Jump to content

March’s Night Sky Notes: Constant Companions: Circumpolar Constellations, Part II


Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted

2 min read

March’s Night Sky Notes: Constant Companions: Circumpolar Constellations, Part II

by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

As the seasons shift from Winter to Spring, heralding in the promise of warmer weather here in the northern hemisphere, our circumpolar constellations remain the same. Depending on your latitude, you will be able to see up to nine circumpolar constellations. This month, we’ll focus on: Lynx, Camelopardalis, and Perseus. The objects within these constellations can all be spotted with a pair of binoculars or a small to medium-sized telescope, depending on your Bortle scale – the darkness of your night skies.

In the appearance of left to right: constellations Perseus, Camelopardalis, and Lynx in the night sky. Also featured: Cassiopeia as a guide constellation, and various stars.
In the appearance of left to right: constellations Perseus, Camelopardalis, and Lynx in the night sky. Also featured: Cassiopeia as a guide constellation, and various stars.
Credit: Stellarium Web
  • Double Stars: The area that comprises the constellation Lynx is famous for its multiple star systems, all of which can be separated with a telescope under dark skies. Some of the notable stars in Lynx are the following:
    • 12 Lyncis – a triple star that can be resolved with a medium-sized telescope.
    • 10 Ursae Majoris – a double star that was once a part of Ursa Major.
    • 38 Lyncis – a double star that is described as blue-white and lilac.
  • Kemble’s Cascade: This asterism located in Camelopardalis, has over 20 stars, ranging in visible magnitude (brightness) and temperature. The stars give the appearance of flowing in a straight line leading to the Jolly Roger Cluster (NGC 1502). On the opposite side of this constellation, you find the asterism Kemble’s Kite. All three objects can be spotted with a pair of binoculars or a telescope and require moderate dark skies.
Top left of the image shows a ground based shot of Caldwell 14. Countless stars. To the right is a shot from Hubble of an inset area. Blue stars with a black background.
A ground-based image from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) in the upper left shows Caldwell 14, the Double Cluster in Perseus, with an outline of the region imaged by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
Ground-based image: Digitized Sky Survey (DSS); Hubble image: NASA, ESA, and S. Casertano (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
  • Double Cluster: The constellation Perseus contains the beautiful Double Cluster, two open star clusters (NGC 869 and 884) approximately 7,500 light-years from Earth. This object can be spotted with a small telescope or binoculars and is photographed by amateur and professional photographers alike. It can even be seen with the naked eye in very dark skies. Also in Perseus lies Algol, the Demon Star. Algol is a triple-star system that contains an eclipsing binary, meaning two of its three stars constantly orbit each other. Because of this orbit, you can watch the brightness dim every two days, 20 hours, 49 minutes – for 10-hour periods at a time. For a visual representation of this, revisit NASA’s What’s Up: November 2019.

From constellations you can see all year to a once in a lifetime event! Up next, find out how you can partner with NASA volunteers for the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse with our upcoming mid-month article on the Night Sky Network page through NASA’s website!

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By Space Force
      Air Force Reservists in space-related career fields interested in volunteering to join the U.S. Space Force as Guardians serving in a part-time capacity can apply.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, and Victor Glover, Artemis II pilot, walk on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025.
      On Aug. 11 and 12, teams with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, practiced launch day operations if launch occurs at night. They simulated putting their spacesuits on and driving to the launch pad as well as emergency procedures they would use in the unlikely event of an emergency during the launch countdown requiring them to evacuate the launch pad.
      Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
      Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
      View the full article
    • By USH
      In March 2025, a perfectly smooth metallic sphere crashed near the city of Buga, Colombia, setting in motion a chain of revelations that could rewrite the story of human history. Weighing just 4.5 pounds, the object has no visible seams, joints, or welds. It remains icy cold to the touch and shows no sign of conventional propulsion or manufacturing methods known to science. 
      Buga Sphere
      Its surface is etched with intricate markings eerily similar to symbols from ancient Mesopotamia, as well as other civilizations separated by oceans and thousands of years. AI-assisted analysis suggests the glyphs carry profound themes—unity, transformation, and the origins of consciousness, concepts that cannot easily be reconciled within the framework of standard physics. 
      Advanced scans have revealed hidden internal structures and an unusually dense core. Even more unsettling, researchers have detected the sphere emitting very low frequency (VLF) and low frequency (LF) radio waves—signals capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers over terrain and far beyond the horizon, often used in navigation, communications, and precise timing synchronization. 
      Whispers are now spreading about the discovery of a second, even older sphere, quietly stored in a forgotten museum collection. Meanwhile, the glyphs on the Buga sphere appear to be slowly evolving, forming what some believe are coordinates pointing toward remote and mysterious sites: deep within the Amazon, along the shores of Lake Titicaca, and in the highlands of Peru. 
      This has led to a question, is it just an elaborate hoax or are these spheres fragments of a hidden planetary network, and if so… what happens when it awakens?
        View the full article
    • By NASA
      1 min read
      NASA’s Black Marble: Stories from the Night Sky
      Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Home Air Quality Climate Change Freshwater Life on Earth Severe Storms Snow and Ice The Global Ocean Science at Work Earth Science at Work Technology and Innovation Powering Business Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us Viewed from space, Earth at night tells endless stories. Using satellite data, we can track population growth, natural disaster damage, cultural celebrations, and even space weather. Studying these glowing patterns helps us understand human activity, respond to disasters, and witness a changing world.

