What is your favorite constellation?

[Boogie]

I like Scorpio, it's huge and it really looks like what it's supposed to be. Plus, Antares is it's alpha star which means "anti-Mars" because people would mistaken it for Mars. All around, Scorpio is just a cool constellation.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. This one:

The Lockheed Constellation -- coolest airplane ever.

[Boogie]

2. That was the first passenger plane wasn't it?

Or was it?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Not by a long shot.

The first was the Ford Trimotor in 1928. The Constellation came out in (I think) 1948.

[Boogie]

6. I'm sorry, I should have said, "modern passenger plane"

I mean it really revolutionized air travel and made it possible for mass air transportation.

[Cobalt-60]

18. The ford is there at the dawn of aviation

Just a few years later we get the Boeing 247 and immortal DC-2/DC-3 lines.
Both the later model 247s and all the DC2/3 series are modern in appearance and many features.
Just before World War II the Boeing 307 made its appearance. It was the first pressurized craft capable of flying over the weather with reasonable comfort.
The Constellation started as futuristic Airliner in the late thirties. It was pressed into service as the C-69.
Lockheed Constellation

Boeing Stratoliner

Douglas DC-3 (C-47)

Boeing 247

[Oeditpus Rex]

22. What you've got there

is a Super Constellation (L-1049). The Constellation (L-049/649/749) had a shorter fuselage and, I believe, no provision for tip tanks.

And did you know the Boeing 307 was a 299 — that is, a B-17 — converted for commercial use?

[Cobalt-60]

24. You are Correct Sir!

Indeed it is the later model in this pic, more a C-121 (?) than the older type C_69.
The tip tanks were fitted to the follow on plane, the Excalibur, I believe, and military models as well.
It could be a backfit. I'll have to read the associated text, I just thought it was a cool pic.
It's true, the Stratoliner is riding on the B-17 wing, motors, and tail group.

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. My Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation

has a photo of an EC-121M (early AWACS) with tip tanks. I suspect it was a military application for extended air time, as even the prototype Connie was built to a TWA requirement for a 3,500-mile range. The final version, the L-1649, could go 5,400 miles at max payload.

Wow, check this info on the one in your photo, the "Star of America":

This particular airplane (N6937C) was one of the last Super Constellations off Lockheed’s assembly lines in 1959 and was built as a cargo aircraft. It was sold numerous times before its retirement in 1977, after being used as a bug sprayer in Canada. The aircraft was then parked at a salvage yard in Mesa, Arizona.

In 1986, as group of Kansas City-area aviation enthusiasts discovered the airplane, put it back in airworthy condition and flew it back to Kansas City. There, the new “Save A Connie” organization began a nearly two-year restoration project. The work crews were led by dozens of retired Trans World Airlines (TWA) employees who knew the intimate workings of the classic triple-tail design.

The aircraft began its public appearances in the late 1980s, where its flowing lines and graceful look made it an instant hit on the air-show circuit. A decade later, TWA employees from the airline’s Kansas City overhaul base donated a new paint job, replacing the “Save A Connie” scheme with TWA’s vintage colors of the 1950s. That paint scheme is especially noteworthy for the Constellation’s appearance this year, as TWA ceased its operations in December 2001 after being purchased by American Airlines.

http://www.eaa.org/communications/eaanews/pr/020320_superconnie.html

Lotta good stuff here on the Connie: http://aerostories.free.fr/connie/page12.html

Me, I think it's the most beautiful airliner in history.

[trof]

31. I have 9 'official' hours of C-47 co-pilot time

logged in my AF Form whatever it was.
Nice pic of the Connie at TWA's futuristic JFK terminal.
I was based there for about 20 years.

[Cobalt-60]

17. Nice

It's always been one my faves as well
Whether its her curves or tail feathers its hard to say...
A beautiful MATS Constellation restoration is in the air
Its home page is http://www.connie.com/

[HuffleClaw]

20. sure, for a death trap

[Guava Jelly]

3. Orion because i see it so often

[zingaro]

7. Orion is mine as well because

it contains Betelgeuse and Rigel, the oldest and youngest stars in our galaxy.

