Constellations · Constellation · Capricorni · Cap
Constellation
Capricornus
A goat with the tail of a fish — one of the oldest constellations of all, first drawn in Bronze Age Babylon.
- Genitive
- Capricorni
- Area
- 414 square degrees · 40th of 88
- Brightest star
- Deneb Algedi · magnitude 2.85
- Naked-eye stars
- 83 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- early August
Myth
The Greek god Pan leapt into the Nile to escape the monster Typhon and changed only halfway into a fish. Older still, the Sumerian god of water and wisdom, Enki, was a goat-fish.
History
Two thousand years ago the Sun stood here at the winter solstice. That is why the southern solstice latitude on Earth is still the Tropic of Capricorn.
Look for
Algedi, the goat’s horn, is a naked-eye double — two unrelated stars that just happen to line up.