Australian Sky & Telescope - May 2018

http://www.skyandtelescope.com.au 51

by Sue French TARGETS

ROGELIO BERNAL ANDREO

The star-clad maiden

VisitVirgotofindtheseexemplarygalaxiesofautumn.

WouldyouthestarofBacchusfind,

on noble Virgo’s wing,

AlengthyrayfromHydra’sheart

unto Arcturus bring;

Two-thirdsalongthatfanciedline,

direct th’ inquiring eye,

Andtherethejewelwillbeseen,

southofCorCaroli.

— William Henry Smyth,

The Bedford Catalogue, 1844

T

his charming quatrain describes

how to find the star Vindemiatrix

in Virgo using the Alpha stars of

Hydra, Boötes and Canes Venatici as

guides. The tie between Virgo and the

Roman god Bacchus (Greek Dionysus)

has many versions, but a woeful tale

is told by Julius D. W. Staal in his

wonderful book The New Patterns in the

Sky. Bacchus taught Icarius, a mortal

man, the art of winemaking. Icarius

shared his newly created libation

with friends and local shepherds,

who mistook their intoxication for

attempted poisoning and slew poor

Icarius. His body, tossed aside in a

ditch, was found by his faithful dogs

and his daughter Erigone. In their

grief, they followed him into death.

Icarius was then placed in our sky as

Boötes, his dogs as Canes Venatici, and

Erigone as Virgo.

The area of the sky we’ll be visiting

lies west of Vindemiatrix and within the

Virgo Cluster, which hosts about 1,500

galaxies. The cluster’s main body is

centred on the hefty galaxy Messier 87,

sitting 54 million light-years away from

us. Including dark matter, M87 weighs

in at roughly 10 trillion solar masses or

around 10 Milky Way galaxies.

Through my 130-mm refractor

at 23×, M87 is an obvious glow just

south of a deep-yellow, 8.6-magnitude

star. It appears slightly oval at 63×

and brightens considerably toward

the centre. Examined at 117×, M87’s

brightness contours become rounder

as you approach the centre, and they

enfold a small, brilliant core. The halo

has indefinite boundaries, but I’d put

the size at about 4½′. Nearby NGC 4478

also is visible, looking fainter and more

obviously oval than M87. Its plump

profile tilts northwest and is roughly

S This deep image of the Virgo cluster

represents more than 36 hours of exposure.

One easy route to the galaxy cluster hops from

Epsilon (ε) Virginis (Vindemiatrix) to Rho and 27

Virginis. From those stars, it takes just a nudge

to bring the galaxies into the ield of view.

M60

M59

M58

NGC 4568

NGC 4564

M87

NGC 4478 NGC 4476

M89

M90

N

27 Vir
ρ

NGC 4567

NGC 4550

NGC 4551