      Original Video and Assets

      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Aug 04, 2025 Related Terms
      Earth Video Series Explore More
      4 min read NUBE: New Card Game Helps Learners Identify Cloud Types Through Play


      Article


      3 days ago
      6 min read NASA’s TRACERS Studies Explosive Process in Earth’s Magnetic Shield


      Article


      3 weeks ago
      2 min read Polar Tourists Give Positive Reviews to NASA Citizen Science in Antarctica


      Article


      4 weeks ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Earth


      Your home. Our Mission. And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other.


      Explore Earth Science



      Earth Science in Action


      NASA’s unique vantage point helps us inform solutions to enhance decision-making, improve livelihoods, and protect our planet.


      Earth Multimedia & Galleries


      View the full article
    • By NASA
      As the Sun approaches the most active part of its eleven-year magnetic cycle this summer, NASA volunteers have been watching it closely. Now they’ve spotted a new trend in solar behavior that will have you reaching for your suntan lotion. It’s all about something called a “Type II” solar radio burst:
      “Type II solar radio bursts are not commonly detected in the frequency range between 15 to 30 megahertz,” said Prof. Chuck Higgins, Co-founder of Radio JOVE. “Recently, we’re seeing many of them in that range.”
      Let’s unpack that. Our Sun often sprays powerful blasts of radio waves into space. Heliophysicists classify these radio bursts into five different types depending on how the frequency of the radio waves drifts over time. “Type II” solar radio bursts seem to come from solar flares and enormous squirts of hot plasma called coronal mass ejections.
      Now, Thomas Freeman, an undergraduate student at Middle Tennessee State University, and other volunteers working on NASA’s Radio JOVE project have observed something interesting about these Type II bursts: they are now showing up at lower frequencies—somewhere in between FM and AM radio. 
      What does it mean? It means our star is full of surprises! These Radio JOVE observations of the Sun’s radio emissions during solar maximum can be used to extend our knowledge of solar emissions to lower frequencies and, therefore, to distances farther from the Sun. 
      Radio JOVE is a NASA partner citizen science project in which participants assemble and operate radio astronomy telescopes to gather and contribute data to support scientific studies.  Radio JOVE collaborated with SunRISE Ground Radio Lab,  organized teams of high school students to observe the Sun, and recently published a paper on these Type II solar radio bursts. Learn more and get involved!  
      A Type II solar radio burst on April 23rd, 2024, seen as the gently sloping yellow band drifting from 17:49 to 18:02 UTC in the 15-30 MHz radio frequency-time spectrogram. Credit: Tom Ashcraft, Lamy, NM Share








      Details
      Last Updated Jul 23, 2025 Related Terms
      Citizen Science Heliophysics Explore More
      2 min read Bring NASA Science into Your Library!


      Article


      2 days ago
      4 min read NASA to Launch SNIFS, Sun’s Next Trailblazing Spectator
      July will see the launch of the groundbreaking Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph mission, or…


      Article


      6 days ago
      6 min read NASA’s TRACERS Studies Explosive Process in Earth’s Magnetic Shield


      Article


      7 days ago
      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...