{"id":23203,"date":"2021-09-03T09:41:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-03T09:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=99692"},"modified":"2021-09-03T10:03:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T10:03:07","slug":"how-to-see-the-constellation-delphinus","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-to-see-the-constellation-delphinus\/","title":{"rendered":"How to see the constellation Delphinus"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 03 September 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Delphinus is a small but very identifiable constellation representing the head and neck of a bottlenose dolphin. It lies 12\u00b0 to the east and slightly north of the bright star Altair (Alpha (<\/span>\u03b1<\/span>) Aquilae), which <\/span>marks the bottom vertex of the giant Summer Triangle asterism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For advice on how to find the Summer Triangle, read our guide to the best summer constellations<\/a> or find Delphinus using our guide to autumn constellations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interested in finding more familiar shapes in the night sky? See if you can spot the Teapot asterism<\/a> and the Coathanger asterism<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\""Delphinus\"<\/div>
The star names Sualocin and Rotanev in the Delphinus constellation have an interesting backstory. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Delphinus resembles a diamond shape with a tail. The two stars on the <\/span>western side of the diamond, Alpha (\u03b1<\/span>) and Beta (\u03b2<\/span>) Delphini, have the unusual names of Rotanev and Sualocin, more of which to follow.<\/p>\n

Sualocin is a binary star with five additional companions which are most-likely just line-of-sight acquaintances.<\/p>\n

The binary star consists of Alpha Delphini Aa (Sualocin) and Alpha Delphini Ab.<\/p>\n

The pair appear close with a separation of just 0.2 arcseconds and take 17 years to complete one mutual orbit around each other.<\/p>\n

The secondary is about one-tenth as bright as the primary and of stellar spectral class<\/a> A.<\/p>\n

Aa has a spectral type B9IV, indicating it\u2019s a hot white subgiant. Despite its alpha designation, at mag. +3.8 Sualocin is the second brightest star in Delphinus after mag. +3.6 Rotanev.<\/p>\n

\""Autumn\"<\/div>
Use the Summer Triangle to help you find Delphinus. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Sualocin (Aa) lies at a distance of 254 lightyears and has a mass 2.8 times as great as our Sun. Its temperature is estimated at 11,340\u02daC.<\/p>\n

The names Sualocin and Rotanev first appeared in the Palmero star catalogue of 1814.<\/p>\n

Astronomer Thomas Webb worked out that they represent the name of an assistant to the Palmero Observatory\u2019s astronomer, Guiseppe Piazzi.<\/p>\n

The latinised name of the assistant was Nicolaus Venator; reverse the letters and you get the star names.<\/p>\n

This guide originally appeared in the August 2021 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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By Pete Lawrence Published: Friday, 03 September 2021 at 12:00 am Delphinus is a small but very identifiable constellation representing the head and neck of a bottlenose dolphin. It lies 12\u00b0 to the east and slightly north of the bright star Altair (Alpha (\u03b1) Aquilae), which marks the bottom vertex of the giant Summer Triangle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Pete Lawrence Published: Friday, 03 September 2021 at 12:00 am Delphinus is a small but very identifiable constellation representing the head and neck of a bottlenose dolphin. It lies 12\u00b0 to the east and slightly north of the bright star Altair (Alpha (\u03b1) Aquilae), which marks the bottom vertex of the giant Summer Triangle…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/23203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}