Facts About the Ram
Aries is a midsize constellation that's not particularly luminous, with only a few stars that are easily visible to the naked eye.
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| Aries Constellation Credit: ShutterStock |
Aries lies along the zodiac, which is the band of constellations in the sky through which the sun, moon and stars appear to travel from the perspective of Earth. At the vernal equinox (or the beginning of spring, when the sun crosses the celestial equator to the Northern Hemisphere) the sun's observed position used to be in the same spot as Aries. But since Earth's rotational orientation gradually changes over time, the vernal equinox has shifted, and the constellation now falls within Pisces, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. As Earth continues wobbling through its 26,000-year precessional cycle, 13 zodiac constellations will take turns hosting the vernal equinox.
Location and Notable Stars
Aries is located in the Northern Hemisphere between Pisces to its west and Taurus to its east. The best view of Aries occurs on December nights around 9 p.m. local time.
- Right Ascension: 3 hours
- Declination: 20 degrees
- Visible between latitudes 90 degrees and -60 degrees
Alpha, Beta and Gamma Arietis are the three brightest stars within the Aries constellation. The brightest is the red giant star Alpha Arietis, also known as Hamal. Hamal has a magnitude of 2.0, which is about the same apparent brightness in the sky as Mars when the planet is at its farthest point from Earth.
The star Beta Arietis, also known as Sheratan, is a blue-white star. Gamma Arietis, also called Mesarthim, is a binary star with two white-hued components.
The Aries constellation also has few significant nebulae or galaxies. The most significant among them is probably NGC 772, a galaxy about 100 million light-years from the Milky Way (our home galaxy) that sports a protruding spiral arm. Aries also contains a planetary system called 30 Ari, which consists of a gas giant with four stars in its sky. The planetary system is about 136 light-years from the sun.
Mythology
Aries was a golden ram according to Greek mythology. This tough animal saved Phrixus from a horrible death. Phrixus was the son of Athamas, the king of Boeotia. His mother was Nephele, the goddess of the clouds. He had a twin brother called Helle. Athamas got remarried and his wife Ino, the stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, hated the twins. She hated them so much that she concocted a devious plan to get rid of them. Her evil plan was to create starvation in Boeotia by ruining all the crops so there wouldn’t be any food available. When the farmers tried to find help from an oracle, Ino bribed them by saying they should tell the oracle to sacrifice Phrixus and Helle and all would be well again in Boeotia. At this point, Nephele, the true mother of the innocent twins, was informed and she stepped in. She sent a golden ram that could fly to rescue them. The beast took them on its back and flew away with them. At a certain point, Helle fell off in a sea which was renamed Hellespont in his honor. The ram brought Phrixus to Colchis where king Aeëtes took him in and even gave him his daughter Chalciope’s hand. As a thank you, Phixus offered the ram to Zeus and gave the golden hair to Aeëtes. The happy couple got 4 sons, the oldest being Argos, who later started the famous Argonauts, but more about them in a later article.
Reference: space.com
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