Aries - The Ram

Aries lies between Pisces and Taurus, and below Andromeda. It is an autumn and winter constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, and a springtime constellation for observers south of the Equator. Around 1800 BC, the Sun was in Aries at the beginning of spring. Many civilizations signaled this as the start of the new year. For this reason, Aries is usually listed as the first constellation of the zodiac.

History and Mythology

Aries is associated with the story of Jason and the Argonauts pursuing the golden fleece. The ram was a prized animal of the nomadic tribes of the Middle East.

The early Egyptians saw the group of stars as a ram that they associated with their god Amon Ra. The ancient Greeks thought the stars looked like the ram from which the Golden Fleece was taken. Their version of the myth was that King Athamas of Thessaly had two children, Phrixus and Helle. His wife died and he remarried. His new wife hated the young children and was very cruel to them. The god Hermes felt sorry for the children, and he made a magical ram, with golden fleece, to let them escape. As the ram came flying by, the children jumped on its back. One child, Helle, lost her grip and fell into the water separating Asia and Europe. The body of water is known as the Dardanelles, but the Greeks called it Hellespont or the sea of Helle. The ram was sacrificed, and the fleece was guarded by a dragon who never slept. Jason was eventually able to slay the dragon, and steal the golden fleece.

Notable Objects

The horns of the ram are marked by Hamal, a 2nd-magnitude yellow giant 66 light years away, and Sheratan, a slightly fainter blue-white star 60 light years distant.

The galaxies in Aries are all very faint, and under ideal conditions, with a medium-sized telescope, they appear as little more than smudges of light. Look for the elliptical galaxy NGC 697 and the spiral galaxy NGC 972 near the border of Aries with Triangulum.