Crater is a southern constellation near Leo, Virgo, and Corvus. Its consists of six rather faint stars in the pattern of a cup. Crater is best viewed during spring, northwest of Corvus.
History and Mythology
Crater was charted by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD, and was identified as one of his original 48 constellations. It shares a Greek legend with Corvus, and Hydra. It was the cup carried by the crow Corvus to Apollo.
Other myths have the cup associated with the "Cup of Christ", the Holy Grail. Some legends have this constellation representing the young shepherd Ganymede, who Zeus took to Olympus to be the gods' cup bearer. Chinese mythology names Crater as the Heavenly Dog who causes eclipses.
Notable Objects
The star Alkes, Arabic for "wine cup", is magnitude 4.1, and lies some 100 light-years from Earth. Beta Crateris is a 4.5 magnitude star 235 light-years away. Gamma Crateris is visible in a small telescope as a double star with components of magnitudes 4.1 and 9.5, separated by 5 arcseconds.
There are no prominent star clusters in Crater, and most galaxies are 12th magnitude and fainter. NGC 3887 is an 11th magnitude spiral visible in an 8 inch telescope. NGC 3511 is a 12th magnitude galaxy seen almost edge-on, and NGC 3672 is magnitude 11.5, near the eastern edge of Crater.