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Old 06-06-2018, 06:27 PM
Tropo-Bob (Bob)
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Cairns
Posts: 1,584
SERPENS CAPUT-The Grand Tour

Serpens Caput is part of the constellation generally referred to as Serpens. It is unusual because of it being split into 2 parts of the sky. Serpens Caput is the head of The Serpent contains all the stars from Alpha to Epsilon. I will review the tail (Serpens Cauda) separately when it is more prominent positioned in the sky. Because of the split, my review of this half will be a little shorter than normal.


The Main Stars:

Alpha Serpentis. (Unukalha). A giant star only 74 lightyears away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Serpentis

Beta Serpentis (Ser). This is a very wide binary system, where a bright primary has a very faint companion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Serpentis

Gamma Ser. Closeby, only 37 lightyears away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Serpentis

Delta Ser. A well known binary star.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Serpentis

Eplison Ser.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Serpentis



Objects of interest.

Kappa Ser. This red giant forms a obvisious triangle with Beta & Gamma to make up the head of the Serpent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_Serpentis

Tau Ser. (t's a Crowd). A collection of roughly Mag 6 stars just to the west from Beta & Kappa. I imagine that these will show well with binoculars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Serpentis

5 Ser. The bright star next to M5 is a double. Separation is wide, but the 10th mag companion may challenge my scopes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Serpentis

Mu Ser. This is the southern end of Serpens Capult. It seems to be the middle star in a group of 3 stars, but the southern star is actually in Libra. Mu is a binary, which is too close to be separated by amateur instruments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Serpentis


Messier Objects: The globular M5.
Caldwell Objects: Nil
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