Constellation Triangle and Spiral Galaxy M33

It is this heavenly constellation of the northern hemisphere of the sky Tri (the abbreviated Latin name of Triangulum) is one of the most interesting objects for amateur research.

Location in the sky

In a dark night, in the absence of bright light sources, we can detect it in the form of a figure clearly formed by three stars, similar to an elongated triangle. Their stellar magnitudes are expressed as follows: 3m and two by 4m.

Therefore, it can be seen with the unaided eye.

By neighboring constellations, one can orient on the starry sky to find the constellation Triangle. This will help you Andromeda, Perseus, Aries and Pisces.

From history and mythology

This constellation was known since antiquity, but where exactly the name came from, it remains unknown. There are notes about him in the Babylonian catalogs and manuscripts, which are recorded about 1100 years before our era. The constellation is known since the time of the birth of astronomy and was described by the Greek Ptolemy in the second century BC. The constellation Triangle was present on the stellar maps of the Cretans and Phoenicians. Everything says that he has a long history. One of the ancient astronomers, Eratosthenes, the constellation of the Triangle resembled a resemblance to the delta of the Nile, and in Greece it was called Deltonon because of the outlines that resembled the Greek capital letter "delta".
From written sources on Greek mythology it is known that the constellation of the Triangle was identified with the island of Demeter - Sicily - and its three main cities.

Let's talk about characteristic tops

Constellation The triangle forms a shape resembling a geometric figure, according to its name.

It is outlined by the three most notable stars in this constellation. The brightest cosmic objects Alpha, Beta and Gamma form the actual figure of the triangle. The most significant cosmic bodies in the constellation Triangle are the brightest object in its star system, the beta, called Deltotum. From Earth to this star, the distance is approximately 125 light years. The second in brightness in this constellation - Alpha - by classification refers to the white-yellow sub-giants. It is also called the top of a triangle, it is a double star of a complex spectrum. The distance to the star object is 64.2 light years. Gamma, the third brightest star, is a white dwarf, located 188 light years from Earth. Delta has the same structure as Alpha. It consists of two dwarfs - yellow and orange. The distance between our planet and these stars is at least 35 light years.

Spiral galaxy M33

The constellation is easily identifiable and contains within its visible boundaries at least the brightest, but one fairly well known spiral galaxy M33, which is of the Sc type and is part of a group of local galaxies. There are several nebulae in it, there are a lot of massive bright blue stars and star clusters with increasing density to its center. The distance from the Sun to the spiral galaxy M33 is three million light years. More than 110 variable stars are currently open in this galaxy.

The largest objects in this region of the sky are the Andromeda galaxies, the Milky Way and the Triangle galaxy, also known as M33 or NGC598.

These largest spiral galaxies have their own subgroups of galaxies. Most of them are associated with "mother" huge gravitational forces. Galaxy Triangle honorably takes the third place (after Andromeda and the Milky Way) as part of a local group of galaxies. Its diameter is about 50-55.6 thousand light years.

In the galaxy of Triangle, a black hole M33 X-7 of a fairly large size was discovered. The mass of the cosmic body is 16 times greater than that of the Sun. This is one of the largest black holes, except that there are only supermassive holes at a sufficiently close distance from us.

The constellation Triangle includes other galactic systems, they are less bright, and their magnitude does not exceed the eleventh star. The largest of these is the spiral galaxy NGC925. The distance from our Sun to NGC925 is 46 million light years. This is far enough, but thanks to super-powerful telescopes, astronomers study outer space and unique objects of the universe in this part of the sky.