The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Corvus The Crow

Corvus perches on the back of Hydra. When Crater was also seen as a black bird it too perched on the serpent's back, forming the doorposts and threshold to the Mesopotamian Land of The Dead.

Corvus The Crow, our eleventh member of the Hercules Family of Constellations, is a small rectangular constellation that resembles a crow only by the furthest stretch of the imagination --- and the ancient Babylonians, who called this constellation "The Raven" were imaginative. It made a pair with the constellation the Babylonians called Mulugumushen (another crow or raven), today's Crater The Cup, as one of the doorposts of the entryway to the Land of the Dead. Hydra The Multiheaded Serpent was the threshold. The ancient Chinese called Corvus "The Spanker," naming it for the aft sail on a junk (and it more resembles a spanker than any bird). Nonetheless, Corvus stuck in European legend. Medieval monks claimed that the constellation Argo was in reality Noah's Ark, and that two constellations, Corvus and Columba The Dove, were the birds that Noah had sent aloft after the Deluge. 

Corvus is a dim and small constellation with just one notable star, Gienah (Number 29 in the Nautical Almanac). It does have one fascinating deep sky object, the "Antennae Galaxies". The Antennae Galaxies are gravitationally bound and merging, just as our own Milky Way and neighboring Andromeda will someday become a single galaxy. The Antennae are two long corresponding trails of stellar material, one extending from each galaxy, that resemble tracks in the sky or, together, an insect's antennae.

The Antennae Galaxies, 45 million light years away, give us a glimpse of the future of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies as they merge.

Dragged into one body by gravity, both spiral members of the Antennae Galaxies have left a long curving footprint across the heavens. What will be formed is an elliptical galaxy, and the friction of dust and gas will give birth to millions of hot blue short-lived stars.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Crater The Cup

Crater The Cup is the tenth Hercules Family constellation on our list. The Greeks considered Crater to be the goblet of the god Apollo, but Crater is a much more ancient asterism that dates back to Mesopotamia. Called Mulugamushen, it represented a raven and was paired with the constellation later called Corvus The Crow. Along with Hydra The Water Snake, the three formed a celestial doorway to the Road of Death. In China, Mulugamushen was called the Red Bird.

Crater is another dim constellation with no stars brighter than the Fourth Magnitude. Of the 33 recognized stars within the bounds of Crater, only three are known to have planets, and the constellation has a dearth of deep sky objects. Crater 2, a dwarf galaxy discovered in 2016, is one of a number of dwarf galaxies in orbit around our own Milky Way.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Corona Australis The Southern Crown

 

 

Our ninth Hercules Family constellation is Corona Australis The Southern Crown. Visible to the south from the ancient Near East this crescent shaped constellation was considered the counterpart to Corona Borealis The Northern Crown, which was visible to the north. 

Corona Australis is a small and dim asterism with no stars greater than the Fourth Magnitude, but because of its distinctive shape it is readily visible on a dark night. 

There is no specific mythology associated with Corona Australis. The ancient Mesopotamians called it "The Barque" (a type of ship), and the Chinese saw it as a turtle. The Greco-Romans saw it more as a victor's wreath --- a stephanos --- than a true crown. Sometimes it was considered the wreath worn by Sagittarius, and was counted as part of The Archer. It became a crown proper in more modern times. 

There are surprisingly few deep sky objects associated with Corona Australis. The most impressive is a triple nebula, The Coronet Cluster, in which the gases glow brightly backlit by nearby stars.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Scutum The Shield

 

The eighth constellation on our Hercules Family list is Scutum The Shield, a small and dim modern constellation devised like Sextans The Sextant by Johannes Hevelius. 

A scutum is an ancient rectangular shield used by Roman soldiery. Hevelius created this constellation in 1684. He named it after his royal patron, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jan III Sobieski, calling it Scutum Sobiescianum, "Sobieski's Shield" in honor of the Catholic Grand Duke-King's victory over the Muslims at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The asterism lacks any suggestion of a cross, though contemporary artwork displays one. 

Interestingly, the Chinese called this asterism "The Helm" but there's no evidence that Hevelius knew of this connection with armor. Modern astronomers have dropped Sobieski's name from the constellation, and the Grand Duke-King is mostly remembered today for being an ancestor of the actress Leelee Sobieski. 

None of Scutum's stars exceeds Magnitude Four, but one, Delta Scuti, is following an orbital path through the Milky Way that will bring it to within 10 light years of Earth in about one million years. By that time, this blue-white giant will exceed Sirius in brightness. 

