Crater, the Cup, is a faint ancient constellation of the spring sky, a goblet of stars resting on the back of Hydra beside Corvus, the crow.
At a glance
| stars in the figure | 8 |
|---|---|
| nearest star of the figure | Gamma Crateris, 82.3 light-years (25.2 pc) |
| farthest star of the figure | Epsilon Crateris, 376 light-years (115 pc) |
| depth | the farthest is 4.6 × farther than the nearest |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Crater
Crater is one of the constellations catalogued by Ptolemy. It is the cup that Apollo gave to the crow to fetch water; the crow lingered, lied about the delay, and the god set crow, cup and water snake in the sky together, the cup always just out of the crow’s reach. On a dark night its stars do trace a recognisable goblet with a stem and a bowl.
Its stars are all fairly faint. Alkes, which carries the Alpha label, is an orange giant, but Delta Crateris is slightly brighter. Crater sits in a part of the sky far from the Milky Way, where the view runs out of the Galaxy’s disc, so its fields hold few bright stars and many distant galaxies. It is best seen on spring evenings in the north and autumn evenings in the south.
What you see in the piece
Flown out to, the cup spills: Gamma Crateris is the nearest of its stars and Epsilon Crateris lies several times deeper, so the bowl and stem drift apart. Alkes and Beta Crateris also serve in the figure of Hydra beneath it.
Questions
What is the brightest star in Crater?
Delta Crateris, an orange giant, is slightly brighter than Alkes, the star labelled Alpha.
How far away are the stars of Crater?
The nearest star of the figure is Gamma Crateris, 82.3 light-years (25.2 pc) away; the farthest is Epsilon Crateris, 376 light-years (115 pc), 4.6 × farther.