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Ophiuchus



Abbreviation: Oph
Genitive: Ophiuchi
Right Ascension: 17.18 hours
Declination: -4.24 degrees
  Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, is best seen in summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ophiuchus vel Serpentarius, the Serpent Holder, is generally identified with Aesculapius a physician who was later made a god. Serpents were always associated with physicians as symbols of prudence, renovation, wisdom, and the power of discovering healing herbs. The modern symbol for medicine derives from this.

Aesculapius was the earliest of his professions trained by a centaur Chiron and the ships surgeon of the Argo. He was so skilled in his profession he could bring the dead back to life. After many successful operations and numerous remarkable cures, Pluto fearful that his dominion would vanish, convinced Zeus to strike Aesculapius with a thunderbolt and transfer him to the stars.

  Bright Stars | Deep Sky | Other Deep Sky | Variable Stars | Double Stars
 

Best Known Stars

(Yale Bright Star Catalog)
 
Common Name
or Bayer Number 1
RA DEC Magnitude 2
RASALHAGUE 17.00:34.00:56.07 +12.00:33.00:36.14 2.08
ZET OPH 16.00:37.00:9.54 -10.00:34.00:1.56 2.56
YED PRIOR 16.00:14.00:20.74 -3.00:41.00:39.55 2.74
CEBALRAI 17.00:43.00:28.35 +4.00:34.00:2.26 2.77
KAP OPH 16.00:57.00:40.10 +9.00:22.00:30.09 3.20
YED POSTERIOR 16.00:18.00:19.29 -4.00:41.00:32.99 3.24
THE OPH 17.00:22.00:0.58 -24.00:59.00:58.25 3.27
NU OPH 17.00:59.00:1.59 -9.00:46.00:25.10 3.34
72 OPH 18.00:7.00:20.98 +9.00:33.00:49.87 3.73
GAM OPH 17.00:47.00:53.56 +2.00:42.00:26.19 3.75
67 OPH 18.00:0.00:38.71 +2.00:55.00:53.60 3.97
45 OPH 17.00:27.00:21.28 -29.00:52.00:1.49 4.29
   
 

Deep Sky Objects

(PAS Catalog)

M-10

M-10 This fine globular is rather well resolved even at low powers. It is about 12' in diameter, and has a rather ragged circular shape with stars resolved across its face. A chain of 6 foreground stars starts north of the globular and ends to its south, seemingly bisecting the cluster.

M-107

M-107 This moderately faint object needed a high power and averted vision to yield resolution. It is about 8' in diameter, and is slightly flattened on its northern edge. The brightest area appears to be in the southwestern corner.

M-12

M-12 Lying only a few degrees away from M-10, this object is slightly smaller, about 8-10' in diameter. It is also well resolved across its face, and is somewhat looser than that object. It is basically circular and has a granular center.

M-14

M-14 This object yielded the least amount of detail in my telescope. It is about 8' in diameter, with resolution hinted at the edges at 179X. Little detail other than a granular core was noted.

M-19

M-19 This globular appeared as an milky patch of light about 8' in diameter, with resolution around the edges. Its granular core is flanked by two stars, one to the northwest, and one to the northeast, and appears somewhat ovoid in shape.

M-62

M-62 A fine, bright globular cluster with resolution at the edges, and a bright core. About 10' in diameter, this cluster's core is slightly offset to the southeast. Stars seem to fan out to the west, giving this globular rather unique appearance.

M-9

M-9 This globular cluster is about 6-8' in diameter, roughly circular, with some resolution at the edges. The core is unresolved in my scope, and is somewhat kidney bean shaped, and is elongated in the north to south direction. Under a clear, dark sky, see if you can find Barnard 64, the dark nebula upon which M-9 is superimposed. I saw it as an amorphous region, about 3/4 of a degree in extent, which is almost devoid of stars just to the west of the globular, and ever so slightly darker than the surrounding sky background.

NGC-6369

NGC 6369 This is a moderately bright planetary nebula which is almost 1' in diameter. It appears as a grey puff of light which, with averted vision, has a darker center suggesting angularity (a ring shape). Try high powers on this object.
   
 

Other Deep Sky Objects

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)
  Only Objects less than 10.0 Mag.
 
Object R.A. Dec. Object Type 3 Mag. Uranometria Tirion
NGC 6171 16 32.5 -13 03 GLOCL 08.1 291 15
NGC 6218 16 47.2 -01 57 GLOCL 06.6 246 15
NGC 6254 16 57.1 -04 06 GLOCL 06.6 247 15
NGC 6266 17 01.2 -30 07 GLOCL 06.6 376 22
NGC 6273 17 02.6 -26 16 GLOCL 07.2 337 22
NGC 6284 17 04.5 -24 46 GLOCL 09 337 22
NGC 6287 17 05.2 -22 42 GLOCL 09.2 337 22
NGC 6293 17 10.2 -26 35 GLOCL 08.2 337 22
NGC 6304 17 14.5 -29 28 GLOCL 08.4 376 22
NGC 6316 17 16.6 -28 08 GLOCL 09 376 22
NGC 6333 17 19.2 -18 31 GLOCL 07.9 337 15
NGC 6342 17 21.2 -19 35 GLOCL 09.9 338 15
NGC 6356 17 23.6 -17 49 GLOCL 08.4 338 15
NGC 6355 17 24.0 -26 21 GLOCL 09.6 338 22
NGC 6366 17 27.7 -05 05 GLOCL 10.0 248 15
Tr 26 17 28.5 -29 29 OPNCL 09.5 376 22
NGC 6402 17 37.6 -03 15 GLOCL 07.6 248 15
NGC 6401 17 38.6 -23 55 GLOCL 09.5 338 22
IC 4665 17 46.3 +05 43 OPNCL 04.2 203 15
Cr 350 17 48.1 +01 18 OPNCL 06.1 248 15
Mel 186 18 01.0 +03 00 OPNCL 03 249 15
NGC 6572 18 12.1 +06 51 PLNNB 09 204 15
NGC 6633 18 27.7 +06 34 OPNCL 04.6 205 15
   
