (M42), a stellar nursery illuminated by bright, newly formed stars.

شروعی دوباره...

تلسكوپ فضايي «هابل» نشان داده است كه ستاره‌هاي جوان پنج برابر سريعتر از ستاره‌هاي عادي، سفر مي‌كنند. به گزارش سرويس «علمي» خبرگزاري دانشجويان ايران (ايسنا)، تلسكوپ هابل آنها را از روي آثاري كه بر جاي گذاشته‌اند، دنبال كرده است. مشاهدات نجومي با كمك اين تلسكوپ نشان مي‌دهد كه اين ردپاها تا چندين تريليون مايل ادامه پيدا مي‌كنند. اين سرعت حدودا بييش از 112 هزار مايل در ساعت است. دانشمند‌ان آژانس فضايي آمريكا (ناسا) درباره آنچه كه با تلسكوپ هابل مشاهده كرده‌اند، مي‌گويند: ردپاي اين ستاره‌هاي جوان و پرسرعت درست شبيه به اثر حركت يك قايق سريع بر روي آب، در گاز بين ستاره‌يي باقي‌ مي‌ماند و قابل مشاهده است. نتايج اين تحقيق در نشست انجمن اخترشناسي آمريكا در شهر لونگ بيچ در آمريكا ارائه شد. كشف اين ستاره‌ها اخترشناسان را شگفت زده كرده است، چون آنها در مطالعات خود در واقع به دنبال اين توليدكنندگان اصلي ستاره‌اي نبوده‌اند. دانشمند‌ان ناسا مي‌گويند: اين ستاره‌هاي جوان مانند گلوله‌هايي هستند كه از يك سلاح بين ستاره‌يي شليك مي‌شود. اين تيم تحقيقاتي تاكنون 14 ستاره جوان از اين نوع را پيدا كرده‌اند كه همگي در درون كهكشان راه شيري و در فاصله چندين هزار سال نوري از زمين قرار دارند.

دانشمندان كانادايي در گزارش تازه‌اي در كشف محل بقاياي يك سيارك در اين كشور خبر دادند. به گزارش سرويس «علمي» خبرگزاري دانشجويان ايران (ايسنا)، گفته مي‌شود كه اين سيارك 10 تني در اوايل ماه جاري ميلادي در آسمان استان‌هاي پرايري كانادا منفجر شده است. دكتر آلن هيلد براند و دستيار وي الن ميلي تكه‌هاي قابل توجهي از اين سيارك منفجر شده را عصر روز جمعه در نزديكي مرز آلبرتا ــ ساسكاتچوان كشف كرده‌اند. آنها به تحقيقات خود در اين زمينه ادامه مي‌دهند، چرا كه معتقدند با بررسي‌هاي بيشتر مي‌توانند هزاران تكه از اين سيارك را در يك ناحيه 20 كيلومتر مكعبي در نزديكي رودخانه باتل پيدا كنند. ساكنان شهرهاي مانيتوبا، ساسكاتچوان و آلبرتا شب 20 نوامبر از مشاهده يك توپ آتشين و برافروخته در آسمان اين منطقه حيرت زده شده بودند، اما در آن زمان كسي نتوانسته بود، محل دقيق فرود بقاياي سيارك را شناسايي كند؛ اما با بررسي بيشتر از سوي دانشمندان كانادايي معلوم شد كه اين سنگ فضايي در غرب كانادا فرود آمده است. ساكنان شهرهايي كه ناظر انفجار اين سيارك بودند اظهار مي‌دارند كه يك گلوله درخشان و رنگارنگ را ديدند كه در آسمان شب در حركت است و از مشاهده آن بسيار حيرت زده شدند. بسياري از شاهدان اين صحنه با دوربين‌هاي خود عكس گرفته و يا فيلمبرداري كرده‌اند. در واقع بقاياي اين سنگ فضايي در يك منطقه روستايي پيدا شده است. دانشمندان دانشگاه آلبرتا تاكيد كردند كه بزرگترين قطعه‌اي كه تاكنون از اين سيارك كشف شده شهاب سنگي به اندازه يك مشت است.

اين نرم افزار بسيار جالب و مفيد با ويندوز هاي Win 98/Win me/Win 2000/Win XP سازگاري كامل دارد و براي اجرا به DiretX 8 و يا بالاتر و 128 مگابايت RAM نياز دارد.

فضا=F
>کهکشان=K
تعداد کهکشان=N
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