Explore the Universe - Auriga

The constellation of Auriga was relatively unknown to me until I decided to study it in the Winter of 2017.  It has been a known constellation since the first Mesopotemian civilizations that thrived several thousand years ago.  It is supposed to represent a charioteer.

Several ancient Greek myths involve charioteers throughout history.  The mythological Athenian king, Erichthonius, is recorded to be associated with the constellation.  It is said that the smith god Hephaestus had unwittingly impregnated the primordial Greek deity Gaia and she bore Erichthonius.  He was given to Athena who was to guard and protect him.  At some point she placed him in a box with a serpent and gave him to three Athenian princesses with the instructions to never open the box.  Overcome with curiosity they opened the box and were killed by the snake.  When Erichthonius grew up he overthrew the usurper king of Athens and he, himself became king.  He taught the people of Athens how to use horses to pull chariots.  He even invented the four-horse chariot and used it to race in Greek games.  His skill at chariot racing was renowned throughout the land and even impressed Zeus who raised him to be immortalized in the sky as Auriga.  An artistic depiction is shown below.  He is usually shown holding baby lambs under his arms with a whip in his free hand.

Auriga (Artist Interpretation)

The constellation, although lesser known, is fairly bright and is right overhead during Winter in the Northern Hemisphere.  Its brightest star, Capella, is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere after Vega and Arcturus.  The main body of the constellation was easy to map due to the brightness of the stars.  However, Auriga is a fairly large constellation which made finding the dimmer stars more difficult, especially the ones forming the whip.  Beta Tauri (Elnath), the lower horn of Taurus, is almost always used to join the asterism into a nice shape.  A record of my observation is shown below.

Auriga Observing Record

I spent a lot of time observing the three Messier objects contained in the constellation.  The Milky Way runs right through the middle of the constellation which shows off its many open clusters.  M36, M37 and M38 are all fairly bright open clusters quite near each other between Beta Tauri and Theta Aurigae.  Even with low transparency due to cloud cover I was able to see all three Messier objects with my 8" telescope.

You can see this constellation throughout December in the eastern sky being poked by the horns of Taurus.

Stay warm and keep looking up!