dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/03/84)
Enif is the star in the nose of the sky's flying horse. More on what Enif can DO -- right after this. October 3 Pegasus and the Pendulum Star The constellation Pegasus -- the flying horse -- is now directly overhead around 10 p.m. If you want to see Pegasus, simply walk outside your house, look straight up -- and don't expect to see a horse shape. The entire horse -- a magnificent figure covering a great portion of the dome of the sky -- can only be seen in a very dark sky. From most towns and cities, you can't see the horse's legs or head. But you can pick out the body of the horse. The stars that compose the horse's body are bright and form a large square. So if you want to see Pegasus, go outside around 10 p.m. and look straight up for four bright stars marking the corners of a square. These stars are known as the Great Square of Pegasus. If you want to test your vision -- and the darkness of your sky -- see how stars you can count within the Great Square. The brightest star in Pegasus isn't in the square. Instead, it's located at the tip of the horse's nose. Its name is Enif, and it's otherwise known as the Pendulum Star. With a telescope, you'd see that Enif travels through space in the company of a companion star. When they are high overhead, as now, these two stars can be made to swing with respect to each other, so that they resemble a pendulum swinging. To see this, you need to move the telescope slightly from side to side. This effect may seem tame -- but it makes Enif special, one of the few stars that can be made to "do something" in a telescope. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin