Auriga (constellation)
Constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Auriga is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 88 modern constellations; it was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. Its name is Latin for '(the) charioteer', associating it with various mythological beings, including Erichthonius and Myrtilus. Auriga is most prominent during winter evenings in the northern Hemisphere, as are five other constellations that have stars in the Winter Hexagon asterism. Because of its northern declination, Auriga is only visible in its entirety as far south as -34°; for observers farther south it lies partially or fully below the horizon. A large constellation, with an area of 657 square degrees, it is half the size of the largest, Hydra.
Constellation | |
Abbreviation | Aur[1] |
---|---|
Genitive | Aurigae |
Pronunciation |
|
Symbolism | the Charioteer |
Right ascension | 04h 37m 54.4293s–07h 30m 56.1899s[3] |
Declination | 56.1648331°–27.8913116°[3] |
Area | 657[4] sq. deg. (21st) |
Main stars | 5, 8 |
Bayer/Flamsteed stars | 65 |
Stars with planets | 7 |
Stars brighter than 3.00m | 4 |
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 2 |
Brightest star | Capella (α Aur) (0.08m) |
Messier objects | 3[5] |
Meteor showers | |
Bordering constellations | |
Visible at latitudes between +90° and −40°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of late February to early March. |
Its brightest star, Capella, is an unusual multiple star system among the brightest stars in the night sky. Beta Aurigae is an interesting variable star in the constellation; Epsilon Aurigae, a nearby eclipsing binary with an unusually long period, has been studied intensively. Because of its position near the winter Milky Way, Auriga has many bright open clusters in its borders, including M36, M37, and M38, popular targets for amateur astronomers. In addition, it has one prominent nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae.
In Chinese mythology, Auriga's stars were incorporated into several constellations, including the celestial emperors' chariots, made up of the modern constellation's brightest stars. Auriga is home to the radiant for the Aurigids, Zeta Aurigids, Delta Aurigids, and the hypothesized Iota Aurigids.
The first record of Auriga's stars was in Mesopotamia as a constellation called GAM, representing a scimitar or crook. However, this may have represented just Capella (Alpha Aurigae) or the modern constellation as a whole; this figure was alternatively called Gamlum or MUL.GAM in the MUL.APIN. The crook of Auriga stood for a goat-herd or shepherd. It was formed from most of the stars of the modern constellation; all of the bright stars were included except for Elnath, traditionally assigned to both Taurus and Auriga. Later, Bedouin astronomers created constellations that were groups of animals, where each star represented one animal. The stars of Auriga comprised a herd of goats, an association also present in Greek mythology.[7] The association with goats carried into the Greek astronomical tradition, though it later became associated with a charioteer along with the shepherd.[8]
In Greek mythology, Auriga is often identified as the mythological Greek hero Erichthonius of Athens, the chthonic son of Hephaestus who was raised by the goddess Athena. Erichthonius was generally credited to be the inventor of the quadriga, the four-horse chariot, which he used in the battle against the usurper Amphictyon, the event that made Erichthonius the king of Athens.[9][10] His chariot was created in the image of the Sun's chariot, the reason Zeus placed him in the heavens.[11] The Athenian hero then dedicated himself to Athena and, soon after, Zeus raised him into the night sky in honor of his ingenuity and heroic deeds.[12]
Auriga, however, is sometimes described as Myrtilus, who was Hermes's son and the charioteer of Oenomaus.[10] The association of Auriga and Myrtilus is supported by depictions of the constellation, which rarely show a chariot. Myrtilus's chariot was destroyed in a race intended for suitors to win the heart of Oenomaus's daughter Hippodamia. Myrtilus earned his position in the sky when Hippodamia's successful suitor, Pelops, killed him, despite his complicity in helping Pelops win her hand. After his death, Myrtilus's father Hermes placed him in the sky. Yet another mythological association of Auriga is Theseus's son Hippolytus. He was ejected from Athens after he refused the romantic advances of his stepmother Phaedra, who committed suicide as a result. He was killed when his chariot was wrecked, but revived by Asclepius.[11][13]
