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Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Scutum
Origin:
Scutum was introduced
by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius
to his star chart in 1690 and adopted by the International
Astronomical Union in 1930. The name given by Hevelius was Scutum
Sobieskii (Sobieski's Shield) in honor of King John Sobieski III who
defeated the Turks in 1683 which ended the siege on Vienna, liberated
Hungary, and safeguarded all of Europe from further Turkish invasions.
Information:
Scutum is a small nearly insignificant constellation possessing no star
brighter than magnitude 3.9. Scutum transits at 9 pm on about August
28. Perhaps the easiest way to find it is by first locating an
almost complete oval of stars near the head of Aquila the Eagle and then
exploring just to the southwest for a group of stars forming a trefoil
with the most westerly star of the oval at one apex of the trefoil.
Scutum is bounded at the top (for northern observers) by Serpens Cauda and the south by Sagittarius. It is worth finding Scutum
if only for open cluster M11 (NGC 6705), arguably the prettiest open
cluster visible and surely among the brightest. |
