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Winter: Orion   Canis Major   Canis Minor   Monoceros   Lepus   Eridanus   Taurus   Auriga   Camelopardalis   Lynx   Gemini   Cancer  
Spring: Hydra   Sextans   Crater   Corvus   Leo   Leo Minor   Ursa Major   Ursa Minor   Canes Venatici   Coma Berenices   Virgo   Bootes  
Summer: Draco   Corona Borealis   Hercules   Ophiuchus   Serpens   Libra   Scorpius   Sagittarius   Scutum   Aquila   Sagitta   Vulpecula   Lyra   Cygnus  
Autumn: Andromeda   Perseus   Pegasus   Cassiopeia   Cephus   Cetus   Lacerta   Delphinus   Equuleus   Capricornus   Aquarius   Pisces   Aries  
Southern Skies: Centaurus   Crux   Lupus   Corona Australis   Piscis Australis   Sculptor   Tucana   Fornax   Dorado   Columba   Puppis   Carina  
(alphabetical links)

SERPENS

The Serpent

ophiuchus-jamieson-1822-sm (270K)
Serpens - Celestial Atlas by Alexander Jamieson - 1822






The constellation Serpens, the snake, represents the mythological serpent who revealed the secret of bringing the dead back to life. The secret was revealed to the great healer, Asclepius, and was responsible for him becoming the god of medicine, and being immortalized by having his image placed among the stars. The entire story can be found in the description of the constellation Ophiuchus.

Eight exoplanets have been discovered so far in Serpens, but all are in orbit around stars to dim to see with the naked eye.

serpens (22K)

Serpens is the only constellation in the heavens to be split into two separate constellations, Serpens Caput (the head of the serpent), and Serpens Cauda (the tail of the serpent). Both constellations have their own separate boundaries, but both are connected to each other, and the constellation Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer.


Serpens Caput

The alpha (brightest) star of the constellation is in Serpens Caput. It is named Unukalhai, which loosely translated from the Arabic means the neck of the snake. It is also known as Cor Serpentis, the heart of the snake. It is a magnitude 2.65 star, 70 light years from Earth.

Serpens Caput also contains one of the biggest, brightest globular clusters in the sky, M5. Robert Burham, Jr., in his famous Celestial Handbook described his first view of M5 through a 40 inch telescope "as if the fireflies of a thousand summer nights had been gathered there, frozen forever in time and suspended among the stars."

It reminded him of Isaac Asimov's famous book, Nightfall, about a people living on a planet at the center of a globular cluster, who lived in perpetual daylight, except for once every 2,049 years, when a series of solar eclipses allows them to finally see the soul shattering splendor of a starry sky. Asimov himself, was inspired to write the story by the words of Emerson: "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the City of God which had been shown!"

M5Hubblems (223K)
M5 - Globular Cluster - Hubble Space Telescope - May, 2011






Serpens Cauda

Alya, in Serpens Cauda, is the only other named star in the entire constellation. It is a very dim star, right at the tip of the snake's tail. Why it was named is a mystery. It is only the eighth brightest in the constellation. The mystery deepens when its name is translated from the Arabic to mean the tail of a sheep.

M16 (NGC 6611) is actually two deep sky objects in one. When Charles Messier named the object, back in 1764, he described it as , "A cluster of small stars enmeshed in a faint light."

Today's telescopes reveal that "faint light" to be the astonishing Eagle Nebula. Robert Burnham Jr. was so impressed by it, he felt the name didn't do it justice, and renamed it The Star Queen Nebula.

Whatever you call it, it is quite a sight. A dazzling little cluster of jewel-like stars embedded in one of the most spectacular nebulae in the sky.

M16Hubble-wide-field-s (134K)
Eagle Nebula, M16, NGC 6611, IC 4703 - T.A.Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage, NOAO/AURA/NSF)



m16eagle (54K)
Eagle Nebula, M16, NGC 6611, IC 4703 - Hubble Space Telescope - April, 2005



m16pillars (64K)
Eagle Nebula, M16, NGC 6611, IC 4703 - Hubble Space Telescope - April, 2005






Alphabetical Links to the Constellations

ANDROMEDA   AQUARIUS   AQUILA   ARIES   AURIGA   BOOTES   CAMELOPARDALIS   CANCER   CANES VENATICI   CANIS MAJOR   CANIS MINOR   CAPRICORNUS   CARINA   CASSIOPEIA   CENTAURUS   CEPHEUS   CETUS   COLUMBA   COMA BERENICES   CORONA AUSTRALIS   CORONA BOREALIS   CORVUS   CRATER   CRUX   CYGNUS   DELPHINUS   DORADO   DRACO   EQUULEUS   ERIDANUS   FORNAX   GEMINI   HERCULES   HYDRA   LACERTA   LEO   LEO MINOR   LEPUS   LIBRA   LUPUS   LYNX   LYRA   MONOCEROS   OPHIUCHUS   ORION   PEGASUS   PERSEUS   PISCES   PISCIS AUSTRALIS   PUPPIS   SAGITTA   SAGITTARIUS   SCORPIUS   SCULPTOR   SCUTUM   SERPENS   SEXTANS   TAURUS   TUCANA   URSA MAJOR   URSA MINOR   VIRGO   VULPECULA  

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