Serpens (abbr. Ser, gen. Serpentis)
The Serpent, wrapped around Ophiuchus, the Serpent
Bearer. Serpens is a faint constellation
of the northern hemisphere. It is unique in being the only constellation
split into two parts, neither of which touches the other. Entwined around
and separated by Ophiuchus, Serpens Caput (the Serpent's Head) is the western
portion and Serpens Cauda (the Tail) the eastern portion. The Greek letter
names of the constellation's main stars are distributed between the two
portions: Alpha through Epsilon in Serpens Caput, Zeta and onward in Serpens
Cauda. Serpens contains the diffuse nebula M16 (NGC 6611) and a sixth magnitude
open cluster embedded in the Eagle
Nebula (diameter 35' × 28'; R.A. 18h 18.8m, Dec. -13° 47').
Among its other interesting deep sky objects are the globular clusters known
as M5 (NGC 5904) (magnitude 5.8; diameter 17.4'; R.A. 15h 18.6m, Dec. +02°
05') and the Serpens Dwarf. See below for
details of the constellation's brightest stars.
 |
Serpens. © 2003 Torsten Bronger.
Copied here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
|
| Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0 |
| Star |
Visual
mag. |
Abs.
mag. |
Spectral
type |
Distance
(lt-yr) |
R.A. (h m s) |
Dec. ( ° ' '' ) |
| Alpha (Unukalhai) |
2.63 |
0.87 |
K2IIIbCNFe |
73 |
15 44 16 |
+06 25 32 |
| Eta (Alava) |
3.23 |
1.84 |
K0III |
62 |
18 21 18 |
-02 53 56 |
| Theta (Alya) |
3.4 |
|
|
132 |
18 56 14 |
+04 12 10 |
| Theta1 |
4.62 |
1.58 |
A5V |
|
|
|
| Theta2 |
4.98 |
1.94 |
A5Vn |
|
|
|
| Mu |
3.54 |
0.14 |
A0V |
156 |
15 49 37 |
-03 25 49 |
| Xi |
3.54 |
0.99 |
F0III |
105 |
17 37 35 |
-15 23 55 |
| Beta (Chow) |
3.65 |
0.29 |
A3V |
153 |
15 46 11 |
+15 25 18 |
| Epsilon |
3.71 |
2.04 |
A2Vm |
70 |
15 50 49 |
+04 28 40 |
| Delta (Tsin) |
3.80 |
-0.25 |
F0IV |
210 |
15 34 48 |
+10 32 21 |
| Gamma |
3.85 |
3.62 |
F6V |
36 |
15 56 27 |
+15 39 42 |
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