Generalities: it is the widest constellation of the whole sky. It is of very lengthened form and it winds primarily in the southern sky, even if a part of it  is found in the northern sky. It transits at midnight in  February.

Origins and mythology: it represents the monster from the seven heads, which was killed by Hercules during one of his twelve labours.

Stars: the Water Snake contains a  star of moderate brightness, of magnitude 1.98,called Alphard. It is an orange star, 95 light-years far. This star is said the “solitary one”, because it is found in a zone of rather untrimmed sky. Besides Alphard, there are other 9 stars between magnitude three and four.

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 

Star	Proper name	Magnitude	Specrum	Colour	Distance (light-years)	Notes
Alpha	Alphard	1.98	K3	orange	85
Gamma		3.00	G5	yellow-orange	105
Zeta		3.11	K0	orange	124
Nu		3.11	K2	orange	127
Pi		3.27	K2	orange	153
Epsilon		3.38	G0	yellow	110

Other objects: in the Water Snake M48 is present , an interesting open heap, the globular cluster M68 and the galaxy M83. Moreover other weaker galaxies are present.

Go back to constellations index
 

Go back to Home Page