Particulars:
General:
One of the larger constellations of the northern hemisphere.
The northern border reaches as high as DECL=+59 degrees, the
southern border reaches DECL=+31 degrees (touching Aries and
Taurus). From east to west this constellation extends from
roughly RA=4h 50m to RA=1h 30m.
Perseus gives name to one of the constellation families.
The figure of Perseus ist thought to held the head of
Medusa in his hand (the star beta Per represents the evil
eye of her).
Stars and other objects
The leading star alpha Per, called Marfak
or Algenib, is an F5 supergiant with 1.79 mag,
which makes it, together with alpha UMa, the 32nd
brightest star in the sky. It lies within a widely scattered
cluster of stars making it an interesting region for binoculars.
Small telescopes may have a problem in resolving the 8th mag
companion (an A2 main sequence star) of the B0.5 main sequence
star epsilon Per. The brighter component is of 2.89 mag
and therefore the fainter component may just be lost in the
intense glow of the first one.
Another pair with a large brightness contrast is zeta Per,
a B1 supergiant of 2.85 mag and its 9th mag companion.
An attractive pair for small telescopes is eta Per: a red
and a blue star of 4th and 9th mag sitting in a star rich field.
The eclipsing binary beta Per, called Algol
is one of the most famous variable stars in the sky. The two
stars revolve each other every 2 days and 21 hours. During the
eclipsing phase the brightness varies from 2.2 mag to 3.5 mag.
The brightness of the variable star rho Per varies
semiregularily from 3rd mag to 4th mag. This changings are
happening nearly monthly.
An easy object for small telescopes is M34. This cluster
is bright and quite large. In a dark night it can be seen with
the naked eye. Individual stars can be resolved even with small
optical power.
The two open star cluster NGC 869 and NGC 884,
commonly named h Per and chi Per,
are the famous Double Cluster of Perseus
(located at the northern edge). These two related star clusters
belong to the best targets for small instruments. Viewed in a
clear dark night the clusters appear to the naked eye as one hazy
patch in the sky. Using little optical help stars scattered over
0.5 degrees of the sky are revealed. With small scopes some of
the red stars can be seen in NGC 884. It is less bright
and less rich cluster of the pair. The distance to that pair is
estimated to be about 7000 lightyears.
To observe NGC 1528 most effectively one should use low
telescopic power.
The planetary nebula M 76, called Little Dumbbell
Nebula, is a quite faint object, but with some nice
irregular extensions in its appearence. For more information
please refer to the Messier database.
The Perseids are one of the most famous and most glorious
meteor showers. It duration extends from July 23th to August
22nd. The maximum occurs on August 12th/13th, but it is also
worth to observe this shower before and after this date. The
Perseids meteors are known to be bright; sometimes the explode
and leave trains.
The existence of the meteor shower Zeta Perseids has been
discovered 1947. It is one of the daylight showers. The meteors
fall between May 20th and July 5th; the maximum occurs on June
13th. See Gary Kronk's database about meteors showers for
detailed information.