Welcome! This is your instructor Janine and in this video I will introduce you
to the constellation and legends of Aries of Ram, a Zodiacal constellation
that can be seen in the late autumn season. Let's begin with the legends that
are associated with Aries the Ram. Aries is a second smallest constellation of
the zodiac and it is not a particularly bright grouping of stars, but its history
and mythology go far back in time. Over the years many cultures saw this
constellation as a ram and it was a very prized animal to the nomad tribes,
particularly in the Middle East, but the most well known versions of the golden
Ram comes from Greek mythology.
For the ancient Greeks this group of stars represented the Golden Fleece. This
myth has multiple versions but according to one story, King Athamas of Thessaly
had two children, Phrixus and Helle, both of whom were born of his first wife,
although she died while they were very young.
King Athamas remarried and his second wife hated both children and was very
cruel to them, so the god Hermes took pity on them and fashioned a magical Ram
with wool of gold that would carry them to a land where they could be safe. When
the Ram appeared to them they jumped on his back and flew into the sky, but Helle
lost her grip and fell into the ocean. Only Phrixus survived the journey and
when he landed to safety he sacrificed the Ram and hung it in the Hall of King
Aeëtes where it was guarded by a sleepless
dragon. There it remained until it was stolen by Jason and the Argonauts. Aries
is classified as a Zodiacal constellation, which means that the
ecliptic passes through it. Remember the ecliptic is the imaginary path that the
Sun, Moon, and planets travel along. Aries is also situated very close to Taurus
the Bull and this is important to realize because you can use some of the
objects in Taurus to help you find Aries. Aries is also best seen during the late
fall to early winter months. Now that you're acquainted with at least one of
the legends of Aries let's take a look at the pattern that makes up this
constellation. Here is your first picture of what Aries looks like and if a star
cluster pops out to you and draws your eyes that's completely normal, that is a
very important part of this picture, however that star cluster is not a part
of Aries but it can be used to help you find the Ram.
So when we take a look at what the star pattern is for Aries, it's this simple
group of stars, and there are not many bright stars within Aries in fact their
magnitude is fairly similar. It is one of the most faint faintest Zodiacal
constellations. So what you want to start training yourself to do is being able to
find the Pleiades, and the Pleiades are a part of Taurus, and if you can find the
Pleiades you can arc over to find the few stars that make up Aries the Ram.
Here is another depiction of Aries and as I will constantly tell you throughout
this course the patterns of all constellations vary across cultures and
time, and you can probably point out the four stars that make up this
constellation that I showed you in the previous slide, but then you can also see
another addition. I like this photograph because it clearly points out the
Pleiades for you and it shows the Ecliptic, which is the path of the Sun.
Here is the only other picture I have of Aries. So as you take a look at it can
you find the Pleiades ,the group of stars known as the Seven Sisters, and from
there can you arc over and find the four stars that make up Aries, and if you're
noticing some other bright objects in here can you take a guess at what that
object would be knowing what you have learned about Aries? So again if you need
a little more practice you can always press pause and take time
looking at this photograph and figuring it out as we go. When you're ready to
hear the answer you can always press play and then I'll go over those answers.
So let's take a look and figure out where Aries is. This
is exactly where Aries is located in this photograph. You should have hopefully
been able to find the Pleiades, also known as the seven sister stars, and if
you notice the other bright object, and notice I said object and not star, is
because you are looking at a planet, and that planet is Jupiter. So anytime you
can see a bright object like this close to a zodiacal constellation it should
make sense to you because the path of the planets ,the Sun, and the moon all
take this general path through the constellation, both are the Pleiades and
both through Aries.
So far we've been introduced to the legend of Ares, it's very basic pattern
of stars ,and now I'd like to introduce you to the names of the main stars. Keep
in mind though that these stars are pretty faint and it has taken a fair
amount of practice for me to identify this constellation in the sky, but with
practice, persistence, and a very clear sky you can also identify this ancient
constellation. Here is the first picture I introduced to you showing Aries and of
course your eyes should be drawn to the star cluster towards the left side of
the screen. Use this star cluster to help you find Aries. So as we move along the
brightest star within Aries is called Hamel. It's an Arabic name that means
lamb and it's fairly close to us at 85 light-years away. So keep in mind what
that really means. Lightyear is a distance, so that means that light from
Hamal takes 85 years to travel from there to Earth. Next we have Sheratan,
this is an Arabic name meaning two of something and it is believed to be the
two horns of the Ram, and this star is 46 light-years away, and of course not every
constellation really looks like what it's supposed to, and and how this start
depicts two horns is not quite clear to me, but you know back in ancient times
they had to use a lot of imagination and it was more about passing on the legends
and the stories as opposed to the stars really looking like what they're
supposed to, and finally we have Mesarthim which is a Hebrew name and it is
the third brightest star in Aries, being 115 light years away. I still would like
to point out the Pleiades to you and this is an open star cluster in Taurus
and it's one of the most studied star clusters
and it is 415 light years away. I just thought it would be important to share
this with you because the Pleiades is really essential to help you find Aries.
So remember if you can find this, you can find Aries.
There are several galaxies that lie in the borders of Aries, but all are very
faint and even with a good telescope and clear skies these objects will only
appear as smudges of light. So let's take a look at a map of Aries and here is our
four star pattern right here and you can see these little circles, or ovals I
should say, these depict where the galaxies are. So if we're going to look
at a picture of actual Aries the constellation, here are the general areas
as to where you're going to want to look at to take a look and find these
galaxies and again they're only gonna appear as smudges of light. One of the
first ones I want to point out to you which is located towards the bottom of
Aries is called NGC 772, which means new general catalogue, and it is a spiral
galaxy. It probably would not look like this in your telescope, it would only be
like I said a smudge of light but you know it's there and give it a go to try
to look at it. Next we have NGC 1156. I feel like I'm in Star Trek
when I say this, but this irregular galaxy is located right towards the
upper star of Aries, and it's an irregular galaxy so it doesn't really
have a clear shape to it and the other galaxies are 697, which is an elliptical
galaxy and I unfortunately do not have a great shot of this at all,
and then NGC 972, which is on the upper border of the Aries constellation and
this is also another spiral galaxy. Well we have come towards the end of our
video. I've taught you everything I know about Aries the Ram. So let's take a
moment to review all the most important details of how to find it and what to
look for. So remember Aries is best seen towards
the end of the fall and into early winter.
It's a Zodiacal constellation which means that the Sun, Moon, and planets pass
through it. The best way to find Aries Ram is to look for the Pleiades, the
famous seven sister star cluster, and arc on over to Aries. The brightest stars,
or star should say, is Hamal. It's still pretty faint though with a magnitude of
only two, and the celestial objects there are a few amount of faint galaxies
throughout Aries but they are pretty difficult to spot out, none of which I've
ever been able to point out, and if you have a telescope
by all means, and if you have a dark sky I should add, keep looking to see if you
can find these galaxies. Thank you so much for watching and if you have any
questions about this constellation or you want to share any observational
experiences please leave a comment below and I'll be sure to respond to you if
you have any questions. Good luck with your observations and we'll see you in
the next video!