SaltLakeCommunityCollege

PiscesConstellation

CalvirOar
PHYS1040
ProfessorHarrison
12/01/2015

Mythology
TheearliestrecordingsofPiscesistracedbackto2300BCE,whereitwasengravedupon
anegyptiancoffinlid.ThismakesitoneoftheearliestZodiacsignsthatwehaveonrecord.[10]
ThePiscesconstellationisofGreekmythologythatwastakenfromtheBabylonians.Thisis
assumedbecausetheeventsthattakeplaceneartheEuphratesriver.Itissaidthatthegodof
love(Eros)andhismother,goddessofbeauty(Aphrodite)wereneartheriverwhenamonster
roseoutofthedepths.Thismonster'snamewasTyphon.Typhon,theoffspringofGaiaand
Tartarus,wassentbyGaiatodestroythegodsfordefeatingthetitansandgiants.Typhonissaid
tobeverymenacing.Heisastallasthesky,hasdragonheadsforfingers,andfirecomesfrom
hiseyes.ThegodsfearedGaia'screationandconsideredhimtobetoostrongtodefeat.Theyran
andhidfromhimbychangingintoanimals.ErosandAphroditecalledforhelptothenymphsin
theriver.Whathappensnexthasmanydifferentversionsdependingonwhoisasked.Thefirst
versionstatesthataftertheywerealertedofTyphon'spresence,thenymphstransformedEros
andAphroditeintofishtoevadehim.Theytiedthemselvestogetherwithachordsotheydidn't
loseeachotherintheirescapethroughthewater.Thesecondversionclaimsthatthetwogods
tookarideonthetwofishtosafety,tyingthemselvestogethertobesurenotloseeachother.To
honorthesefish,theywereplacedintheskyasthestarconstellationpisces.[1]
SyrianmythologyalsohasaversionofthestorydifferentthantheGreeks.Ichthyes,two
fish,cametoAphroditeandErostoescortthemtosafetyfromTyphon.Later,anothermyth
fromtheSyriansclaimsagianteggappearedintheEuphratesriver.Twomen,Aphrosand
Bythos,whoappearedtobefishaswellbroughtthiseggtotheshoretohelpithatch.Whenit
hatched,Aphroditeemergedfromtheshell.ThismythologywasthereasonforSyriansbeing
forbiddentoeatfish.

Constellation
Thepiscesconstellationistoughtospot,butthebestchancetobegazeduponisinthe
northernhemisphereduringthemonthsofautumn.[2]Animagetolookforwouldbetwofish
thatareconnectedbythetails.[3]ThemostoptimaldatesarebetweenNovember6and
November9th.Thevisiblelatitudesare90degreesand65degrees.Itsastronomicalcoordinates
arearightascensionof.85hoursandadeclinationof11.08degrees.Itisincrediblyhardtoseen
fortworeasons.Thefirstisbecauseittakesup889squaredegrees,whichisalargechunkof
sky.Thesecondisitsstarsdon'tappeartobeverybrighttous.Theeasiestwaytofindthis
constellationistolocatethecircletofpisces.Thisisalsocommonlyreferredtoastheheadof
theWesternFish.ThislocationisfoundsouthoftheSquareofPegasusinthebordering
constellationPegasus.[2]OtherconstellationsborderingPiscesareTriangulum,Aries,Cetus,
andAndromeda.ThevernalequinoxisalsonowvisibleinPisces,previouslyseeninits
neighboringconstellationAries.[8]
PrimaryStars
Name

RA

DEC

Distance(ly)

