PISCES
The Fishes
(Psc)


Generalities: it is one of the zodiacal constellations and it lies mostly in the northern celestial hemisphere.
In the Pisces the equinox of spring (northern) takes place. The Aries is the zodiacal constellation, in which some millennia ago the  Sun reached the spring equinox. Nowadays, because of the precession motion , this position is reached in the Pisces. Therefore, this last constellation should be the first of zodiac, but in spite of this, the Aries remains at the first place in the index.
The Fishes have great extension but they are deprived of bright stars. The Sun remains there during the last decade of March and the first and the second decades of April.
The Pisces transit at midnight in October.

Origins and mythology: this constellation represents the fishes into which Zeus transformed Venus and Cupido, to save them from attack of Typhoon monster.

Stars: The Pisces show only three star under magnitude 4. The brightest star is Eta Piscium, of magnitude 3.62, yellow-orange color, named Alpherg, 145 light years far from us.

Other objects: this constellation contains M74, a beatiful spiral galaxy, visible through medium power telescopes.


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