Aries
The Ram (18 April-13 May)
ARIES – THE RAM Genitive: ArietisAries is identified as a winged ram with a Golden Fleece, sent by the nymph Nephele to save her son Phrixus after his father, King Athamas of Boeotia, had been given a false prophecy that he had to sacrifice his son to ward off famine.Phrixus and his sister Helle climbed on the ram and were carried toward Colchis on the shore of the Black Sea. Helle lost her grip and fell into the Dardanelles on the way.The Greeks named the channel separating Europe and Asia the Hellerospont in her memory. The Golden Fleece was later the object of the Argonauts’ quest to Colchis.
THE HISTORY OF ARIES
Zodiacal sign of Aries is an abstraction from the physical constellation of Aries. It represents the first twelfth of the full circle, or the longitude traversed by the Sun in about 30.4 days, starting from the moment of vernal equinox – the beginning of spring. It occupies the first 30 degrees of the zodiacal circle.
The name of the sign is based on the fact that the beginning of the sign of Aries was in the same place as the projection of the constellation of Aries, when the zodiac system was developed in Babylonia, some 2,500 years ago, during the “Age of Aries”. Due to the precession of Equinox, the projection of the constellation shifted, while the sign of Aries was left behind to start at the first day of spring.
Constellation of Aries, like any other constellation, was imagined into the night sky in order to tell a tale. It was named by a ram, an important actor of one of the myths ancient Greeks have told. The constellation of Aries doesn’t represent a ram to every culture. The Chinese see the constellation as twin inspectors and at Marshall Islands, it is a porpoise.
THE MYTH OF ARIES
The ram with the Golden Fleece was conceived in an unusual way. Poseidon, the god of the sea, turned a nymph into a sheep, so he would distance her from many suitors she had. In order to have sexual relations with her, he had to turn himself into a ram and as a result, the nymph gave birth to a ram with the Golden Fleece.
Not only did this ram have a Golden Fleece, but it could also fly and he is most famous for his help to a mother of two children, a boy and a girl, Phrixus and Helle. They were the children of Nephele and Athamas who got divorced for Athamas’ second wife, Ino. In order to justify the separation, he accused his first wife, the mother of his children Nephele for insanity.
When her son was wrongly accused of rape and she realized that both of her children’s lives were in danger, Nephele gave them to a ram hoping he would fly them away from their stepmother. While flying through the narrow passage between Europe and Asia, Helle fell of the ram taking one of his horns with her. It is said that the god of sea Poseidon purposefully saved her in order to rape her (although this was referred to as “sacrifice to gods”) and she gave birth to his son afterwards.
Phrixus arrived safe to his destination and as a sign of gratitude, sacrificed the same ram to Zeus and gave his golden fleece to his father in law, who locked it away and assigned a dragon to keep it safe.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Aries is the 39th largest constellation in the sky, occupying 441 square degrees. It lies in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ1) and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -60°. The neighboring constellations are Cetus, Perseus, Pisces, Taurus, and Triangulum.
Aries belongs to the Zodiac family of constellations, along with Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces.
The constellation has five stars with known planets and contains no Messier objects. The brightest star in Aries is Hamal, Alpha Arietis. There are several well-known meteor showers connected to this constellation: the May Arietids, Autumn Arietids, Delta Arietids, Epsilon Arietids, Daytime-Arietids, and Aries-Triangulids
Aries Constellation Map, by IAU and Sky&Telescope magazine
MAJOR STARS IN ARIES
Hamal – α Arietis (Alpha Arietis)
Hamal is the brightest star in the constellation Aries and the 48th brightest star in the night sky. It is a K-type orange giant about twice as massive as the Sun, with an apparent magnitude varying between 1.98 and 2.04.
The star is 66 light years distant. Between 2000 and 100 BC, Hamal was located at the vernal equinox, the point that marks the beginning of spring.
The name Hamal means lamb and derives from the Arabic phrase rās al-ħamal, meaning “head of the ram.”
Sheratan – β Arietis (Beta Arietis)
Sheratan, Beta Arietis, is a white main sequence star and a spectroscopic binary, 59.6 light years distant. The companion is suspected to be a G class star. Sheratan has a visual magnitude of 2.64. The name comes from the Arabic phrase aš-šarāţān, which means “the two signs,” and refers to the vernal equinox, which the star marked together with Gamma Arietis a few thousand years ago.
Mesarthim – γ Arietis (Gamma Arietis)
Mesarthim, Gamma Arietis, is a triple star system. The origin of the name Mesarthim has been lost. The star has also at times been referred to as the First Star in Aries because at one point it was the nearest visible star to the point of the vernal equinox.
Gamma Arietis includes a binary star system composed of two white A-type main sequence stars with apparent magnitudes of 4.75 and 4.83, lying 7.7 arc seconds apart, and a third component, a magnitude 9.6 K-type star that lies 221 arc seconds away. The system is approximately 160 light years distant. The brightest component is classified as an Alpha-2 Canum Venaticorum type variable star, a chemically peculiar main sequence star with strong magnetic fields and strong strontium, chromium, or silicon spectral lines. The star’s brightness varies by 0.04 magnitudes with a period of 2.61 days.
Botein – δ Arietis (Delta Arietis)
Delta Arietis, also known as Botein, is an orange K-type giant star approximately 168 light years from Earth. It has an apparent magnitude of 4.35 and a diameter 13 times longer than that of the Sun. The star’s name is derived from the Arabic word butain, which means “belly.”
Bharani – 41 Arietis (c Arietis)
41 Arietis, sometimes also known as c Arietis, has the traditional name Bharani. The star was named after the second lunar mansion (division of the sky) in Hindu astrology. Bharani belongs to the spectral class B8Vn and is 160 light years distant. Its apparent magnitude is 3.61.
ε Arietis – Epsilon Arietis
Epsilon Arietis is a binary star, approximately 293 light years distant. It is composed of two white A-type main sequence dwarfs separated by 1.5 arc seconds. The components have apparent magnitudes of 5.2 and 5.5. The combined magnitude of the double star is 4.63.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aries_(constellation) http://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/history/aries/ http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/aries-constellation/