Pisces' stars labeled, dim deep sky

Event Date: July 31st
Time: 4:00 AM


Brief

If the image below of Pisces--featured yesterday--looks complex and makes you dizzy, that is intentional: it is too reflect some of what I talked about yesterday about the dim constellation, of two fish tied, with a star further away representing the knot of the rope (or string?).  To learn more about the ancient constellation, click here.
   I also talked about deep sky sighting within constellation boundaries, although such are very far away and few to easily see with a telescope.  Since Pisces is viewed nearly perpendicular to the galactic plane, the way Virgo is seen 180º away, it contains several galaxies, visible in telescopes.  However, none of them get much attention when we look in deep-sky wonder books and magazines.  To help somewhat, I labeled where some of those galaxies are.  Being perpendicular to our own galaxy, very few nebulae and star clusters are near Pisces; M2 being an exception, shown in Aquarius a few entries back.
Here is the image, including some of the labeled deep-sky.

click on image to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   I labeled several stars in Pisces, yet most of them are between 3rd and 5th magnitude, making the constellation hard to see in light polluted skies.  Wait until it is near transit, as seen above, with no big Moon in the sky for nights that such is the case.
   Besides the galaxies marked (little green circles), I also included the celestial meridian and ecliptic.  As mentioned yesterday, this is a part of the sky where the Sun gains northern declination quickly.  If you remember my first entry about the March equinox on the 19th of that month, I showed the Sun passing through Pisces in the daytime, obviously not highlighting the constellation then being light.
   Finally, despite most galaxies being dim, I kept the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) labeled and highlighted in the top left corner.  If you forget where to find the eastern fish of Pisces, it is not far from the galaxy, marked by the star Tau Piscium.  For some odd reason, that fish is only marked by that star, while the western one is highlighted by the circlet asterism made up of 7 stars.