Capricornus is a southern zodiacal constellation located between Sagittarius and Aquarius on the ecliptic. Hold your mouse cursor over the image to see constellation figures, boundaries, and star identifications. Alpha, Delta and Omega Capricorni, the three brightest stars in the constellation, make a triangle that makes it easy to locate the figure of the constellation despite the stars not being very bright. Capricornus is Latin for "Horned Goat" or "Goat Horn." The constellation figure is that of a "Sea-Goat" - a mythological creature that is half goat and half fish. Although Capricornus is the second faintest constellation, its mythology goes back more than 4,000 years. The Babylonians and Sumerians both referred to Capricornus as the "Goat Fish." Algedi, Alpha Capricorni, gets its name from the Arabic word for the "Goat." Algedi is a wide optical double star that is separated by 6.3 arcminutes. It can be split by the unaided eye with good vision. Alpha 2 Capricorni is a magnitude 3.57 star located 109 light-years distant. Alpha 1 Capricorni is a magnitude 4.23 star located 687 light-years distant. Both Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 are yellow giants, and both are themselves double stars. Dabih is Beta Capricorni. It is a yellow giant star with an apparent magnitude of 3.07, located 344 light-years away from the Earth. It is also a double star with a magnitude 6.1 blue companion at an apparent angular distance of 3.5 arcminutes. The brightest star in Capricornus is Deneb Algedi, Delta Capricorni. It is an eclipsing binary variable star whose apparent magnitude ranges from of 2.81 to 3.05 with a period a little longer than 1 day, and is located at a distance of 39 light-years. Deneb is an Arabic word for the tail of the constellation. Omega Capricorni has the traditional name of Baten Algiedi, the "Belly of the Goat." It is an M-type red giant variable star that nominally shines at magnitude 4.11 and is located 628 light-years away. Capricornus contains one Messier object, globular cluster M30. It is located a little more than 3 degrees east-southeast of Zeta Capricorni. The Sun is located in the constellation of Capricornus from January 20 to February 16. Capricornus was cataloged by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century C.E. (Common Era). It is the 40th largest of today's 88 modern constellations, covering 414 square degrees of sky. North is to the top in the above image.
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