7 replies to this topic

[acey]

There is a striking asterism roughly one degree east of 36 Sextans: a straight line of stars, about a degree in length. Uranometria plots 6 stars (2nd ed, chart 112), TriAtlas chart 289 has a few more. It caught my eye in the 50mm finder while sweeping past, looking at first glance like a stretched-out "fuzzy".

Does it have a name?

[The Ardent]

Combined with the stars further east and seen in an inverting telescope, I have heard this called the "Mountain"

Check out 7 Sextans with a scope. You may or may not see another group.

[JakeSaloranta]

It is an asterism called Lorenzin 23 and as with all asterisms, the name is unofficial. To me it looks like a cerberus :o

/Jake

[acey]

Many thanks. So is there a Lorenzin catalogue of asterisms?

[JakeSaloranta]

Who of us hasn't got a list of asterisms?

I just have the DSH (Deep Sky Hunters) asterism database visible on my Skymap Pro 10 which shows some hundreds of asterisms all over the sky. Lorenzin 23 (HD 93460-group) is just one of them.

/Jake

[palsing]

Many thanks. So is there a Lorenzin catalogue of asterisms?

Check it out, but it is more than just asterisms;

http://www.1000plus.com/2000plus/

[atelierbks]

This appears to be an asterism only, not a common-origin starline or starstream. For the 7 brightest look-alike stars descending N to S (top to bottom) and W to E (r to l) toward PGC 32366, the astrometric data are:

HD 93473
Apparent magnitude: 9.022
Proper motion RA: 29.1
Proper motion Dec: -38
B-T magnitude: 9.613
V-T magnitude: 9.071

HD 93511
Apparent magnitude: 9.816
Proper motion RA: -11.7
Proper motion Dec: -4.1
B-T magnitude: 9.954
V-T magnitude: 9.828

HD 93543
Apparent magnitude: 8.954
Distance: 154.56 parsecs
Proper motion RA: 15
Proper motion Dec: -27.1
B-T magnitude: 10.015
V-T magnitude: 9.042

HD 93570
Apparent magnitude: 8.462
Proper motion RA: 4
Proper motion Dec: -8.2
B-T magnitude: 8.916
V-T magnitude: 8.5

HD 93602
Apparent magnitude: 8.841
Proper motion RA: 24.4
Proper motion Dec: -28
B-T magnitude: 9.397
V-T magnitude: 8.887

HD 93614
Apparent magnitude: 8.857
Distance: 337.838 parsecs
Proper motion RA: -56.8
Proper motion Dec: -24.7
B-T magnitude: 9.2
V-T magnitude: 8.886

HD 93569
Apparent magnitude: 9.081
Proper motion RA: -31
Proper motion Dec: 35
B-T magnitude: 10.055
V-T magnitude: 9.162

These data come from the HD catalog; they also list in the TYC and USNAO-2 catalogs. The RA and Dec proper motions give no hint of a common origin from an evaporating OC in the area. The M-T mag and V-T magnitudes are consistent with A and F stars, but without knowing where they are on the H-R diagram, nothing meaningful can be extracted from their mere visual similarity. Lines like this commonly originate along magnetic field lines between adjacent regions of intense star formation, especially is massive stars are involved. The field lines and compressed gas streamers are long diffused by the time stars reach the age of these. Hence, it looks like we have a lovely case of fortuitous chance.

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[deepskydarrell]

Thankyou. Excellent. And I just thought it was a line thingy.

DSD.