The most notable deep sky object in Scutum is the Wild Duck Cluster, a star grouping that looks like a flock of birds in the air.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Sextans The Sextant

Sextans has a rather indeterminate asterism, and no bright stars. It stands out mostly because its area of the sky is surprisingly empty.

Seventh on our list of Hercules Family constellations is Sextans The Sextant, a dim modern constellation lying just to the south of Leo The Lion. Sextans has just one star brighter than the fifth magnitude, making it just barely visible to the naked eye in a very dark sky. 

Sextans was first described by Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687). Hevelius was a member of the minor Polish-Lithuanian nobility of the time, and was a senior member of the city council of Danzig (Gdansk), today in Poland. He was a master brewer as well, but his true passion was astronomy. He built an observatory atop his large home, from which he identified seven still-extant constellations, studied sunspots, identified four comets, documented the first observed nova later named CK Vulpeculae, mapped numerous features on the lunar surface, and was inducted into the Royal Society (British), listed as their first German member (Danzig being predominantly a German town, and Hevelius being a native speaker of German) but later recognized as their first Polish member as well. 

Hevelius and his wife Elisabeth (also an astronomer of note) using a quadrant to take observations.

Despite prodding from his friend Edmund Halley, Hevelius was the last astronomer of note not to use a telescope on a regular basis, though he had several impressive ones in his collection. In 1679, his home / observatory burned to the ground, destroying his library and instruments. Enjoying the patronage of the Polish-Lithuanian royalty, he quickly rebuilt and recovered many of his lost records, but the destruction saddened him. He named Sextans, discovered later that year, in memory of his lost astronomical tools.

Today, Sextans is notable as the home of the farthest distant, hence oldest, observable galaxy cluster, CL J1001+0220. In it, we can see young stars forming the first heavy elements (remember that observing deep sky objects means looking back in time). The cluster lies 11.1 billion light years from Earth --- and 11.1 billion years in the past.

The oldest known galaxy cluster with protostars forming, less than 4 billion years after the Big Bang.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of the Southern Triangle

 

There is no particular order to the constellations in a given family other than the Zodiac; having said that, let us move along to the next (our sixth) member of the Hercules Family, Triangulum Australe The Southern Triangle. 

Triangulum Australe is a "modern" constellation, first described by the navigator Amerigo Vespucci, after whom America is named. Vespucci was working for the powerful and wealthy de Medici family of Florence, who published his collected astronomical and geographical data in a book titled "Mundus Novus", released in 1504. 

To aid explorers during the Age of Discovery, Vespucci invented a number of constellations in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere, as well as giving names to lands previously unknown to Europeans. To his credit, America was named for him and not by him. All of the constellations he named are small and dim and most of their asterisms just barely suggest the figures he imagined. Triangulum Australe is an exception, largely because triangular arrangements of stars are the easiest asterisms to find. Triangulum Australe is one of the three constellations of the subfamily called "The Draughtsman's Tools." 

The brightest star in Triangulum Australe is Atria, number 43 in the Nautical Almanac. There are many "background" stars in the Southern Triangle since it is superimposed on the Milky Way, but since it overlays our own galaxy it has few deep sky objects. ESO 69-6 is a dramatic pair of merging galaxies to which gravitational interaction has added long tails.

 

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Ara The Altar

 

  

The Water Lily or Lotus Nebula

Fifth on our list of Hercules Family constellations is Ara The Altar. It is an ancient constellation dating back to the Mesopotamians who believed it represented their version of the Tower of Babel. 

The ancient Hebrews believed Ara was an altar --- first the altar of Noah, then the altar upon which Abraham offered up Isaac, and then again much later, the altar of the Tabernacle. In the Occident, the only named star in Ara is called Karnot Mizbeach, Hebrew for "the horns of the altar." In the Orient, the only named star (actually a different pair of stars) is Tseen Yin, "The Dark Sky." Other names have been applied in more modern times. 

The Greeks borrowed the Hebrew conception of the constellation but made it the altar upon which their gods swore allegiance to each other in the plot to kill their cannibalistic father, Cronos (Time). 

NGC 6352, a loose globular cluster, lies 20,000 light years from Earth.

The Ara Cluster, 16,000 light years from Earth. The central stars are bright, hot and very young (not more than a million or two million years). The greenish objects are glowing gas clouds.

The Romans turned Ara into a freestanding censer, and most modern art of Ara depicts it as an incense burner. 

NGC 6300, a barred spiral galaxy some 51 million light years from Earth. NGC 6300 has a supermassive black hole at its center, some 300,000 times the mass of our Sun, which is emitting high intensity X-rays.

