Profile / Characteristics
| English translation | Latin declination and pronunciations | Size/ °² | # stars (visible) |
| the Serpent Bearer | Ophiuchus – OFF-ee-YOO-kus, OAF-ee-YOO-kus Ophiuchi – OFF-ee-YOO-kye, OAF-ee-YOO-kye | 943 | 175 |
Main Star (brightest one):
| Designation | HIP number | name in IAU-CSN | brightness |
| α Oph | HIP 86032 | Rasalhague | 2.07 mag (V) |
Our (modern) Explanation
Ophiuchus carries a snake because he is considered a symbol for the wise profession of healers (doctors, pharmaceuts,nurses) who know which dose of a substance distinguishes between poison and medical herb. He is Asklepios (Latin: Esculab) whose walking stick until today is an international symbol of pharmacies. This constellation has always been in the zodiac (when the Babylonians invented the schema of the division in twelve equal parts of the great circle around 400 BCE, as well as earlier when they called it “the path of the moon”). Hence, the moon, the sun and the planets sometimes stand in this constellation – the Sun, for instance, three weeks each year, from roughly 29 Nov to 18 Dec. Ophiuchus has not been used as a name for a zodiac sign because the signs (sections of the ecliptic) are always named after the constellation at their first degree, in this case “Sco” (although the Sun is in Sco only for five days per year).
Ancient Globes
Farnese Globe
Kugel Globe
Mainz Globe
Ancient Lore & Meaning
Aratus
Reference:
English translation by Douglas Kidd (1997).
Aratus: Phaenomena, Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 34
Pseudo-Eratosthenes
Some astronomers say, it is Asclepios who used his medical art to raise the dead, Hippolytos in particular. He stands upon the scorpion.
References:
French translation by:
Jordi Pàmias i Massana and Arnaud Zucker (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène – Catastérismes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris
English version in:
Robin Hard (2015): Eratosthenes and Hyginus Constellation Myths with Aratus’s Phaenomena, Oxford World’s Classics
Modern and Mediaeval Depiction
Depiction in Stellarium (by Fabien Chéreau, since 2000 CE)
depiction in the Leiden Aratea (9th century CE)
Early Modern Interpretation
Contemporary
As one of their first tasks in the 1920s, the newly founded International Astronomical Union (IAU) established constellation standards. The Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte was assigned to the task to define borders of constellations parallel to lines of declination and right ascension. They were accepted by the General Assembly in 1928. The standardized names and abbreviations had already been accepted in 1922 and 1925.