VM

SC

EtaPiscium

h m
s
01
31
28.99
+152045.0

294

3.62

G8III

GammaPiscium

h m
s
23
17
09.49
+031656.1

131

3.70

G7III

OmegaPiscium

h m
s
23
59
18.60
+065148.9

106

4.03

F4IV

IotaPiscium

h m
s
23
39
56.82
+053738.5

45

4.13

F7V

OmicronPiscium

h m
s
01
45
23.59
+090927.5

258

4.26

K0III

EpsilonPiscium

h m
s
01
02
56.66
+075324.3

190

4.27

K0III

ThetaPiscium

h m
s
23
27
58.17
+062244.8

159

4.27

K1III

AlphaPiscium

h m
s
02
02
02.80
+024549.5

139

4.33

A0p

30Piscium

h m
s
00
01
57.59
060050.3

415

4.37

M3III

DeltaPiscium

h m
s
00
48
40.90
+073506.7

305

4.44

K5III

NuPiscium

h m
s
01
41
25.91
+052915.4

368

4.45

K3III

BetaPiscium

h m
s
23
03
52.61
+034912.3

492

4.48

B6Ve

LambdaPiscium

h m
s
23
42
02.88
+014649.5

101

4.49

A7V

TauPiscium

h m
s
01
11
39.59
+300523.0

162

4.51

K0IIIIV

33Piscium

h m
s
00
05
20.15
054228.2

128

4.61

K1III

XiPiscium

h m
s
01
53
33.34
+031114.9

191

4.61

K0IIISB

ChiPiscium

h m
s
01
11
27.19
+210204.8

439

4.66

K0III

PhiPiscium

h m
s
01
13
44.94
+243501.6

377

4.67

K0III...

UpsilonPiscium

h m
s
01
19
27.98
+271550.7

311

4.74

A3V

MuPiscium

h m
s
01
30
10.94
+060838.2

360

4.84

K4III

[13]
Messier74
In1780amathteacher/astronomerbythenameofPierreMechainspottedoneofthefirst
spiralnebulainthePiscesconstellation32.5millionlightyearsaway.Hereportedhisfindingto
hisfriendCharlesMessierwhoworkedinthesamedepartmentashim.Messierpinpointedits
locationintheskydeterminingitwitharightascensionof1h36.7mandadeclinationof+15
47andaddedittohiscatalog.[4]M74hasavisualmagnitudeof+9.4,whichcanbeseenwith
binocularsorasmalltelescope.Thenebuladoesnothavealotofsurfacebrightness,which
forceslookerstoavoidasmuchairpollutionaspossiblewhentryingtofindit.Thebestwayto
findM74wouldbetofirstlocatethebrighteststarintheconstellationfirstwhichisEtaPiscium.
Fromthere,lookNEabout1.5degreesandyoullhaveavisualofM74.Thenebulaissimilarin
sizetotheMilkyWayGalaxywithadiameterofabout95,000lightyears.Intheskyitssizeis
10.5x9.5arcminutes.[5]

NGC7541andNGC7537
AstronomerWilliamHerscheldiscoveredthisgalaxypairlocatedinthecircletofPisces.
NGC7541isclassifiedasaSBc(barredspiral)andNGC7537isclassifiedasaSbc.
ComparableinsizetoeachotherandtheMilkyWayGalaxy,Itsdistanceacrossisabout100,000
lightyearsacrossthediameter.Theirlocationintheskyisarightascensionof23hrs14m42s,
andadeclinationof4degrees3159.Throughatelescopethesegalaxieswouldbeseenas
almostbeingontopofeachother.Accordingtoxrayobservations,NGC7541iscurrentlygoing
throughastarformationphase.Astronomerspredictthatthegalaxiesformedratherquicklyin
theearlyageoftheuniversefromeitheragascloudcollapseorfrommergingstarclusters.The
pairisnotabletobeseenbythenakedeyewithanapparentmagnitudeof11.7,buta20cm
telescopeshouldbeabletodetectNGC7541anda30cmshoulddetectNGC7537.Intheskyits
sizeis3.5x1.2arcminutes.[6]
NGC507Group
ThisgroupwasdiscoveredbyWilliamHerschelin1784.Itislocatedatarightascension
of1h23m41sandadeclinationof33degrees150.AStronomersestimateitssizetobeabout
4arcminutesacross.Itisan11ontheapparentmagnitudescalewhichisnotvisiblebythenaked
eye.Atelescopewillbeneededtoviewthisgroup.Thegalaxiesinthegrouparealsoapartof
thePerseusPiscesSupercluster.ThissuperclusterisalsoknownasthePiscesclusterandthe
NGC383cluster.TheNGC507groupisoneofthemorepopulatedgroupsintheconstellation
harboringatleast9NGCgalaxies.TheactualgalaxyNGC507isthemostluminousofthegroup
andhadsightingsofconcentricshells,whicharethoughtoftobefromancientmergers.The
groupisconsideredtobeaccretingmoresmallergalaxiesfrosightingofsmallsubstructuresin
itscore.[6]

