Aries (constellation)
- Arietids
- Delta Arietids
- Triangle
- Pisces
- Whale
- Taurus
- Perseus
Aries (Latin Aries, Symbol, Unicode ♈ ) is a constellation of the ecliptic.
Description
The Aries is a small but distinctive constellation. It is located south of the inconspicuous constellation Triangle ( Triangulum ) and west of the Fish ( Pisces). The brighter stars α ( Hamal ), β ( Sheratan ) and γ ( Mesarthim ) form a curved line.
History
In ancient times, more than 2,000 years ago, was the vernal equinox, the point of intersection of the celestial equator with the ecliptic in Aries. Due to the precession of Earth's axis, the vernal equinox moves westward slowly. For Christ's birth, he was with Mar. 23, on the border between Aries and Pisces to hike later in the constellation Pisces. The zodiac sign Aries goes back to this constellation. At the present time the sun goes through every year from 19 April to 14 May, the constellation of Aries.
The no longer in use constellation Northern fly is now part of the ram.
Mythology
The earliest mention is the constellation in the 3rd millennium BC in Mesopotamia and was there MUL.LÚHUN.GÁ, farmer / farm called customer.
The constellation Aries goes back to the legend of the Golden Fleece of Greek mythology. The mythical king Athamas appointed his eldest son, Phrixus, his successor. Meanwhile, however, stepmother Ino wanted to see her own son on the throne. In order to vacate Phrixos out of the way she resorted to a ruse. So she let the seed that was destined for the next year spoil. As the next year began a crop failure, they had Athamas bring an alleged oracle. Accordingly a famine could be averted only by sacrifice Phrixus the gods. As the unhappy Athamas wanted to offer the sacrifice, a ram appeared with a golden coat. Phrixus and his sister Helle jumped on the back of the animal, which flew with both of them. However, Helle lost her footing and fell into the sea.
Phrixus reached Colchis on the Black Sea and sacrificed the ram to his request. The ram was moved thanksgiving to the sky. The fur of the animal, the golden fleece, was kept in a sacred grove.
The Argonauts then told the following theft of the web by Jason.
Celestial objects
Stars
α Arietis is characterized by an apparent brightness of 2.01m the brightest star in Aries. It is 66 light years away and has 15 times the diameter and the 90 - times brighter than our sun. The name is of Arabic origin Hamal, meaning " ram ". Sometimes he is also called Elnath, Arabic "the one with the horn butt end ".
The second brightest star, β Arietis is 60 light years away. It is a close binary star system that can not be observed with optical telescopes. Only spectroscopic studies showed that move two stars at a distance of 1.2 AU on extremely eccentric orbits around a common center of gravity. The Arabic name Sheratan, " the two characters ," refers to the β and γ Arietis in ancient times marked the point of vernal equinox.
53 Arietis is a 750 light-years distant, bluish - white star. With an apparent magnitude of 6.13 m, it is in a dark night just visible with the naked eye. Measurements of the proper motion showed that the star with an extremely high speed of 100 km / s moves. He is as AE Aurigae in Fuhrmann and μ in the pigeon Columba the class of runaway stars ( outliers) on. Maybe these stars were once members of a multiple star system and were thrown out as a result of a supernova explosion or by the close encounters of another system before pulling two to three million years ago from the Orion association.
Double stars
The binaries are:
γ Arietis ( Mesarthim ) is a multiple star system 150 light- years away, consisting of three stars that orbit around a common center of gravity. In a small telescope are two bright white, about the same bright star striking. In a further distance 221 arcsec the low luminosity third component is visible.
Variable Stars
Variable Stars:
τ1 Arietis is a 462 light-years distant eclipsing variable star.
Messier and NGC objects
Messier and NGC objects: