OPHIUCHUS Jake Gray 1 st period

NAME Common name: Ophiuchus Asterism: The snake handler Serpentarius

LOCATION Right Ascension: hours Declination: degrees Size: 948 square degrees Relative size: 11 th in comparison Neighbors: Hercules, SerpentCaput, Libra, Scorpius, and Sagittarius

VISIBILITY When: June through August Located: south of Hercules and north of Scorpius Brightest stars: Alpha Ophiuchi Ra-17 Dec-12 Eta Ophiuchi Ra-17 Dec- -15 Rs Ophiuchi Ra-17 Dec- -06 No stars over 3 magnitude

Ophiuchus, or Aesculapius as he's known in Greek mythology, was the most noted healer of Greek legend. His father was the God of truth and prophecy, Apollo. His mother was Coronis, daughter of king Phelegyas, lord of the Lapiths. While his mother was pregnant, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elates. One of Apollos white crow spies informed Apollo of Coronis betrayal, which caused him to fly into a rage cursing the bird, scorching its feathers causing it to turn black. After learning of Coronis treachery, Apollo sent his crow to peck out Ischys eyes, and he sent Artemis his twin sister to kill Coronis for he could not force himself to. While at her funeral pyre, Hermes cut out Aesculapius from his mothers womb and gave him to the centaur Chiron to raise. While with Chiron, Aesculapius learned to master the ways of medicine and became so good at it that he could raise the dead. GREEK/ROMAN MYTHS

OTHER MYTHS In different cultures, Ophiuchus was know as Aesculapius In one myth Zeus killed Ophiuchus then sent him to the heavens, and in another he went straight to the stars Hermes takes out Apollos child and in another Apollo did it

OTHER FACTS Ophiuchus contains the second closest star to Earth, Barnard's Star, about 6 light-years away Ophiuchus is home to many star clusters, one for example being m10 which is 20,000 light years away Ophiuchus constellation also houses keplars supernova

CITATIONS capricorns-need-to-know-about-their-new-zodiac/ capricorns-need-to-know-about-their-new-zodiac/ constellation/