Aries, the Ram, is a zodiacal constellation located on the ecliptic between Pisces and Taurus. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see constellation figures, boundaries, and star identifications. Aries is an ancient constellation. It has represented a ram since the times of Babylon. In Greek mythology, Aries represented the ram whose fleece became the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts. The constellation is relatively dim with only Alpha Arietis and Beta Arietis being as bright as second magnitude. Hamal, Alpha Arietis, is the brightest star in the constellation with an apparent magnitude of 2.0. It is located 66 light-years from our solar system. It is a spectral-class K2 orange-giant star. The name Hamal is Arabic for "Lamb" or "Head of the Ram". Sheratan, Beta Arietis, is a spectral-class A5 blue-white star that shines at magnitude 2.64 and is located 59 light-years distant. Its name means the "Two Signs" in Arabic, referring to the Beta and Gamma Arietis. Mesarthim is Gamma Arietis, a binary star that shines with an apparent magnitude of 3.9. The primary is a magnitude 4.59 blue-white A-type star that is separated from the secondary star by 7.8 arcseconds. The secondary is a magnitude 4.68 blue B9-type star. The binary system is located 164 light-years from Earth. Aries does not contain any Messier objects. The Sun is located in the constellation of Aries from April 18 to May 14. Aries was cataloged by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century C.E. (Common Era). It is the 39th largest of today's 88 modern constellations, covering 441 square degrees of sky. North is to the top left in the above image.
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