Everything about Cancer Constellation totally explained
Cancer ( symbol, Unicode ♋) is one of the twelve
constellations of the
zodiac. Cancer is small and dim, and to many it doesn't resemble a crab. It lies between
Gemini to the west and
Leo to the east,
Lynx to the north and
Canis Minor and
Hydra to the south.
Planetary system
55 Cnc is a quintruple planet system with four
gas giants and one
terrestrial planet.
Notable deep sky objects
Cancer is the best noted among stargazers as the home of
Praesepe (Messier 44), an
open cluster also called the
Beehive Cluster or the
Gate of Men, which contains the star
ε Cancri. The smaller, denser open cluster
Messier 67 can be found here as well.
History
Cancer, the Crab, plays a minor role in the
Twelve Labors of Hercules. While Hercules was busy fighting the multi-headed monster, Hydra, the goddess
Hera, who didn't like Hercules, sent the Crab to distract him. Cancer grabbed onto the hero's toe with its claws, but barely breaking the rhythm of his great battle with Hydra, Hercules crushed the crab with his foot. Hera, grateful for the little crustacean's heroic but pitiful effort, gave it a place in the sky. The crab didn't win, so the gods didn't give the crab bright stars.
Named Stars
Etymology
The early
Sanskrit name of this constellation was
Karka and
Karkata, in
Telugu "Karkatakam",
Kannada "Karkataka" or "Kataka",
Tamil Karkatan, and the [[Sinhaljfg
eselanguage|Sinhalese]]
Kagthaca.The later Hindus knew it as
Kulira, from
Κολουρος (
Koloyros), the term originated by
Proclus.
Aratus called it
Καρκινος (
Karkinos), which
Hipparchus and
Ptolemy followed, the
Carcinus of the
Alfonsine tables being Latinized form of the Greek word.
Eratosthenes extended this as
Καρκινος,
Ονοι,
και Φατνη: the Crab, Asses, and Crib.
Litoreus, Shore-inhabiting, is from
Manilius and
Ovid.
Astacus and
Cammarus appear with various classic writers.
Nepa is from
Cicero's
De Finibus and the works of
Columella,
Plautus, and
Varro - all signifying Crab, Lobster, or Scorpion.
Kircher said that in Coptic Egypt it was
Κλαρια, the
Bestia seu Statio Typhonis, the Power of Darkness.
Jérôme Lalande identified this with
Anubis, one of the Egyptian divinities commonly associated with
Sirius.
Symbol
The modern symbol for Cancer is the
crab, but it has been represented with various types of creatures, usually those live in the water, and always those with an
exoskeleton,
decapods in particular.
In the Egyptian records of about 2000 BC it was described as Scarabaeus (
Scarab), the sacred
emblem of immortality, although Peter Jensen claimed this sign had been a
tortoise in
Babylonia, and that it was so figured there and in Egypt 4000 BC.
In the 12th century, an illustrated astronomical manuscript shows it as a
water beetle.
Albumasar writes of this sign in the work published in 1489 as a large
crayfish.
Bartschtshitius and
Stanislaus Lubienitzki, in the 17th century, described it as a
lobster.
Mythology
As the constellation vaguely resembles a crab, it may, together with the
Hydra constellation, form the basis of the myth of the
Lernaean Hydra, one of
The Twelve Labours of
Hercules, with which it's associated.Many people debate whether its a crab or lobster.
Cancer is said to have been the place for the
Akkadian Sun of the South, perhaps from its position at the
winter solstice in very remote antiquity. But afterwards it was associated with the fourth month
Duzu (June-July in the modern western calendar), and was known as the Northern Gate of Sun.
Showing but few stars, and its
lucida being less than a 4th-
magnitude, it was often considered "Dark Sign", quaintly described as black and without eyes.
Dante, alluding to this faintness and position of heavens, wrote in
Paradiso:
Thereafterward a light among them brightened,
So that, if Cancer one such crystal had,
Winter would have a month of one sole day.
Astrology
The Western
astrological sign Cancer of the
tropical zodiac (June 21 - July 22) differs from the astronomical constellation and the Hindu astrological sign of the
sidereal zodiac (July 21–August 9). In Greek mythology this crab was the one that Hercules faced right after he defeated the hydra.
It is the
domicile of the
Moon or "House of the Moon", and this concept might originate from an ancient belief that Moon was located here at the creation of the world. Cancer is also the
exaltation of
Jupiter.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cancer Constellation'.
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