I learned in a lecture (cosmology) that they were red and blue, respectively, and when I looked up and *saw* the colors, I was blown away and more than a little disappointed that I'd never noticed that on my own. It was also the first constellation I learned to recognize as a kid as well as the first one I taught my own kids about.

And I'm quite sure that this is so much more information than anybody could even care to read :rofl:

[dropkickpa]

10. Me too

First I was able to find on my own.

[Cannikin]

15. Same here...and for the beautiful nebula.

[femmocrat]

5. The Big Dipper.

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[av8rdave]

8. I'm an Orion fan (also a great Tull song)

[YDogg]

9. Orion for me, too.

[Lautremont]

11. I'm named after a constellation,

so I guess that one. But I like Scorpio a lot too (being one, after all).

[Squeegee]

12. Draconus

I just like the name

[Squeegee]

13. However, I also like Ophiuchus

That's the sign I was born under.

[TheBaldyMan]

23. Ophiucius isn't a sign of the Zodiac, it's astronomer's propaganda.

The constellation's boudaries were redrawn to extend down into the zodiacal plane - et voilà - one 'new zodiacal constellation.

Check out some older star charts, Ophiucius doesn't extend as far south as the modern star charts.

Something to do with Astronomers trying to de-bunk Astrology.

[hfojvt]

14. well it used to be

Cassiopeia, but I guess fu$%ing Bush has ruined that forever :argh:
There's one I call "the hammer" and I do not know what it really is, but it was one I was seeing nightly as I walked my dogs in Iowa.

[Deja Q]

16. This one

[Cobalt-60]

19. It's a toss up , Orion and Ursa Major

Orion is great entertainment.
The Bear points the way to the North Star.

[HuffleClaw]

21. the pleiades

[Hosnon]

25. My favorite too!

I love it because you can't see the "haze" by looking directly at it. You have to let the receptors on the far side of your eye take over...

Great constellation.

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. Wilford Brimley's ass

:evilgrin:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. Orion is my son's middle name...

So that's my favorite. :D

[emad]

29. The summer triangle's Aquila, sign of the eagle, with the

magnificent Altair right in the middle:


"Aquila, the Eagle
soars along the Milky Way, with its bright star Altair marking one vertex of the familiar Summer Triangle. Early evenings in September are good times to recognize and know this fine constellation.

Of the several birds represented by the mythology of the heavens, only Aquila flew there with his own powerful wings. Cygnus, the Swan, Corvus, the Raven, and Lyra (in the past known as a Vulture) were all placed in the sky by the gods of Mount Olympus. The early seventeenth century German astronomer Johann Bayer, the first to publish an organized chart of the constellations—the Uranometria—added the southern constellations Grus, the Crane, Tucana, the Toucan, Avis Indicia (now Apus, the Bird of Paradise), Pavo, the Peacock, and the miraculous Phoenix. Columba, the Dove, was known to Bayer and others, but was not established until 1679 by Augustin Royer.

Altair is the brightest star in the constellation; and, flanked by Alshain (Beta-Aquilae) and Tarazed (Gamma-Aquilae), the trio are known as the Family of Aquila and form a pretty, recognizable straight-line group of stars. Altair is a remarkable star. It is one of the closest bright stars and has a large proper motion. It is also known as having an exceptional rotational rate, measured by the broadening of its spectral lines. This effect comes about by the Doppler shifting of the approaching and receding limbs of the star. It turns about three times in one of our days, compared to one turn in 25 days for our Sun.

Aquila is a worthy site for binocular viewing. In addition to a number of double stars to be found, there is an open cluster of stars, NGC 6709, that can be seen against a rich background of other, Milky Way stars. The star Eta Aquilae is a supergiant Cepheid variable which brightens from magnitude 4.4 to 3.5 and dims again with a period of just over a week’s time."

http://www.eastbayastro.org/articles/lore/aquila.htm


"Take Me Home Daddy!"

[pokerfan]

30. The Great Square of Pegasus

only because it leads me to the constellation Andromeda which leads me to the Andromeda galaxy, the farthest object you can see with your naked eye. The largest galaxy in our local group it lies 2.5 Mly away. The photons that tickle your photoreceptors began their journey before we were a species.

[Ms_Dem_Meanor]

32. I have a few:

1. Libra (my sign and avatar)
2. Orion
3. Cassiopeia