 

Variable Stars

(General Catalog of Variable Stars)
  Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude
 
GCVS ID R.A.
(hh mm ss.ss)
Dec.
(deg mm ss)
Variable Type 4 Mag. Min Mag. Max
U Oph 17.00:13.00:59.40 +1.00:15.00:53.00 EA/DM 6.56 5.84
Y Oph 17.00:49.00:57.80 -6.00:7.00:59.00 DCEPS 6.46 5.87
BF Oph 17.00:2.00:59.30 -26.00:30.00:49.00 DCEP 7.71 6.93
V0566 Oph 17.00:54.00:24.30 +4.00:59.00:31.00 EW/KW 7.96 7.46
V0986 Oph 18.00:2.00:5.80 +1.00:54.00:54.00 * 6.15 6.10
V1010 Oph 16.00:46.00:36.20 -15.00:34.00:55.00 EB/KE 7.00 6.10
V2048 Oph 17.00:57.00:47.10 +4.00:22.00:12.00 GCAS+UV: 4.85 4.55
V2052 Oph 17.00:53.00:45.40 +0.00:40.00:35.00 BCEP 5.84 5.81
V2105 Oph 16.00:25.00:1.60 -7.00:29.00:7.00 SRB: 5.38 5.00
V2106 Oph 16.00:46.00:35.90 -21.00:45.00:58.00 SR 7.46 7.38
V2111 Oph 16.00:42.00:34.30 -2.00:59.00:39.00 SR 7.08 6.69
V2112 Oph 17.00:16.00:26.00 +6.00:8.00:11.00 DSCTC 6.52 6.50
V2113 Oph 17.00:17.00:15.10 +2.00:11.00:21.00 SR: 6.81 6.59
V2114 Oph 17.00:25.00:20.00 +8.00:28.00:59.00 SR 6.51 6.40
V2118 Oph 17.00:59.00:12.60 +11.00:17.00:7.00 * 7.09 7.02
V2125 Oph 17.00:32.00:17.90 -22.00:0.00:43.00 ACV 0.04 6.57
V2126 Oph 17.00:57.00:42.50 +0.00:37.00:51.00 ACV 0.00 6.36
V2133 Oph 16.00:33.00:43.70 -2.00:13.00:10.00 BY 0.04 6.57
V2213 Oph 17.00:2.00:44.00 +0.00:46.00:28.00 BY 0.04 6.01
V2215 Oph 17.00:13.00:8.70 -26.00:28.00:33.00 RS 6.34 6.26
V2266 Oph 17.00:20.00:12.00 -22.00:44.00:54.00 M 7.88 6.52
V2291 Oph 18.00:23.00:14.40 +8.00:0.00:9.00 EA/GS 1.10 7.02
V2292 Oph 16.00:50.00:27.40 +0.00:4.00:32.00 BY: 0.04 6.78
V2294 Oph 17.00:17.00:9.00 -8.00:44.00:0.00 M 5.70 3.99
V2296 Oph 17.00:25.00:40.00 +5.00:4.00:42.00 M 4.10 3.00
V2297 Oph 17.00:30.00:49.00 +8.00:22.00:42.00 M 7.50 6.70
V2300 Oph 17.00:57.00:41.20 +6.00:33.00:20.00 ELL: 0.02 6.70
V2302 Oph 18.00:6.00:56.00 +9.00:11.00:42.00 M 5.50 4.07
zet Oph 16.00:34.00:24.10 -10.00:28.00:3.00 GCAS 2.58 2.56
tet Oph 17.00:18.00:56.20 -24.00:57.00:5.00 BCEP 3.31 3.25
kap Oph 16.00:55.00:18.00 +9.00:27.00:5.00 LB: 5.00 4.10
khi Oph 16.00:24.00:7.30 -18.00:20.00:40.00 GCAS 5.00 4.18
ome Oph 16.00:29.00:10.10 -21.00:21.00:40.00 ACV 4.51 4.44
   
 

Double Stars

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)
  Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude
 
Name R.A.
(hh mm.m)
Dec.
(deg mm)
Mag 5 Sep 6 PA 7 Tirion Uranometria
H 19 16 25.6 -23 26 5.2, 5.9 3.10 342 22 336
H 19 16 25.6 -23 26 5.2, 7.8 151.00 344 22 336
H 19 16 25.6 -23 26 5.2, 6.9 156.00 253 22 336
SHJ 243 17 15.4 -26 33 5.3, 5.3 4.60 154 22 337
SHJ 243 17 15.4 -26 33 6.3, 7.8 732.00 74 22 337
SHJ 243 17 15.4 -26 33 5.3, 8.0 10.80 316 22 337
H 25 17 18.0 -24 17 5.4, 6.9 10.20 355 22 337/ 338
SHJ 251 17 39.1 02 01 6.4, 7.5 111.20 328 15 248
STF 2202 17 44.6 02 34 6.2, 6.6 20.60 93 15 248
S 694 17 52.0 01 06 6.8, 7.1 81.80 237 15 248/ 249
STF 2262 18 03.0 -08 11 5.3, 6.0 1.90 278 15/ 16 294
STF 2276 18 05.7 12 00 7.0, 7.4 6.90 257 15/ 16 204