We started a new project recently: to image, observe and record as many interesting objects in a constellation as possible, using both our ASERO telescopes and our own personal kit.
The idea was to give us a focus for what to observe rather than just wondering every night: “what’s next?”. A project is always a good way of directing our observing and imaging.
We decided to start small to see how it would work and how we might represent the data neatly, so we chose the summer constellation of Lyra and represented the wealth of information using an interactive graphic. Clicking on any of the insets in the main image brings up more information and images of that object.
“Do A Constellation” was just a working title until another, better name came along, but it seems to have stuck. So DAC it is.
As you can see from the Lyra page, it’s been working well. Each one will continue to be a work-in-progress as it’s unlikely we’ll get all objects of interest in a constellation (variable stars, doubles, smaller DSOs,… ). But we’ve decided to add another – this time Cygnus the Swan, an epic constellation with many more objects of interest in it.
Come back regularly to our Constellations page to see how we’re getting on and what contellations and objects we’ve actually done.
Here are some examples of what we’ve already captured in Lyra:
Mark Phillips