Pisces

by Chris Lancaster

Although this constellation is one of the prominent ones of the zodiac, it can be easily over looked because it has no star brighter than 3rd magnitude. It represents two fish, one beneath Andromeda, and the other below Pegasus. They are joined to each other at Alpha Piscium and thus form a skinny "V" pattern pointing toward the southeast. Currently, the easiest way to find Pisces is to look to Jupiter high in the south during the mid-evening hours. The planet starts off just east of Pisces at the beginning of the month, moves into the "V" on November 9th when it will be 8.5 arc minutes from Omicron Piscium, and continues its retrograde motion deeper into the constellation throughout the month.

The ancient Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Greeks, and Turks all saw fish in this group of stars. One story depicts Aphrodite and her son Eros who jumped into a river to escape a giant named Typhon. They turned into fish and swam away. So that they wouldn't be separated, they tied their tails together with a cord. In fact, the Alpha star mentioned above is named Alrisha, Arabic for "knot" or "cord."

South of the Great Square of Pegasus is the circlet of stars marking the head of the western fish. Seven stars make up the circlet, and the one which stands out from the others is the variable star TX Piscium (also designated 19 Piscium), the eastern most star of this group. It varies slightly from magnitude 5.5 to 6.0, but one look at it will show that what makes it special is its color. Although it doesn't have a catchy nickname like the Crimson Star in Lepus or the Garnet Star in Cepheus, its red color is no less striking. Try using the different color sensitivities of your retina by looking directly at it, and then to the side. You should notice that its color is rich when in the center of your vision, and then fades to a lighter pink or almost white as you move your gaze away from it.

Pisces is home to a decent number of galaxies, but the only one big and bright enough for Charles Messier to add to his catalog is M74. Its magnitude 11.0 glow and 9'X9' size can be spotted 5' in RA east and 0.5 degrees north of Eta Piscium (or RA 1h 36.7m Dec +15d 47'). This face-on spiral should appear as a faint, circular glow lacking much detail. In fact, early Astronomers found it to be so elusive that after its discovery in 1780, there were differing opinions as to what type of object it really was. John Herschel decided that it was a globular cluster in his General Catalogue in 1864 when others thought it was a galaxy, and it wasn't until 1893 that the first detailed photograph showed its spiral arms.

Another spiral galaxy within range of amateur instruments is NGC488. It is almost as bright as M74 at magnitude 11.2 but much smaller, measuring roughly 3'X3.5'. This is a compact spiral with tight arms which more evenly distribute its light across its face. Here are a few ways to find NGC488: look about 2/3 the distance between Alpha and Epsilon and one degree south of this line; or starting at Epsilon, drop down 2.5 degrees and move east 19' in RA; or dial up coordinates RA 1h 21.8' Dec +5d 15.4'. Once you find it, go to a high power eyepiece to bring it into better view.

An easy double star to view in any telescope is Zeta Piscium. This pair of magnitude 4.2 and 5.3 stars sit less than 1/4 degree south of the ecliptic and are separated by 23.5". They are of neighboring spectral types (A5 and F6) so the color contrast between the two may be too slight to detect.I see only shades of gray-white, but since individuals' eyes are different, some may see a subtle yellow or blue tint between them.