COSMOS / CONSTELLATIONS / LAC
Lacerta (Lizard)
The Lizard. IAU abbreviation Lac. One of the seven constellations introduced by Johannes Hevelius and published in his star atlas of 1690.
STAR CHART
KEY FACTS
- IAU abbreviation
- Lac
- Latin name / genitive
- Lacerta / Lacertae
- Position
- Right ascension ≈ 22 h 34 m; declination +36° to +57°
- Visibility from Türkiye
- Visible in full from anywhere in Türkiye. When it crosses the meridian its centre stands about 84° above the horizon from Ankara.
- Best time to observe
- Best placed at 21:00 Türkiye time around 27 October.
- Number of stars
- 69 stars brighter than magnitude 6.5 in the catalogue; 13 brighter than 5 and 1 brighter than 4.
INTERACTIVE LAB
Where is Lacerta tonight?
The lab opens for Ankara on today’s date. Drag the time slider through the night; the “Best night” button jumps to the date when the constellation is highest at 21:00 (around 27 October). Change the city to compare the view from elsewhere in Türkiye and around the world.
MYTH, HISTORY AND OBSERVING
A small zigzag constellation that Hevelius placed between Cygnus and Andromeda in 1687. BL Lacertae, once thought to be a variable star, turned out to be the brilliant nucleus of a distant galaxy and gave its name to the class of blazars.
BRIGHTEST STARS
| Star | Magnitude | Distance (light-years) | Spectral type |
|---|---|---|---|
| α Lac | 3.76 | 103 | A1V |
| 1 Lac | 4.14 | 621 | K3III |
| 5 Lac | 4.34 | 1,647 | M0II |
| β Lac | 4.42 | 170 | G9III |
| HIP 109754 | 4.50 | 482 | K3III |
| 11 Lac | 4.50 | 333 | K3III |
| 6 Lac | 4.52 | 1,717 | B2IV |
| 2 Lac | 4.55 | 555 | B6V |
Magnitude: apparent brightness; the smaller the number, the brighter the star. Distances derive from parallax measurements and are uncertain for distant stars. Source: HYG v4.1 star catalogue (CC BY-SA 4.0).
SOURCES
Position, visibility and best observing time were computed approximately for this page from the catalogue stars (Ankara, 39.9° N). The 88 constellations were adopted by the IAU in 1922; their boundaries were drawn by Eugène Delporte in 1930.