As you take a look at this picture there are two constellation patterns that stand out here
in particular. The first is Orion the Hunter. Its three belt stars can be used to find the brightest
star in the night sky called Sirius, and this is a part of a larger constellation called Canis Major,
which is one of Orion's hunting dogs. However, there is a smaller fainter constellation in this picture
known as Lepus the Hare, and in this video
we're going to explore how to find Lepus, some of the mythology is connected with this star pattern,
and the celestial objects that fall within its boundaries. Welcome to Learn the Sky, my name is
Janine and I'll be your guide as we explore the night sky together one constellation at a time.
Let's get a broad overview of Lepus the Hare.
It is classified as an ancient constellation, and is often connected to Orion in Greek mythology.
This makes sense since it is situated right next to Orion in the sky. Lepus, right here, is
identified as one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations that he identified in the second century.
The name Lepus is Latin for 'hare,' and it's often represented as the hair that Orion was hunting.
So how can you find it in the sky? It's best seen in the northern hemisphere during the winter
months, and it is very easy to find due to its proximity to Orion and Canis Major. The way I like
to find it is finding the belt stars and using Orion's sword to aim me right down towards Lepus.
It is outside of the Winter Hexagon asterism and its stars are of third and fourth magnitude,
but even so I still find this really easy because it's just situated right underneath Orion.
Now we'll examine one of the mythological stories about Lepus. It is often the stories of the stars
that we can connect to in some way which help us remember the constellation. There is only one tale
that I was able to find about Lepus and the island of Leryos. Lepus is not truly represented by any
particular figure in greek mythology from what I could find. One story I did discover surrounded the
island, the Greek island of Leros, and the legend states that at one time there were no hares living
on this island, but a man brought a pregnant female and soon after the island was swarming with them.
They consumed all of the crops and resources on the islands and the population began to starve.
The inhabitants worked together to eliminate the hares and recover what was lost.
The image of the hare was placed in the stars as a reminder to others that too much of a good thing
can be disastrous. However, Lepus is often connected with Orion as well, and in many artworks you see
that Lepus is appears to be chased by the great hunter, and as we see these constellations are
sitting right next to each other in the sky. Now it is possible that there are more stories
about Lepus out there but the mythologies of the stars really vary according to time,
place, and culture. So for me there's really no one true mythology for any constellation,
just a variety of them. Now we'll take a look at the pattern that Lepus makes across the sky.
Here we have the official star pattern from the International Astronomical Union, and the pattern
of Lepus is fairly simple. One could easily imagine the outline of a rabbit. Here would be the body,
here would be the head, and here are the two little ears, and it's located right next to Orion. This
star map actually makes me laugh because of these gigantic circles which tell us that Sirius is
right here and it's a very very very bright star, so to me it's slightly distracting in this map, but
if you can start to memorize this pattern of Lepus, then you can start to visualize it in
the sky as you look for it, and since Orion is one of the most recognizable star patterns in the sky,
if you can find that you can definitely find Lepus. So let's get some practice with how to find it.
Here we have a big picture or a wide field view of the winter night sky in the northern hemisphere.
So for me I immediately look for Orion, right there, and you can see its belt stars point down to
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. So I've taught you that Lepus is located right underneath
Orion. So are you able to find where Lepus is? Well I didn't point it out in this picture because I
still want you to practice finding it, and if we were to point it out that is where Lepus is,
right there, and if we were to draw it out which I didn't here is the body, here is the head, and then
here are the two little ears that pop off the rabbit. Let's continue to get some more practice
trying to find Lepus in the sky. So as you look at this photo are you able to find Orion? From there
try to find Sirius, and then right next to it you should be able to find Lepus. So let's practice.
Here's Orion, use the belt stars to find Sirius which is part of Canis Major, and then right here
is where Lepus would be, and if we were to point it out that's what the cute little star pattern
looks like. We'll keep getting some more practice here. This is the original photograph I showed you,
so find Orion, find Canis Major, and then right underneath Orion you want to be able to look
for the body of the hare. So here is the body, here is the head, and then here are the ears coming off,
and if we were to point everything out that's what Lepus would look like. So it's key to really just
know where Orion is, and if you use the belt stars, find that middle star, aim down towards the Orion
nebula, and it should point you right towards where Lepus is. Let's take a look at a few more pictures
just to get some more practice. Here we have Orion again, and we're actually seeing a good variety of
constellations. Here we've got Orion, Canis Major Canis Minor, Gemini, Auriga, and Taurus right here,
but we're looking for little Lepus. So here is where it's located, again it's not as bright as
all the other constellations in the sky here but it's definitely visible if you have a clear night
and dark skies. I've got one more photo here for you to practice, you may not be able to see the
entire thing and I left out the markings here just so you can learn how to practice without the
markings, but here we have Orion, and for me I find the belt stars, they find that middle star aim it
down towards the right nebula and this right here is where Lepus is. I can see the head right here,
the two ears coming off, and then this is the body right there. This bright star there is Sirius part
of Canis Major. In the final portion of this video we'll take a look at some of the celestial objects
that are seated in the boundaries of Lepus. So here we have a different star map that focuses on the
celestial objects that are in the boundaries of Lepus. Notice you can find the bright stars of
Orion up here, but what we're looking at here is we have some star clusters, a galaxy, and a planetary
nebula. So we have a little something for everybody. Here we have NGC 1964, which is a spiral galaxy
right there. We have the Spirograph nebula, which is definitely one of my favorites I always admired
this one growing up, and then we have a star cluster known as Messier 79. So let's dive a
little deeper into these objects. Messier 79 is a globular star cluster. It's estimated to be 42,000
light years away. There are two types of star clusters out there globular star clusters and open
star clusters. I have a video on this so if you want to learn more be sure to go see that video.
The other object you can see is NGC 1964, and this is a spiral galaxy, right there, that's estimated
to be 65 million light years away, and again if we're trying to look for it it is located next to
the two brightest stars in Lepus. So you definitely need some magnification in order to see a galaxy
like this. This is definitely taken with a NASA size telescope, as I like to call it. So
if you have some sort of magnification this is an object that you can hopefully try to see,
and then finally we have the Spirograph nebula, and is its formal name is IC 418, and this is a
planetary nebula estimated to be 3,600 light-years away from Earth. Now notice this bright star in the
center. This is the dying star it is now known as a white dwarf, which is the leftover hot core of
a star, and the layers of the star are just being blown off as the star comes to the end of its life.
So that concludes our video about Lepus the Hare. I hope this was helpful for you,
this is a fairly new constellation to me. I only recently discovered it in the past few
years and realize wow this is so easy to find if you know where to look, and it's easy because it's
right next to Orion, which is one of the most recognizable star patterns in the night sky.
So to review Lepus the Hare is best seen in the winter months and it's classified
as a seasonal constellation. The best way to find it is to find Orion. It's right next to
what we would call the legs of Orion, and there are a few celestial objects that you can find
all of which you would need magnification to see. So I wish you luck finding Lepus the Hare.
It is a small, cute, and easy to find constellation, and if you know of any other mythologies about
this constellation that I didn't mention in this video feel free to share in the comments below.
I also want to send a great big thank you to David Cocklin for letting him use my or letting
him allow me to use his photographs in this video, which is what we're seeing right here.
I wish you luck as you find Lepus the Hare. Remember it takes time, patience, and practice.
So keep going outside, bring a friend with you, and as always keep looking up!