Delphinus constellation is located in the northern sky. It is one of the smallest constellations. Its name means “the dolphin” in Latin.
The constellation represents the dolphin sent by the sea god Poseidon to find Amphitrite, the Nereid he wanted to marry.
Delphinus was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. It is home to several interesting deep sky objects: the globular clusters NGC 6934 and NGC 7006 and the planetary nebulae NGC 6891 and NGC 6905 (Blue Flash Nebula).
LOCATION, FACTS & MAP
Delphinus is the 69th constellation in size, occupying an area of 189 square degrees. It lies in the fourth quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ4) and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -70°. The neighboring constellations are Aquarius, Aquila, Equuleus, Pegasus, Sagitta, and Vulpecula.
Delphinus belongs to the Heavenly Waters family of constellations, along with Carina, Columba, Equuleus, Eridanus, Piscis Austrinus, Puppis, Pyxis, and Vela.
Delphinus has five stars with known planets and contains no Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Rotanev, Beta Delphini. There are no meteor showers associated with the constellation.
MYTH
There are two myths associated with the constellation Delphinus. In one, the dolphin constellation represents Poseidon’s messenger. When the sea god courted the nymph Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, she resisted his advances and took refuge among her sisters. Poseidon sent messengers to find her and bring her to him, among them a dolphin. The dolphin found the nymph, soothed her and brought her back to the god. The two were later married. Poseidon decided to honour the dolphin and placed his image among the stars.
In the other myth, it was Apollo, the god of poetry and music, who placed the dolphin among the constellations for saving the life of Arion, a poet and musician born on the island of Lesbos whose skill with the lyre made him famous in the 7th century BC.
Arion was sailing back to Greece after a concert tour of southern Italy when the sailors who were also on the ship started plotting to kill him and take the money he had earned.
Surrounded, Arion asked them to let him sing one last song. The sailors allowed this, and Arion’s music drew several dolphins to the ship. As he played, the dolphins swam alongside the ship and Arion decided to take a leap of faith and he jumped overboard.
One of the dolphins carried him all the way back to Greece. Later, Arion confronted the sailors and had them sentenced to death. In this version of the myth, Apollo placed the dolphin next to the constellation Lyra in the sky, and Lyra represents Arion’s lyre.
The constellation was also sometimes referred to as Job’s Coffin because of its long, box-like shape. Mostly, the name was restricted to the four bright stars in the constellation – Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Delphini.
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