A little ramble through Crater the Cup

 The second of the small spring constellations adjoining Hydra the other being Corvus. Crater although very faint it is still one of the original 48 groups even though it contains no stars brighter than magnitude 3.5.

Crater represents the cup or goblet of Apollo and is associated with the neighbouring constellation of Corvus. The Romans and the Indians also knew it as a cup. Today it is often associated with the story of Corvus the Crow.

Early Arabic astronomers knew it as Al Ma’laf or the Stall, however later Arabic astronomers such as Al Batiyah, Badiye and Al Batinah knew it as an earthen vessel for storing wine.

In China some of the stars in Hydra together with the stars in crater were known as Yh, Yih or Yen this was the Wings or Flanks. While the whole of the constellation may have been known to the Chines as The Heavenly Dog which was shot at by Chang from the constellation of Leo.

There is something of a mystery with the named stars of Crater.

Alpha Crater is the only star to be named in the constellation, the Arab astronomers referred to it as Alhes which means the Cup. The strange thing is that alpha is not the brightest star in the constellation. Its magnitude is 4.1 and is 141 light years away. The star is a K class giant meaning that it is cooler than the Sun.

The brightest star in Crater is delta with a magnitude of 3.6 another K class giant star and is 163 light years away.

Could this be a situation whereby alpha has faded in brightness or delta has brightened since Bayer allocated the Greek letters in 1603.

The star which today is classified as beta which is a magnitude 4.5 and is an A class star is 296 light years away was regarded by the Arab astronomer Al Tizini as part of the Hydra with the name of Al Sharaasif or the Ribs of the Hydra.

There are no messier objects or bright deep sky objects to be seen in Crater.

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