Uranus within Cetus: other nearby constellations

Event Date: September 13th
Time: 10:00 PM


Brief

   Yesterday I showed Uranus, rising in the dim-east sky: a part of the sky filled with some dim constellations with very few stars easy to see if there is a Moon or light pollution.  Fortunately, the Moon is already set as a waning crescent, while light pollution may not be an issue if we view at a high elevation.  With that said, the image below shows the constellations close to Uranus.  As mentioned before, it is at the Pisces-Cetus border, just within the sea-monster's boundary.  Two more slightly brighter constellations are north of Uranus and Pisces: Pegasus, including its "great-square" asterism, along with V-shaped Andromeda.  Stick figures are included for each of the four.

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

Detailed

Since we are looking perpendicular out of our galactic plane, we are not looking at much celestial matter close to us.  As a result, although there are several billion stars in the direction of these constellations, we usually look into more dense areas of stars when we are looking either towards the direction of our galactic center, or the outer arms; Auriga, Taurus, Gemini, as examples of constellations in the latter direction, opposite the center.  We will see these mentioned constellations rising later in the night, while they are evening risers during the late fall and early winter.  As a result of looking perpendicular for now in the direction of Pegasus and Andromeda, it means that we have a major attraction to look at shortly before seeing the constellation's figure rise.  I will remind of that tomorrow, and as a hint, have a very dark sky to see it's entire shape.