Aries Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

In ancient Egypt, people associated Aries with the god Amon-Ra. In old images, he was portrayed as a ram-headed man.

Ram's head symbolized creativity, will, and fertility, a new life. The sign was an indicator of the annual rebirth of the Sun that was especially visible in the spring.

According to Greek mythology, Aries was a golden ram who saved Phrixus from a horrible death. Phryxus was the son of Athamas, the king of Boeotia, and the twin brother of Helle. His mother was Nephele, the goddess of clouds.

Once his father remarried, his new wife hated twins. She hated them so much that she thought of a devious plan to kill them. She created famine in Boeotia.

The only way to stop this for the inhabitants of Boeotia was to sacrifice Frixo and Helle. The mother of twins discovered this and wanted to save her children by sending a golden ram to the rescue.

The animal saved both, but Helle fell into the sea during the rescue mission. The ram took Phrixus to Colchis, where King Aeëtes accepted him and decided to shake hands with his daughter Chalciope. In return, Phrixus offered the ram to Zeus and gave the golden fleece to Aeëtes.

During the 17th century, the constellation got different names. Some astronomers used some stars to shape and develop several new constellations.

For example, Petrus Plancius and Jakob Bartsch used Aries stars to indicate bee or wasp. In 1690, the famous astronomer Johann Hevelius used the name "Musca" (later "Musca Borealis")for Aries, which consisted of the representation of a fly.

Modern astrologers and astronomers later recognized none of the variations mentioned for Aries of the Early Modern Period.

Finally, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), an organization in charge of astronomical research and development, defined the boundaries of the Aries constellation in 1930.

Astronomers have used these constellation boundaries to this day.

Aries resides in the fourth quadrant of the Southern Hemisphere (SQ4) at latitudes between +60° and -90°, which means we can see the constellation in the night sky from almost everywhere in the world. The only exception is Antarctica.

Aries is visible from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

Aries is a seasonal constellation, which means it can't be seen in the sky year-round. It belongs to the group of northern autumn constellations.

We can see it from the end of September to December.

The best month to observe this constellation is December.

Aries is not the easiest constellation to find in the night sky because none of its main stars are bright enough to see the edges of the constellation. The easiest way to find it is to navigate to the star cluster, the Pleiades, a group of 7 stars located very close to each other.

The curved line of the three brightest stars near the Pleiades star cluster is Aries with its most shining star Hamal, which is hard to miss.

The bordering constellations of Aries are Triangle, Taurus, Cetus, Perseus, and Pisces.

Aries belongs to 12 zodiacal constellations, such as Gemini, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The brightest stars in Aries are Hamal, Sheratan, Mesarthim, Bharani. These are the four stars that create the shape of the constellation Aries. Another notable Aries star in terms of its brightness is Epsilon Arietis.

There are also several binary stars within this constellation, which are the 2-star systems. In addition, Aries encompasses variable stars that change their magnitude (brightness) during the year. Some of these stars may be twice as bright or fainter.

Hamal, all-called Alpha Arietis, is the brightest star in Aries. The original name rās al-ħamal comes from Arabic, meaning the head of the ram, which also explains the name of the constellation Aries.

In the list of all the most luminous stars we can have in the night sky, Hamal is the 50th brightest star.

Its magnitude is 2.0, and we can observe from Earth even with high light pollution around us. The distance from Earth to Hamal is 65.81 light-years.

Sheratan is the second brightest star in the constellation Aries. It is located about 60 light-years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of +2.64.

With a temperature of 8200 K, Sheratan is a white main-sequence star of spectral type A5V.

It has a nearby stellar companion that can only be detected by spectroscopy. The orbital period between the two is 107 days.

Mesarthim is a white star of spectral type B9 V, is located 204 light-years away from the Solar System, and is the fourth brightest in the constellation Aries. Its name means "the first star of Aries."

It is a binary star system whose two components are γ1 Arietis and γ2 Arietis; γ1 Arietis is the hottest, with a temperature of 11,000 K.

However, γ2 Arietis is more luminous since it emits the most significant radiation in the non-visible ultraviolet range, 56 times brighter than the Sun.

With an apparent magnitude of +3.61, Bharani is the third brightest star in the constellation of Aries. It is located 160 light-years from our solar system.

Bharani is a blue-white star of the main sequence 12,000 K of surface temperature and spectral type B8V

In addition, it is 126 times more luminous than the Sun and has a mass of 3.2 solar masses.

And like other stars with similar characteristics, Bharani has a high rotational speed, reaching 180 km/s.

Located 342 light-years away from the Solar System, ε Arietis is the fourth brightest star in Aries and is a star system with at least four stars.

These are (Epsilon Arietis A / HD 18520 / HR 888) and (Epsilon Arietis B / HD 18520 / HR 887); in turn, these two stars are binary stars, each with a less luminous stellar companion.

Aries is also known as the home of several deep-sky objects. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (interstellar cloud bodies), or galaxies. In the case of Aries, it is rich in several notable galaxies.

The most famous ones with better visibility are NGC 772, NGC 770, NGC 678, and NGC 680.

NGC 772 is a spiral galaxy 130 million light-years from Earth and only visible southeast of Beta Arietis. It is important to note that this galaxy is twice as giant as the famous Milky Way. Its magnitude is 10.25.

Located 120 million light-years from the Milky Way, NGC 770 is an elliptical galaxy in Aries's constellation. It is estimated to have a diameter of around 36,000 light-years, being only one-third the size of the Milky Way.

NGC 678 is a barred spiral galaxy located near the celestial equator, itis partially visible from both hemispheres of the Earth.

The occurrence of meteor showers in Aries is another exciting aspect to mention. Aries is famous for several meteor showers, including Daytime Arietid, Delta Arietids, Autumn Arietids, Epsilon Arietids, and more.

The most active is the "diurnal epsilon Arietids." It is usually held once a year from May to the beginning of July.

It is important to note that this meteor shower consists of comets related to the Marsden group. This meteor shower can be seen between April 24 and May 27, and the maximum exposure occurs on May 9 of each year.

• The constellation of Aries is often called The Ram.
• The brightest star in Aries is Hamal.
• Only a couple of Aries stars can be visible without a telescope.

• Since Aries is a zodiac constellation, it belongs to the zodiac family's constellations. 
• Aries means "the ram," derived from Greek mythology. The mother sent a golden ram to rescue twins Phrixus and Athamas.
• Aries is a northern constellation, but we can see it from all the southern hemisphere countries. The best time to observe Aries is December. 
• Aries is difficult to locate because the main stars are not bright enough, and the best way is to find them in the nearby Pleiades star cluster. 
• The brightest star in the constellation is Hamal, the 50th brightest star among all stars in space. Its magnitude is 2.0, and we can easily see it in the night sky. 
• The most notable galaxy within the borders of Aries is NGC 772. It is larger than the Milky Way galaxy.
• The strongest meteor shower in Aries is the Daytime Epsilon Arietids.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/
2. https://earthsky.org/
3. https://www.space.com/
4. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellations.html
5. https://nineplanets.org/