Ara is in the sky of the Southern Hemisphere, and visible between 25 degrees south and 43 degrees north. Ara is a dim and smallish constellation with no stars above the Third Magnitude. But since it overlays the path of the Milky Way it is rich in deep sky objects. Ara is home to numerous globular clusters, a number of galaxies, and several distinctive nebulae. Seven of its stars have known planets.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Sagitta The Arrow

Moving on to a fourth constellation in the Hercules Family we come to Sagitta The Arrow, which, despite its name, has no direct connection with Sagittarius The Archer. 

Classical Greco-Roman uranologists connected Sagitta to Hercules, saying that it was one of the arrows the demigod shot at an enemy in the course of his vaunted Labors, but that was the beginning and the end of Sagitta's place in mythology. Much later, it was associated with Cupid's arrow for no very good reason.

It is, however, an ancient constellation, known to the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, the Indians and the Chinese, who all saw Sagitta as an arrow. Although Sagitta is dim and small, lacking any stars greater than third magnitude, it is isolated in the sky and hence prominent. The asterism has five main stars, three of which mark out the arrowhead and shaft, and two which represent the fly. 

Given Sagitta's size as the third-smallest constellation, it has some interesting deep sky objects, including the Necklace Nebula and the planetary Nebula IC-4997, which is only 700 years old.

The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Hercules The Mighty

Hercules. This Hero of Greco-Roman myth gives his name to the Hercules Family of constellations.

Hercules is the genitive constellation of the large and diverse Hercules Family of constellations. Hercules is among the largest of the 88 constellations in the sky. The asterism represents a warrior at battle and is comparable in outline and overall size to Orion, though Hercules is a much dimmer constellation, having no First or Second Magnitude stars. 

The dumbbell-shaped galaxy called Hercules A is being attenuated by a supermassive black hole within its bright center.

The constellation is named for the Greek demigod Heracles (Hercules in Latin) who was tasked with twelve impossible feats, among them killing the impervious Nemean Lion (represented by Leo), slaying the Hydra (represented by the constellation of the same name) and doing battle with a gigantic crustacean (represented by Cancer The Crab). 

The constellation Hercules became Hercules rather late in Classical Greek astronomy. Prior to identifying it with Heracles of yore, the Greeks considered it the figure of a standing man, but had no real lore about it. 

The constellation was known to the Sumerians who considered nearby Draco The Dragon (or Serpent) part of the same figure. They linked Hercules / Draco with Ophiuchus / Serpens, calling the former "The Standing God" and the latter "The Sitting God" though the significance of the relative positions of the two gods and serpents is long forgotten. 

Hercules' lower body is formed by the "Keystone" asterism, a rhomboid star pattern that makes this less-than-impressive constellation easier to locate. 

The Hercules asterism. The keystone is self-evident.

The Solar Apex, which indicates the actual direction of the Sun's orbital motion around the center of the Milky Way is located in Hercules. There are many multistar systems in Hercules that can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. At least fifteen stars in the constellation can boast of solar systems. There are a number of Messier objects, galaxies, globular clusters, and nebulae, within the bounds of Hercules. 

 

ARP-272 colliding spiral galaxies.

Abell-39, a spherical nebula in Hercules.

The largest single structure in the known universe exists in Hercules. Called the Great Gamma Ray Burst Wall (or the Great Wall of GRB) this cluster of thousands of gamma ray-emitting galaxies occupies more than one-tenth of the universe as we know it. They are organized into at least 22 separate subclusters that fill a space some 23 billion light years in any given direction, a vast overall size.   

The Great Wall is incredibly vast and pours prodigious amounts of raw energy into the heavens.

A Special Case: The Constellations of Ophiuchus The Serpent-Handler and Serpens The Serpent

Serpens and Ophiuchus aka Basmu and Serpentarius.

 

Few people familiar with the Zodiac are aware that there is a thirteenth constellation in the Circle of Animals. This 13th constellation is not an astrological Sign, however, not in the Tropical system of astrology. Nor is it recognized as a sign by many Vedic astrologers. The constellation is Ophiuchus The Snake Handler. Ophiuchus lies between Scorpio and Sagittarius, and the sun astronomically transits the constellation between the 30th of November and the 17th of December.

Ophiuchus has an astrological name --- Serpentarius --- and a glyph --- a transected U --- in those astrological systems that include the sign. The dates of astrological transit vary among astrologers, taking varying numbers of days from Scorpio and Sagittarius.

The most common glyph associated with Ophiuchus.

A mix of Scorpio and Sagittarius?

Still another Ophiuchus glyph.

To make things a bit more complex, Ophiuchus is holding a large snake in his hands, the constellation Serpens The Serpent. Serpens is considered a totally separate constellation, and it is not crossed by the ecliptic. 

