It’s been a busy time for star gazing this week. So much so that I found myself thankful of a cloudy night last night. I went to bed at 7.30 pm and slept for 13 hours! Got some nice pics though.
The bright orange star in the middle here is UX Draconis, a star in Draco the dragon. Not a constellation that seems to get talked about much, but it’s circumpolar, visible all year. UX Draconis owes its deep red colour to its age and high carbon composition. It’s an ancient star that has swollen to become a red giant, probably swallowing any inner planets. It lies about 1200 light years away.
https://www.universeguide.com/star/95154/uxdraconis
The constellation of Cygnus the swan is now becoming prominent in the eastern sky. It’s absolutely packed full of interesting stars and nebulae. The reason being that when we look in that direction we’re looking directly into the heart of the our own galaxy. Here is the Crescent nebula. Just look at the density of stars compared to UX Draconis above.
The nebula is created by the stellar wind from a red giant star colliding with and illuminating the atmosphere from the same star that was blown off when it expanded to become a red giant.
Platitude of the Day 