Other Definitions
lacerta (dict)
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Lacerta - For the biological genus of lizards, see Lacerta (genus).
Lacerta, being Latin for Lizard, is one of the 88 official constellations acknowledged by the International Astronomical Union. It is not among Ptolemy's 48 ancient constellations. Instead it was created ca. 1687 by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. It doesn't contain any really bright stars, no Messier object, no galaxy brighter than 14.5m, no globular clusters and not a single named star. Correspondingly it is rather difficult to find. The northern part lies on the Milky Way. Lacerta is located between Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda on the northern celestial sphere. Notable features Notable deep sky objects - NGC 7243: an open star cluster of approximately 6.4m.
- IC 5217: this planetary nebula is difficult to find. Its apparent size is 6 by 8 arcseconds and its brightness is circa 12m.
- BL Lacertae: it was discovered quite early and first thought to be a star and therefore given a variable star designation. However, in reality it is represents the core of a galaxy. It lent its name to a whole type of celestial objects, the BL Lacertae objects (a subtype of blazar.) The object varies irregularly between magnitudes 14 and 17 over a few days.
Mythology Before Johannes Hevelius adopted the name Lacerta several other names had proposed for this part of the sky, among them Sceptrum (= Sceptre) and Fredrick's Glory. Being a modern constellation there is no real mythology surrounding Lacerta. Table of leading stars This table lists all stars in Lacerta with either a Bayer designation or Flamsteed designation, or that are of magnitude 4.50 or brighter. | Bayer designation !! Flamsteed designation !! Variable designation !! Other designations !! Right ascension !! Declination !! Magnitude | | || || || ADS 15758 || 22h 13m 52.7s || +39° 42′ 52″ || 4.49 | | || 1 || || || 22h 15m 58.2s || +37° 44′ 56″ || 4.13 | | || 2 || || ADS 15862 || 22h 21m 01.6s || +46° 32′ 12″ || 4.57 | | β | 3 | 22h 23m 33.6s | +52° 13′ 45″ | 4.43 | | || 4 || || || 22h 24m 31.0s || +49° 28′ 35″ || 4.57 | | || 5 || || || 22h 29m 31.8s || +47° 42′ 25″ || 4.36 | | || 6 || || || 22h 30m 29.3s || +43° 07′ 24″ || 4.51 | | α | 7 | ADS 16021 | 22h 31m 17.5s | +50° 16′ 57″ | 3.77 | | || 8 || || ADS 16095 || 22h 35m 52.3s || +39° 38′ 03″ || 5.73 | | || 9 || || || 22h 37m 22.4s || +51° 32′ 43″ || 4.63 | | || 10 || || ADS 16148 || 22h 39m 15.7s || +39° 03′ 01″ || 4.88 | | || 11 || || || 22h 40m 30.9s || +44° 16′ 35″ || 4.46 | | || 12 || DD || || 22h 41m 28.6s || +40° 13′ 32″ || 5.25v | | || 13 || || ADS 16227 || 22h 44m 05.5s || +41° 49′ 09″ || 5.08 | | || 14 || V360 || || 22h 50m 21.8s || +41° 57′ 13″ || 5.92v | | || 15 || || ADS 16325 || 22h 52m 02.0s || +43° 18′ 45″ || 4.94 | | || 16 || EN || ADS 16381 || 22h 56m 23.6s || +41° 36′ 14″ || 5.59v | Source: The Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed. Lacerta in fiction In the Science Fiction novel Diaspora by Greg Egan, the constellation Lacerta was the origin of a massive shock wave, caused by the collision of two neutron stars, which caused the extinction of most life on Earth. External links - Weasner's Mighty ETX Site, GO TO LACERTA (a constellation guide for amateur astronomers)
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