The constellation of Capricorn, ancient and mysterious

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

If you look to the east of the meridian of heaven, then below the constellation of the Eagle, you can find the constellation of Capricorn. Beginners who like to watch the night sky should keep in mind that it is more noticeable in the regions of the southern regions of Russia. The Sun sets within the boundaries of this zodiac constellation in January, so it is best to look at it in the summer.

The constellation of Capricorn is very ancient, much older than many other constellations that are in the southern hemisphere of the sky. It is spread exactly between the constellation of Aquarius and Sagittarius. The ancient astronomers, who had a very rich imagination, placed a small goat on this piece of the sky filled with stars. Over time, a harmless animal turned into a sea monster: half Goat, half Fish.

Capricorn is a very interesting constellation. Its brightest star is Deneb Al Jedi or Sheddi, which means "goat's tail" in Arabic. There is also a globular cluster, which was called M30, discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in the middle of the 18th century, but confirmed only twenty years later by the Englishman Herschel. This cluster is extremely dense, formed by the destructioncentral core, surrounded by cooling stars - red giants. You can observe it even with a small telescope, but it is quite difficult to find it without experience.

The constellation Capricorn does not rise very high above the horizon, and in the northern and middle latitudes it is not at all visible very well. To find it, you need to mentally draw a line from the lower vertex of the triangle of the constellation Eagle - the star Altair. The constellation of Capricorn, whose photo occupies many pages of astronomical publications, is perfectly visible during the second half of summer.

The history of the name of the constellation is quite interesting. When astronomers gave names to the stars in ancient Greece, the winter solstice point fell precisely on Capricorn, the southern tropic was called the Tropic of Capricorn, and the constellation itself was included in the Almagest astronomical catalog of the starry sky, which was compiled by the legendary Ptolemy. The "Goat-Fish" or the constellation Capricorn is named after the divine goat Amelthea.

Once upon a time, the goddess Rhea saved her little son Zeus from his angry father - Kronos, the deity of time. The fact is that a very sad fate was predicted to God: his own son had to deprive him of power. And therefore Kronos swallowed all the children born to Rhea. The goddess, in despair, hid the child, and wrapped a stone in diapers, which was immediately devoured by the deity. The mother hid the baby in Crete, in a mountain cave. And there Af althea - a goat, or, according to another version, a nymph - brought up the futurethunderer. And the faithful servants of the goddess, with the help of rattling weapons and rattling on shields, drowned out the crying of a small child and amused him. When Zeus grew up, he, full of gratitude, took the nurse to heaven, turning him into a star in the constellation Auriga. This is how the desired constellation appeared.

Since then, the constellation Capricorn has always been associated with Pan - the patron saint of shepherds and half a goat, a lover of fun, nymphs and nature, fun and wine. Once, fleeing from a terrible monster named Typhon, the deity rushed into the river, and his goat legs turned into a fish tail. And so the image of the constellation appeared - half goat, half fish. By the way, Neptune is located in this cluster of stars.