Auriga is also said to represent Phaethon, son of the sun Helios, who tricked his father into letting him drive his chariot for a day. Phaethon crashed and burned, scorching the earth. He was then placed in the night sky as the Auriga.[14] Regardless of Auriga's specific representation, it is likely that the constellation was created by the ancient Greeks to commemorate the importance of the chariot in their society.[15]
An incidental appearance of Auriga in Greek mythology is as the limbs of Medea's brother. In the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, as they journeyed home, Medea killed her brother and dismembered him, flinging the parts of his body into the sea, represented by the Milky Way. Each individual star represents a different limb.[16]
Capella is associated with the mythological she-goat Amalthea, who breast-fed the infant Zeus. It forms an asterism with the stars Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Aurigae, and Eta Aurigae, the latter two of which are known as the Haedi (the Kids).[17] Though most often associated with Amalthea, Capella has sometimes been associated with Amalthea's owner, a nymph. The myth of the nymph says that the goat's hideous appearance, resembling a Gorgon, was partially responsible for the Titans' defeat, because Zeus skinned the goat and wore it as his aegis.[11] The asterism containing the goat and kids had been a separate constellation; however, Ptolemy merged the Charioteer and the Goats in the 2nd-century Almagest.[15] Before that, Capella was sometimes seen as its own constellation—by Pliny the Elder and Manilius—called Capra, Caper, or Hircus, all of which relate to its status as the "goat star".[18] Zeta Aurigae and Eta Aurigae were first called the "Kids" by Cleostratus, an ancient Greek astronomer.[11]
Traditionally, illustrations of Auriga represent it as a chariot and its driver. The charioteer holds a goat over his left shoulder and has two kids under his left arm; he holds the reins to the chariot in his right hand.[2] However, depictions of Auriga have been inconsistent over the years. The reins in his right hand have also been drawn as a whip, though Capella is almost always over his left shoulder and the Kids under his left arm. The 1488 atlas Hyginus deviated from this typical depiction by showing a four-wheeled cart driven by Auriga, who holds the reins of two oxen, a horse, and a zebra. Jacob Micyllus depicted Auriga in his Hyginus of 1535 as a charioteer with a two-wheeled cart, powered by two horses and two oxen. Arabic and Turkish depictions of Auriga varied wildly from those of the European Renaissance; one Turkish atlas depicted the stars of Auriga as a mule, called Mulus clitellatus by Johann Bayer.[18] One unusual representation of Auriga, from 17th-century France, showed Auriga as Adam kneeling on the Milky Way, with a goat wrapped around his shoulders.[19]
Occasionally, Auriga is seen not as the Charioteer but as Bellerophon, the mortal rider of Pegasus who dared to approach Mount Olympus. In this version of the tale, Jupiter pitied Bellerophon for his foolishness and placed him in the stars.[20]
Oxford research finds it likely the group was equally named Agitator in about the 15th century and provides a quotation as late as 1623, from a Gerard de Malynes multi-topic work.[21] Some of the stars of Auriga were incorporated into a now-defunct constellation called Telescopium Herschelii. This constellation was introduced by Maximilian Hell to honor William Herschel's discovery of Uranus. Originally, it included two constellations, Tubus Hershelii Major [sic], in Gemini, Lynx, and Auriga, and Tubus Hershelii Minor [sic] in Orion and Taurus; both represented Herschel's telescopes. Johann Bode combined Hell's constellations into Telescopium Herschelii in 1801, located mostly in Auriga.[22]
Since the time of Ptolemy, Auriga has remained a constellation and is officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union, although like all modern constellations, it is now defined as a specific region of the sky that includes both the ancient pattern and the surrounding stars.[23][24] In 1922, the IAU designated its recommended three-letter abbreviation, "Aur".[25] The official boundaries of Auriga were created in 1930 by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte as a polygon of 20 segments. Its right ascension is between 4h 37.5m and 7h 30.5m and its declination is between 27.9° and 56.2° in the equatorial coordinate system.[3]
