Triangulum, the Triangle Home



Triangulum has no mythological associations.

Despite the size of my picture, Triangulum is a small, rather insignificant constellation, sandwiched in between Andromeda, Perseus, Aries, and Pisces.  It is actually significantly larger than the triangle of stars (α, β, and γ) which presumably give the constellation its name.

Only the three stars forming the triangle are brighter than magnitude 5 with β the brightest at magnitude 3.0.  It contains one Mira variable, R Trianguli, which is not far from α-Arietis.  The most significant object in the constellation is M33, a spiral galaxy similar to but smaller and more open than M31.  It can be glimpsed in binoculars, but a low surface brightness makes it a difficult object in a telescope.  I have failed to resolve it in my picture, so I am a little uncertain of its exact location.

The picture is a part of a picture of the area taken with my Canon 1000D DSLR camera with an 18-mm, f/5 lens, and 30-second exposure at ISO 1600.  The picture was sharpened with Focus Magic, enhanced by increasing the gamma and the contrast and the light pollution removed by a colour adjustment followed by a further increase of gamma and contrast before being saved in monochrome.




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