Serpens: Difference between revisions

Serpens Caput is bordered by [[Libra]] to the south, [[Virgo]] and [[Boötes]] to the east, [[Corona Borealis]] to the north, and [[Ophiuchus]] and [[Hercules]] to the west; Serpens Cauda is bordered by [[Sagittarius]] to the south,[[Scutum]] and [[Aquila]] to the east, and [[Ophiuchus]] to the north and west. Covering 636.9 square degrees total, it ranks 23rd of the 88 constellations in size. It appears prominently in the both the northern and southern skies during the Northern Hemisphere's summer.[3] Its main asterism consists of 11 stars, and 108 stars in total are brighter than magnitude 6.5

In Greek Mythology, Serpens represents a snake held by Asclepius, a healer. Asclepius, represented in the sky by the constellation [[Ophiuchus]], which splits Serpens into two distinct halves, was known for killing a snake that was resurrected because a different snake had placed a certain herb on it before its "death". Serpens is depicted as either winding around Ophiuchus in the night sky or simply passing through him, although the precise reason for either of these is unknown.In some ancient atlases, the constellations Serpens and Ophiuchus were depicted as two separate constellations, although in most they were shown as a single constellation. Back in this time, there were no official constellation boundaries, so when depicted separately, their bodies were not intertwined with each other.In Chinese astronomy, most of the stars of Serpens represented part of a wall surrounding a marketplace, known as Tianshi, which was in Ophiuchus and part of Hercules. Serpens also contains a few Chinese constellations. Two stars in the tail represented part of Shilou, the tower with the market office. Another star in the tail represented Liesi, jewel shops. One star in the head (Mu Serpentis) marked Tianru, the crown prince's wet nurse, or sometimes rain.[1]There were two "serpent" constellations in Babylonian astronomy, known as Mušḫuššu and Bašmu. It appears that Mušḫuššu was depicted as a hybrid of a dragon, a lion and a bird, and loosely corresponded to Hydra. Bašmu was a horned serpent (c.f. Ningishzida) and loosely corresponds to the Ὄφις constellation of Eudoxus of Cnidus on which the Ὄφις (Serpens) of Ptolemy is based