Raven is a constellation in the southern hemisphere of the sky. It occupies a fairly small area and is significantly inferior in brightness to some of its neighbors. The stars that make up this celestial pattern nevertheless attract the attention of specialists. In addition, it hosts a pair of interacting galaxies, telling scientists a lot about the evolution of such structures.
Sky position
The constellation Raven is easiest to find by first determining the location of its bright neighbor, Virgo. To the southwest of it is an irregularly shaped quadrangle formed by the most prominent luminaries of this celestial pattern.
The best time to observe the constellation is from March to April. Since the Raven belongs to the southern celestial drawings, it rises low above the horizon in our country. The constellation is visible in the middle and southern part of Russia.
Legendary
Raven is a constellation found on the pages of Ptolemy's Almagest, one of the first astronomical catalogs (2nd century AD). All celestial drawings included in it are called the most ancient.
Crows are associated with many legends in the mythology of various peoples. This bird has always been associated with magic and witchcraft. The appearance of a constellation in the skythe ancient Greeks associated with the sun god Apollo. According to legend, the Raven was his assistant, a beautiful bird with white plumage that could speak.
According to one of the versions, he was supposed to bring news to God about how his wife Koronida and son Asclepius live while Apollo is busy with business on Olympus. One day, Raven spoke about the carelessness of a girl who prefers to communicate with her friends, rather than follow the child. An angry Apollo returned home and pierced his wife with an arrow. However, it turned out that the bird misinterpreted what she saw, and Koronida was a wonderful mother. The saddened Apollo cursed the messenger: he and all his descendants were forever covered with black feathers and lost the power of speech. As a reminder to future generations of the danger of rash acts and lies, God placed the constellation Raven in the sky.
Lights of the heavenly pattern
In Vorona, under good conditions, up to thirty stars can be distinguished without the help of a telescope or binoculars. The brightness of only four of them exceeds magnitude 4. These are Hyenas, Algorab, Kraz and Minkar. They form a quadrangle characteristic of the celestial pattern.
The brightest star in the Crow is Gamma, Hyenas. It has a brightness of 2.6m, located at a distance of 124 light years from us. Hyenas is a visual double star.
Beta Crow, Kraz, according to scientists, is a yellow giant. However, in this state, he will not stay long. In the center of Kraz, the formation of a helium core is being completed: soon, according to the scale of space time, it will turn into a red giant and becomefive times brighter. After a relatively short life in this form, Kraz will become a white dwarf.
Main attraction
However, Raven is a constellation famous not primarily for its luminaries. On its territory are two galaxies - NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - experiencing a collision. For their characteristic shape they are called "Antennas". This is the most famous object that adorns the constellation Raven. His photo was repeatedly transmitted to Earth by the Hubble telescope.
Initially, both galaxies were spiral formations similar to the Milky Way. They were located very close to each other, which predetermined their future. For a long time they approached and several million years ago their interaction began. The first result of the collision was the ejection of a huge number of stars out of the galaxies. The expelled luminaries formed "tails" characteristic of the object. Almost simultaneously, new suns were born due to the collision of interstellar gas. Their glow colored some of the interacting galaxies red. Numerous newly formed stars went supernova during the collision.
Not a terrible disaster
It should be noted that the described events for a hypothetical observer inside one of the galaxies could proceed quite harmlessly. This is due to the sparse structure of such objects. In the process of interaction, due to the huge distances between the luminaries, there is no collisionstars. However, this event cannot be called safe either, since it provoked an increase in the number of powerful explosions, and in the future, it is likely that the nuclei of galaxies will merge and form a massive black hole.
Thanks to such a famous object as "Antennas", the question "is there a constellation Raven" does not even arise. The study of interacting galaxies is of great benefit to astrophysicists in understanding the evolution of such systems. And so Raven, the constellation is small and not the brightest, often flashes in messages related to outer space. However, for lovers of astronomy, this celestial drawing is attractive in itself.