NGC383
In1966

HaltonC.ArpaddedthisgalaxytohiscollectionTheArpAtlasofPeculiar
Galaxies.Hedocumenteditatarightascensionof1hr7m24sandadeclinationof32degrees
2445.Herankeditsapparentmagnitudeasa13.4onthescale,whichisdifficulttobeseen.
Intheskyitssizeis
2.34X1.95.
AlargetelescopewillberequiredtoviewNGC338.When
seenthroughatelescopeitappearstobeinaquasarformationshape.Thegalaxyisabout
209,000,000lightyearsawayfromearth.TheNationalRadioAstronomyObservatorymadea
recentdiscoveryin2006,showingthatNGC383isbeingbisectedbyrelativisticelectronsin
radioandxraywavelengths.Allofthisenergyisbeingfocusedtowardsthecore.[7]
DarkMatterinCL0024+17
Thisclusterofgalaxiesislocatedabout4billionlightyearsaway.Ithasaright
ascensionof0h26m35sandadeclinationof17degrees943.[11]TheHubbleSpace
Telescopehasdiscoveredaringofdarkmatterthatformedfromacollisionbetweentwomassive
galaxyclusters.Thisdiscoveryisoneofthestrongestpiecesofevidencethatdarkmatterreally
exists.Thishelpedfortifythetheorythatclusterswouldfallapartiftheyonlyreliedonthe
gravityoftheirstars.Thedarkmatteristheforcethatisholdingtheseclusterstogether.The
ringisformedfromarippleinthedarkmattersubstancethatcamefromthiscollision.[12]

PiscesConstellation[14]

DarkMatterinCL0024+17[12]

Messier74[5]

WorksCited

1.Ridpath,Ian."StarTalesPisces."
StarTalesPisces
.N.p.,n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/pisces.htm>.
2.Zimmermann,KimAnn."PiscesConstellation:FactsAbouttheFishes."
Space.com
.Purch,
5June2013.Web.27Nov.2015.
<http://www.space.com/21456piscesconstellation.html>.
3."Pisces."
TopAstronomer
.N.p.,n.d.Web.1Dec.2015.
<http://www.topastronomer.com/StarCharts/Constellations/Pisces.php>.
4."Messier74."
MessierObject74
.N.p.,n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<http://messier.seds.org/m/m074.html>.
5."Messier74."
FreeStarCharts
.N.p.,n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<http://freestarcharts.com/messier74>.
6.Brazzell,Owen."GalaxyoftheMonthinPisces."
WebbDeepSkySociety:
.WebbSociety,
n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<http://www.webbdeepsky.com/galaxies/constellation/Pisces>.
7."NGC383."
Wikipedia
.WikimediaFoundation,n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_383>.
8.Mazzei,Michael."Pisces."
SpaceScience/Astronomy:Constellations
(2014):1.
Science
ReferenceCenter
.Web.26Nov.2015.
9.Belmont,Mike."TheMythologyofPiscesACompleteExplanation."
TheMythologyof
PiscesACompleteExplanation
.RoyalMintPublishing,2015.Web.01Dec.2015.
<http://www.godsandmonsters.com/mythologyofpisces.html>.

10."PiscesTheFishStarSignStyle."
StarSignStyle
.N.p.,n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<http://starsignstyle.com/piscesthefish/>.
11."CL0024+17."
Wikipedia
.WikimediaFoundation,n.d.Web.01Dec.2015.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CL0024%2B17>.
12.Weaver,Donna."HubbleFindsRingofDarkMatter."
HubbleSite
.N.p.,May2007.Web.
01Dec.2015.<http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/17/full/>.
13."ListofStarsinPiscisAustrinus."
Wikipedia
.WikimediaFoundation,8Jan.2015.Web.
27Nov.2015.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stars_in_Piscis_Austrinus>.
14."Buyastar."
Buyastar
.N.p.,n.d.Web.1Dec.2015.
<http://www.buyastar.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/zodiacs_uk/fish.jpg>.