ARIES
The Ram
(Ari)


Generalities: it is a zodiacal constellation  included in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is the first constellation of the zodiac, as  thousands of years ago the spring equinox  took place with the Sun in Aries. Nowadays, because of the precession motion  of the equinoxes, this event takes place in the constellation of  Pisces. The Sun transits it from the last decade of April up to half May.  Aries is a constellation of medium-small size, with some stars of average brightness. This constellation transits at midnight in November.

Origins and mythology: from the mythological point of view it represents the winged ram with the gold fleece that god Ermes  sent to save the children of the king of Thebes, for whom their stepmother had laid a trap.  Aries had  to fly the two boys. Frisso, the son, was saved, while Elle, the daughter, died because she fell into the sea after having lost the balance. The line of sea in which the girl fell took the name of Ellesponto in her honour. After the death of the ram, its precious gold fleece was hung in a sacred grove, but  then it was stolen  by the Argonauts, led by Jason.

Stars: Aries shows two stars under  magnitude 3, four  under magnitude 4 altogether. The brightest star is alpha, named Hamal and of magnitude 2.00. It is orange and is 85 light-years far. The second star for brightness is the white Sheratan ,of magnitude 2.64,  45 light-years far.

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 
Star Proper name Magnitude Spectrum Colour Distance (light-years) Notes
Alpha Hamal 2.00 K2 orange 85
Beta Sheratan 2.64 A5 white 45
Gamma Mesartim 3.39 (4.68+4.59) B9 white 118 Visual double star
41 3.63 B8 white 118

Other objects: it doesn't contain any  particularly interesting objects of the deep sky .


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