Aries (original) (raw)
Aries. © 2003 Torsten Bronger.
Aries (abbreviation: Ari), the Ram, whose golden fleece inspired Jason's epic voyage, is a northern constellation and the first one of the zodiac. It lies between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east and can be seen climbing the eastern sky in the northern autumn.
The Sun passes through Aries from late April to mid-May. In former times the vernal equinox (the point where the Sun crosses the celestial equator when moving from south to north) lay within Aries and is still known as the First Point of Aries, even though, because of precession, it now lies in Pisces.
See below for details of the constellation's brightest stars.
| Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| star | vis mag | abs mag | spec type | distance (ly) | RA (h m s) | Dec (° ' ") |
| Alpha (Hamal) | 2.01 | 0.48 | K2IIIabCa | 66 | 02 07 10 | +23 27 45 |
| Beta (Sheraton) | 2.64 | 1.33 | A5V | 60 | 01 54 38 | +20 48 29 |
| c (Nair al Butain) | 3.61 | 0.16 | B8Vn | 159 | 02 49 59 | +27 15 38 |
| Gamma (Mesarthim) | 3.88 | -0.11 | 204 | |||
| Gamma2 | 4.75 | A1pSi | 01 53 32 | +19 17 45 | ||
| Gamma1 | 4.83 | B9V | 01 53 32 | +19 17 37 |
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