Canes Venatici represents the hunting dogs of Bootes, the herdsman. This is a small northern constellation consisting of only two main stars, and it is located below the Big Dipper’s curved handle and to the right of Bootes. Canes Venatici reaches its highest nightfall ascension in May.
In spite of its small size, Canes Venatici is very interesting in its arrangement of galaxies. The Giant Void, the largest galactic supervoid known, exists along side several other notable galaxies. There are four Messier galaxies: M51 (the Whirlpool Galaxy), M63 (the Sunflower Galaxy), M94, and M106. A fifth Messier object in the M3 globular star cluster, which is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye under a very dark sky. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canes_Venatici
IAU Canes Venatici chart, IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg), June 4, 2011.
Eridanuswas the ancient Greek name for today’s Po River. This constellation was one of the 48 constellations cataloged by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy that remain among the 88 modern constellations. This southern constellation has the distinction of being sixth largest of the modern constellations, and is best seen at its highest nightfall ascension in January. The river begins near Orion’s left foot and flows southward from there. At our 40-degree north location, the southern, or lower half of the constellation remains hidden below the horizon. At the southern end of Eridanus is the magnitude 0.5 star Achernar whose traditional name means “the river’s end.”
Of particular interest in this constellation is the Eridanus Supervoid. Numerous galaxies can be seen in deep exposure photographs in almost every direction when looking outward into the Universe beyond the foreground Milky Way stars, but the sky in the direction of Eridanus is almost entirely void of distant galaxies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridanus_(constellation)
IAU Eridanus chart, IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott and Rick Fienberg), June 5, 2011
Canes Venatici represents the hunting dogs of Bootes, the herdsman. This is a small northern constellation consisting of only two main stars, and it is located below the Big Dipper’s curved handle and to the right of Bootes. Canes Venatici reaches its highest nightfall ascension in May.