In non-Western astronomy
The stars of Auriga were incorporated into several Chinese constellations. Wuche, the five chariots of the celestial emperors and the representation of the grain harvest, was a constellation formed by Alpha Aurigae, Beta Aurigae, Beta Tauri, Theta Aurigae, and Iota Aurigae. Sanzhu or Zhu was one of three constellations which represented poles for horses to be tethered. They were formed by the triplets of Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta Aurigae; Nu, Tau, and Upsilon Aurigae; and Chi and 26 Aurigae, with one other undetermined star. Xianchi, the pond where the sun set and Tianhuang, a pond, bridge, or pier, were other constellations in Auriga, though the stars that composed them are undetermined. Zuoqi, representing chairs for the emperor and other officials, was made up of nine stars in the east of the constellation. Bagu, a constellation mostly formed from stars in Camelopardalis representing different types of crops, included the northern stars of Delta and Xi Aurigae.[11]
In ancient Hindu astronomy, Capella represented the heart of Brahma and was important religiously. Ancient Peruvian peoples saw Capella, called Colca, as a star intimately connected to the affairs of shepherds.[19]
In Brazil, the Bororo people incorporate the stars of Auriga into a massive constellation representing a caiman; its southern stars represent the end of the animal's tail. The eastern portion of Taurus is the rest of the tail, while Orion is its body and Lepus is the head. This constellation arose because of the prominence of caymans in daily Amazonian life.[26] There is evidence that Capella was significant to the Aztec people, as the Late Classic site Monte Albán has a marker for the star's heliacal rising.[27] Indigenous peoples of California and Nevada also noticed the bright pattern of Auriga's stars. To them, the constellation's bright stars formed a curve that was represented in crescent-shaped petroglyphs.[28] The indigenous Pawnee of North America recognized a constellation with the same major stars as modern Auriga: Alpha, Beta, Gamma (Beta Tauri), Theta, and Iota Aurigae.[29]
The people of the Marshall Islands featured Auriga in the myth of Dümur, which tells the story of the creation of the sky. Antares in Scorpius represents Dümur, the oldest son of the stars' mother, and the Pleiades represent her youngest son. The mother of the stars, Ligedaner,[30][31] is represented by Capella; she lived on the island of Alinablab. She told her sons that the first to reach an eastern island would become the King of the Stars, and asked Dümur to let her come in his canoe. He refused, as did each of her sons in turn, except for Pleiades. Pleiades won the race with the help of Ligedaner, and became the King of the Stars.[30] Elsewhere in the central Caroline Islands, Capella was called Jefegen uun (variations include efang alul, evang-el-ul, and iefangel uul), meaning "north of Aldebaran".[32] Different names were noted for Auriga and Capella in Eastern Pacific societies. On Pukapuka, the figure of modern Auriga was called Te Wale-o-Tutakaiolo ("The house of Tutakaiolo");[33] in the Society Islands, it was called Faa-nui ("Great Valley").[34] Capella itself was called Tahi-anii ("Unique Sovereign") in the Societies.[35] Hoku-lei was the name for Capella but may have been the name for the whole constellation; the name means "Star-wreath" and refers to one of the wives of the Pleiades, called Makalii.[36]
The stars of Auriga feature in Inuit constellations. Quturjuuk, meaning "collar-bones",[37] was a constellation that included Capella (Alpha Aurigae), Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), Pollux (Beta Geminorum), and Castor (Alpha Geminorum). Its rising signalled that the constellation Aagjuuk, made up of Altair (Alpha Aquilae), Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae), and sometimes Alshain (Beta Aquilae), would rise soon. Aagjuuk, which represented the dawn following the winter solstice, was an incredibly important constellation in the Inuit mythos.[38] It was also used for navigation and time-keeping at night.[39]