There was a time when astronomy, and in fact all science, was a mixture of strange ideas and even superstition along with any real provable ideas. But magic practitioners gave way to men who asked harder questions, and demanded more precise answers. This included men like Isaac Newton who realized our sun was a star like any other, and even Ptolemy who way back in 100AD realized our Earth was part of a planetary system. Astronomy stretches to the ends of the endless universe. Thus an enthusiast has to decide the limits of their interest in the subject. Let’s pick a constellation, Pisces, and discuss Pisces constellation astronomy.
As large as the universe is, isn’t a constellation too specialized a subject? The constellations aren’t just mythical beings imagined by ancient people. There’s a lot of space stuff contained within each constellation. Pisces, for example, contains very few bright stars but does contain a unique galaxy from our point of view. Galaxy NGC629, or M74, is a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way, and we can see its facing side. We see all of it’s arms extending out from its center. It looks like a spiral to observers from Earth, in other words. Not with the naked eye, of course. It’s just a splotch as seen through most amateur telescopes. If the telescope is 12 inches or more aperture, suddenly its seen as a spiral.
Another unique feature of Pisces is that an important part of the Sun’s path passes through Pisces today, where it did not when the constellations were first mapped. The first point of Aries is the point where the sun crosses the equator on its way North. This happens at the Vernal Equinox, the first day of spring for the Northern hemisphere of the planet. When the First Point of Aries was established in ancient times it was east of Pisces. But it has moved into Pisces over time. This is an example precession, the movement of stars and objects in relation to Earth. The Earth and everything in the universe move. Our sun and our galaxy are moving at incredible speeds. The sun and solar system, for example, move at about 220 kilometers per second around the center of the galaxy. That’s about 1/250th of the way around in all of recorded history. The entire galaxy is also on the go. Constellations are always shifting and in flux. Pisces and the First Point of Aries are a great example of this.
See how interesting Pisces constellation astronomy can be?
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