Lacerta is one of the International Astronomical Union's 88 contemporary constellations. Its name comes from the Latin word lizard. The astronomer Johannes Hevelius classified it as a small, dim constellation in 1687. It is frequently called 'Little Cassiopeia' because its brightest stars make a "W" shape like Cassiopeia's. On the northern celestial sphere, it lies between Cygnus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda. The Milky Way is visible in the northern portion.
Lacerta is typical of Milky Way constellations in that it lacks brilliant galaxies and globular clusters in favour of open clusters like NGC 7243, the dim planetary nebula IC 5217, and numerous double stars. The prototypical blazar BL Lacertae is also found there. There are no Messier objects in Lacerta, but several smaller galaxies throughout the constellation and the surrounding areas which require large aperture telescopes to obtain any detail. |
History
Lacerta was not recognised as a constellation by ancient Western astronomers because it was centred on an area of the sky lacking apparent brilliant stars. In 1687, Johannes Hevelius named the constellation "Stellio" (the stellion), after a lizard seen near the Mediterranean coast with star-like dorsal markings. (Allen 1899) Augustin Royer, who named Sceptrum et Manus Iustitiae (the Hand of Justice and Sceptre) to honour Louis XIV in 1670, and Johann Elert Bode, who named Frederici Honores (Frederick's Glory) to honour Frederick the Great in 1787, were two other Europeans who attempted to name this new constellation. Sceptrum and Frederici Honores are no longer in use, but Lacerta is still in use. (Ridpath & Tirion 2001) The stars of Lacerta, along with those in the eastern portion of Cygnus, were coincidentally merged by early Chinese astronomers into their "Flying serpent," despite not being featured in ancient star charts of Europe and the Near East. (Allen 1899) |
Deep-sky Objects
NGC 7243 – Open Cluster
IC 5217 – Planetary Nebula
NGC 7296 – Open Cluster
NGC 7243 – Open Cluster
VdB 151 – Reflection Nebula
NGC 7250 – Irregular Galaxy
NGC 7248 – Spiral Galaxy
NGC 7242 – Elliptical Galaxy
NGC 7274 – Galaxy
NGC 7265 – Galaxy
NGC 7264 – Galaxy
Main stars - 5
Bayer stars - 17
Stars with planets - 12
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 0
Stars within 32 Ly - 1
Bordering
constellations
NGC 7243 – Open Cluster
IC 5217 – Planetary Nebula
NGC 7296 – Open Cluster
NGC 7243 – Open Cluster
VdB 151 – Reflection Nebula
NGC 7250 – Irregular Galaxy
NGC 7248 – Spiral Galaxy
NGC 7242 – Elliptical Galaxy
NGC 7274 – Galaxy
NGC 7265 – Galaxy
NGC 7264 – Galaxy
Main stars - 5
Bayer stars - 17
Stars with planets - 12
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 0
Stars within 32 Ly - 1
Bordering
constellations
- Andromeda
- Cassiopeia
- Cepheus
- Cygnus
- Pegasus