No matter where you live in Russia, in any case, you can, raising your eyes to the sky, see the constellation called Crater (lat.), or Chalice. Astronomy lovers who often explore the celestial sphere know that the best time to study this constellation is March. If you are watching the Chalice from the Southern Hemisphere, you will be able to make sure that with the onset of April this constellation occupies the highest position above the horizon. It is not the largest of those that we have the opportunity to observe with the naked eye: it is only in 53rd place out of the 88 available. Not far from the constellation Chalice (if, of course, such a concept is applicable to cosmic distances), the constellations Hydra and Raven are located, with which the mythical story of Apollo is connected …
Punished Trick
Once the god of light Apollo erected a grandiose altar in honor of his father Zeus the Thunderer. To perform the rite of Phoebusprepared everything that was required, except for water, the absence of which was discovered at the last moment. There was no reservoir next to the altar, and therefore the god of light handed his raven with silver feathers a bowl and sent him to fetch water from a spring that spouted on top of a mountain within sight.
The raven flew off to fulfill the order. However, on the way he caught the eye of a palm tree, all strewn with dates. The silver bird could not resist the temptation and turned off the path to eat the fruit. However, she was disappointed: the dates were unripe, their taste was astringent. But the anticipated pleasure of the sweet fruit was irresistible, so that the raven allowed himself to delay the fulfillment of Apollo's commission for a while until the dates were ripe. Time passed, the fruits ripened in their own way, and the silver messenger waited.
Finally, he was rewarded for his patience. Well, after the pleasure received, it was time for heavy reflections: how to justify oneself before the god of light? It was pointless to go for water, but without a plausible explanation, the return did not bode well. The sly one came up with an idea: he plunged his claws into the hydra that lived nearby and headed towards Apollo.
Meekly appearing before the god of light, the silver messenger told him about an insurmountable obstacle that arose on the way to fulfill the order: the hydra guarding the water was to blame. As evidence, the raven placed a hydra in front of Phoebus.
The god of light was notjust outraged, but angry, but not at the hydra, but at the liar who dared to lie to the all-seeing Apollo. The raven was cursed, causing its beautiful silver feathers to turn black.
Besides, as a warning to posterity, Apollo forever left all those involved in history in heaven. This is how the constellation Chalice and the constellations Raven and Hydra appeared.
Second version
The second legend is also told: the constellation Chalice is associated with the ruler of Thracian Chersonesus, Demophon. The story began with an epidemic that destroyed the inhabitants of the city. The healer Apollo conveyed through the oracle: people can be saved if they sacrifice one virgin. Demophon ordered that a list be drawn up, in which the sacrifices were made according to the lot. However, the daughters of the ruler were not on the list. Nevertheless, the sacrifices were performed according to the order, until Mastusius, whose daughter was also on the list, approached the inhabitants of the city. The people began to resent, but the ruler, in order to stop the reproaches from the dissatisfied, out of turn sacrificed his daughter Mastusia.
The instigator of the riots accepted the accomplished iniquity with a humility that was so convincing that the ruler brought him closer to him. But all is not what it seems. Mastusius organized a feast in his house, inviting Demophon and his entire family, including his daughters, to it. However, by cunning, he arranged for the ruler to be delayed by urgent matters, so his daughters were the first to visit. When Demophon appeared, the hospitable host presented him with a cup of drink, consisting of wine and the blood of the king's daughters.
Epilogue: the ruler, together with the cup, was thrown into the sea, named after this event Mastusiysky. But the image of the bowl was forever displayed in the night sky, becoming a constellation.
Collection of constellation stars
The constellation is located within 282 square celestial degrees. With the naked eye, an observer can see 20 stars in the constellation of the Chalice.
- They are not bright, and only one of them can boast of the fourth magnitude: this is the Delta of the Chalice, or Labrum (lip). Its visible brilliance reaches 3.56 m. And if you want to fly to this orange giant, you have to spend 195 light years on it, of course. The spectral class assigned to the star is G8 III-IV. Its other name is the Upper Lip, which corresponds to the theme of the Holy Grail.
- The next brightest luminary is located next to the Chalice Delta, in the very center of the figure. This is the Gamma Chalice: its magnitude is 4.06 m. It is a pair: a dwarf star and a small companion that accompanies it. This double star is somewhat closer to Earth: it will take only 89 light years to get there.
- The third star of the Cup, called Alpha, is an orange star flying at a speed much greater than its neighbors in the constellation. The Arabs call this star Alkes, it is known that it contains a sufficiently large amount of metal, and it will take 174 light years to reach it. Alpha can be observed without a telescope, since its magnitude is 4.08 m and it is brighter than the Sun80 times.
- The fourth star - Beta Chalice, the status of "sub-giant" with a white glow and a brightness of 4, 46 m. The distance to Earth is about 265 light years. The Arabic name is Al Sharasif, which translates as "ribs". The name is identical to the Hydra constellation Nu.
- The fifth star - Gamma Chalice consists of two elements: a white dwarf with a magnitude of 4.06 m and its companion with a magnitude equal to 9.6. This star is the second largest in the constellation of the Chalice.
Variable stars
The constellation Chalice consists of both single stars and variables, the brightness of which undergoes changes over time in the course of physical processes occurring within their fields, becoming clearly visible to researchers.
- The sixth star - SZ Chalice has the status of a variable and is a star system of binary type. Its range from us is 42.9 light years. The magnitude ranges from 8.61 m to 11.0 m. The star is about 200 million years old.
- The seventh star - R of Chalice is also variable and belongs to the SRb type. Its spectral class is M7 and its magnitude ranges from 9.8 m to 11.2 m.
Now you have an idea of what the constellation Chalice looks like, and you can recognize it in the sky.
Other details
The collection of stars called the Chalice was listed as a constellation by Ptolemy, an astronomer, astrologer, mathematician who lived in Roman Egypt in the second century. It is distinguished by poor visibility of objects, and the two spiral galaxies present in the Bowl have a magnitude equal totwelve and below.
Photos of the constellation Chalice can work well if you take them in the winter, around 4 am, and in the spring after midnight.