To make things even more complicated, Serpens is divided into two halves by the body of Ophiucus. The two halves of Serpens are called Serpens Caput (The Serpent's Head) and Serpens Cauda (The Serpent's Tail) and though they are non-contiguous, Serpens is considered one single constellation. 

The Snake Handler and his Snake.

Officially, and according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), both Ophiuchus and Serpens are part of the Hercules Family of constellations, though NASA considers Ophiuchus to be in the Zodiac.

In Greek mythology, Ophiuchus is considered to be the figure of the historical healer Asclepius, though why the asterism simply wasn't called Asclepius is another mystery. 

 

Once a holy symbol, then the staff of the god Hermes, the caduceus remains the symbol of the physician.

An alternate glyph, reminiscent of the caduceus.

Snakes have been associated with the sacred and with healing since time immemorial. The connection is so remote and established that even the ancients had a slightly sarcastic take on it: "If you want to make something sacred just slap two snakes with wings on it." The symbol of the caduceus still represents medicine, though in the old days it was considered the seal of sacred precincts.
In the early Serpent Cults, just like Ophiuchus is doing, the priests handled the creatures freely, dancing with them in their hands, and even allowing themselves to be bitten. Just like scorpion venom, snake venom was used as a medicine, a poison, and a psychotropic.
Serpens The Serpent was Basmu, the Horned Serpent or Dragon, a god in ancient Sumer. 

In Sumerian myth, Ophiuchus seemed to have been called "The Sitting God." It is unclear whether this "sitting god" was part of the early Zodiac. The question is up for debate. Some say yes, and some say no.
The yesses shake off the seeming violation of the base 60 Mesopotamian calculating system by simply including Ophiuchus.
The noes point to the fact that a thirteenth astrological sign would have disrupted the sexigesimal number system of the Sumerians.
Everyone seems to overlook the fact that Libra was either part of Scorpio (the claws) or part of Virgo (the scales of justice) until the era of Classical Rome.
Thus, Ophiuchus or Serpentarius or Asclepius, or whatever other name he was known by, would have been a twelfth sign (falling between Scorpio and Sagittarius). There is no sure lore on what the qualities of the sign Serpentarius would have been. Modern astrologers who include Ophiuchus in the signs say, "A combination of Scorpio and Sagittarius".
It seems to me (strictly an opinion) that the qualities of Ophiuchus were simply reassigned to Libra when The Snake Handler was exiled from the Zodiac. I say "exiled" for he vanished from the Circle of Animals (and was divided and redivided from his Serpent) around the time that the ancient Serpent Cults were finally dying out.
If you look at Ophiuchus he resembles a man on a high wire, balancing carefully with a pole in his hands, a very "Libra"-like interpretation of The Snake Handler, who suddenly strongly resembles the balancing man on the tarot card of the Two of Pentacles (which is usually associated nowadays with Gemini). "Balance" is also a key quality of health (homeostasis). 

Rider Waite Tarot: The Two of Pentacles. A man keeping his balance.

The debate on Ophiuchus will go on both in astrological circles (Sign / Not a Sign) and astronomical circles (Zodiac / Not Zodiac), probably as long as humans can bicker.
Ophiuchus' brightest star is Rasalhague, Number 46 in the Nautical Almanac. The brightest star in Serpens is Unukhalhai, either "The Serpent's Neck" or "The Serpent's Heart," a Second Magnitude star in Serpens Caput. Serpens Cauda is remarked by Messier 16, the Eagle Nebula, 7000 light years distant, home of the Pillars of Creation seen by the Hubble Telescope.

The Eagle Nebula in Serpens Cauda

The Pillars of Creation in Serpens Cauda

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The Behenian Stars (Part Two)

It should be noted that Sol (the Sun) is considered a Behenian star in alternate systems, and that the Hyades are sometimes considered Behenian along with Aldebaran. There is also some variance in the identification of some stars. Polaris is sometimes exchanged for Alkaid, and Algorab is often considered in set with Gienah. 

 Behenian astrology is a whole other branch of the astrological art and the place where astrology and alchemy intersect. 


