Crater (constellation)
Crater is a small constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. Its name is the latinization of the Greek krater, a type of cup used to water down wine. Two brightest stars, Delta Crateris of magnitude 3. 56 and Alpha Crater is of magnitude 4. 07, are ageing orange giant stars that are cooler and larger than the Sun. Seven star systems have been found to host planets.
About Crater (constellation) in brief
Crater is a small constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. Its name is the latinization of the Greek krater, a type of cup used to water down wine. One of the 48 constellations listed by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy, it depicts a cup that has been associated with the god Apollo and is perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. Its two brightest stars, Delta Crateris of magnitude 3. 56 and Alpha Crater is of magnitude 4. 07, are ageing orange giant stars that are cooler and larger than the Sun. Seven star systems have been found to host planets. A few notable galaxies, including Crater 2 and NGC 3981, and a famous quasar lie within the borders of the constellation. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is ‘Crt’. In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Crater are located within the constellation of the Vermillion Bird of the South. They depict, along with some stars from Hydra, Yi, the Red Bird’s wings. Yi also denotes the 27th lunar mansion. In the Society Islands, Crater was recognized as a constellation called Moana-‘ohu-noa-‘ei-ha’a-moe-hara.
It is bordered by Leo and Virgo to the north, Corvus to the east, Hydra to the south and west, and Sextans to the northwest. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of six segments. In the equension system, ascension coordinates lie between 10h 51m and 11h 24m, while the declination coordinates are between −6.° and −25.° 20°. Its position in the celestial hemisphere means that observers are visible to the whole of the southern hemisphere. Most of these stars lie in Hydra et Crater, and the three brightest stars lie through the segment of Hydra—Delta Gamma, Gamma and Gammais— through Crater. The most prominent stars in Crater remain in Hydra, though only one, Gamma, remains in use, though more than one has been added to the constellation by Bode Bode, though the name Crater remains the same. The constellation is identified with a story from Greek mythology in which a crow or raven serves Apollo, and is sent to fetch water, but it delays its journey as it finds some figs and waits for them to ripen before eating them.
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This page is based on the article Crater (constellation) published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
