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Eridanus




Eridanus is a long constellation which snakes its way from the feet of Orion, close to the celestial equator, all the way down to Tucana at a declination of almost 60°S. It can be found in the southern evening sky in the months around November.

According to one theory, the Greek constellation takes its name from the Babylonian constellation known as the Star of Eridu. Eridu was an ancient city in the extreme south of Babylonia; situated in the marshy regions it was held sacred to the god Enki-Ea who ruled the cosmic domain of the Abyss – a mythical conception of the fresh-water reservoir below the Earth’s surface.

Eridanus is connected to the myth of Phaethon, who took over the reins of his father Helios’ sky chariot (i.e., the Sun), but didn’t have the strength to control it and so veered wildly in different directions, scorching both Earth and heaven. Zeus intervened by striking Phaethon dead with a thunderbolt and casting him to Earth. The constellation was supposed to be the path Phaethon drove along; in later times, it was considered a path of souls. Since Eridanos was also a Greek name for the Po (Latin Padus), in which the burning body of Phaethon is said by Ovid to have extinguished, the mythic geography of the celestial and earthly Eridanus is complex.

Another association with Eridanus is a series of rivers all around the world. First conflated with the Nile River in Egypt, the constellation was also identified with the Po River in Italy.

It is the sixth largest modern constellation, but despite its size contains only two stars brighter than third magnitude. Its brightest star, Achernar lies at the far southern end of the river’s path; its name is Arabic for ‘the river’s end’.

Eridanus lies away from the plane of the Milky Way, but contains a number of bright deep sky objects nonetheless. Brightest among these is the elliptical galaxy NGC 1291 which lies close to the river’s southern limit.

The Indian name for Eridanus is ವೈತರಣೀ (Vaitarani)

Eridanus contains:

View Eridanus in 3D


Source: Wikipedia, in-the-sky.org
Image Courtesy: Sky&Telescope & IAU, Illustration Images linked from Urania's Mirror on Wikmedia Commons by Sidney Hall

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