The chart below gives us in turn: 

1. The modern common name of the Behenian star

2. The Hermetic name of the Behenian star

3. The scientific name of the Behenian star

4. The Tropical location of the Behenian star in its associated constellation

5. The Rulerships of the Behenian Star

6. The gem associated with the Behenian star

7. The plant root associated with the Behenian star and its uses

8. The Behenian star's unique glyph

Name		Astronomical Designation	Location	Planet	Gemstone	Plant & Usage	Symbol
Algol	Caput Larvae	Beta Persei	26 Taurus 10	Saturn & Jupiter	diamond	Black Hellebore   Hellebore juice with an equal amount of wormwood placed under a diamond, etc., brings hatred and courage, preserves the members of the body, and grants vengeance over anyone you wish.
Pleiades		M45 (Taurus)	29 Taurus 58	Moon & Mars	rock crystal	Fennel               Fennel seed with frankincense and quicksilver placed under a crystal with the appropriate character [engraved on it], with the Moon conjunct the Pleiades rising or at midheaven, preserves the eyesight, summons demons and the spirits of the dead, calls the winds, and reveals secrets and things that are lost.
Aldebaran	Aldaboram	Alpha Tauri	9 Gemini 47	Mars & Venus	ruby / garnet	Milk Thistle Milky thistle seed put under a carbuncle with the character shown [engraved on it], with the Moon conjunct [Aldebaran and] the Ascendant or Midheaven, increases riches and brings great honors.
Capella	Alhayhoch, Hircus	Alpha Aurigæ	21 Gemini 51	Jupiter & Saturn	sapphire	Thyme or Horehound Horehound seed mixed with equal parts of mint, wormwood and mandrake, placed etc., exalts men to honors, and brings them the favor of kings and nobles, and heals toothache, and is very medicinal.
Sirius	Canis major	Alpha Canis Majoris	14 Cancer 05	Venus	beryl	Juniper  One part savine juniper juice with wormwood and bistort and a little serpent's tongue put under a golden beryl, etc., grants the favor of the spirits of the air and the peoples of the earth, and brings peace and concord between kings and other potentates, and between husbands and wives.
Procyon	Canis minor	Alpha Canis Minoris	25 Cancer 47	Mercury & Mars	agate	Water Buttercup or Heliotrope  Heliotrope flowers with pennyroyal flowers placed etc. grants the favor of God and man, gives men the favor of the spirits of the air, gives great power over magic, and keeps men healthy.
Regulus	Cor leonis	Alpha Leonis	29 Leo 50	Jupiter & Mars	granite	Mugwort or Celandine  Celandine juice with wormwood and mastic placed etc. takes away anger and melancholy, makes men temperate, and grants favor.
Dubhe	Cauda Ursæ	Alpha Ursæ Majoris	28 Gemini 34	Venus & Moon	magnet	Succory or Chicory  Chicory juice with wormwood and periwinkle flower placed etc. has power against enchantments and against dryness and gives safety in travel, and if it be put together with wolf's teeth it makes hunters proficient.
Algorab	Corvi	Delta Corvi	13 Libra 27	Saturn & Mars	onyx	Burdock   Burdock seed, leaves, and roots, with the tongue of a frog, placed etc. makes men angry, hateful, daring, and evil-speaking, causes wicked dreams, drives demons away, and protects men against demons and evil winds.
Spica		Alpha Virginis	23 Libra 50	Venus & Mercury	emerald	Sage  Sage juice with trefoil, periwinkle, wormwood and mandrake placed etc. will increase gold, accumulate riches, bring victory in lawsuits, and free men from evil and anguish.
Arcturus	Alchameth	Alpha Boötis	24 Libra 14	Mars & Jupiter	jasper	Plantain  Plantain juice with seeds or rooted placed under jasper, especially green [jasper], carries away fevers and restrains the flow of blood.
Alphecca	Elpheia	Alpha Coronæ Borealis	12 Scorpio 18	Venus & Mars	topaz	Rosemary  Juice of the herb called rosemary with equal parts trefoil and ivy put etc., makes men chaste, and grants friendship and honor with God and man.
Antares	Cor scorpii	Alpha Scorpii	9 Sagittarius46	Venus & Jupiter	sardonyx	Birthwort   Birthwort juice with a little yew placed etc. gives men healthy color, grants good memory and intelligence, makes them appear wise, and banishes demons.
Vega	Vultur cadens	Alpha Lyræ	15 Capricorn19	Mercury & Venus	chrysolite	Winter Savory Savory juice with an equal amount of the herb called fumitory and with a little of the stone called turonso, etc. grants favor with beasts, protects from scabies, that is, against demons, nocturnal phantoms, and fears.
Deneb Algedi	Cauda capricorni	Delta Capricorni	23 Aquarius30	Saturn & Mercury	chalcedony	Marjoram  Marjoram juice put under a chalcedony with its proper character, the Moon conjunct the tail of Capricorn rising, gives favor in lawsuits, improves the home in which it is kept, keeps it [the home] secure, and increases all manner of riches.