A small constellation situated between the head of Pegasus the Flying Horse and Delphinus the Dolphin. Equuleus is one of the original 48 constellations listed by the astronomer Ptolemy, it’s the second smallest constellation, only Crux the Southern Cross is smaller.
In Greek mythology it is sometimes associated with Celeris
which means swiftness or speed and is the smaller brother to Pegasus.
The Arab astronomers called the constellational Kitah al
Faras which means part of a horse. Another Arab name is Al Faras al Thani which
means the second horse alluding either to its small size, or to the time when
it was adopted as a constellation.
The Hindu astronomers referred to it as Acvini which means
the horseman.
There is only one star bright enough to be easily seen with the naked eye and that is alpha or Kitalpha which comes from the Arab name for the whole constellation. Kitalpha has a magnitude of 3.9 and is 186 light years away, it’s a G class giant star and is cooler than the Sun with a temperature of around 5,000 degrees. The Sun has a temperature of 5,800 degrees.
There are no bright galaxies or nebula in Equuleus.
www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk
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