The constellation of Delphinus, the Dolphin // E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani
Click below to read more about my favorite constellation as well as an annotated image!
Delphinus, which is Latin for "dolphin," is the first of the constellations in the "Heavenly Waters" family. This is an area of sky between Sagittarius and Orion filled with dim constellations all associated with water thanks to the Mesopotamians.
Delphinus is one of the smaller constellations, but it is one of the original 48 constellations written about by Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. According to Greek mythology, this dolphin was sent out by Poseidon to find the nereid Amphitrite whom Poseidon wanted to marry. Delphinus did find Amphitrite and convinced her to accept Poseidon's hand in marriage.
There are several named stars here. In order of brightness:
Rotanev (β Delphini) is a binary star system consisting of two equally-bright yellow-white giant stars. The system lies about 101 light years away. Its name has an origin in a practical joke! The Italian astronomer Niccolò Cacciatore worked at and eventually led the Palermo Observatory. His boss, Giuseppe Piazzi published a star atlas, and attached to this star was the obscure name "Rotanev." Niccolò had added this name in honor of himself! His name in English was Nicholas Hunter, which is Latinized to Nicolaus Venator. "Venator" backwards is "Rotanev"!
Sualocin (α Delphini) is an octuple star system with a central triple system consisting of at least one blue-white giant. The entire system lies about 254 light years away. Its name shares its origin with Rotanev: "Sualocin" is "Nicolaus" backwards!
Aldulfin (ε Delphini) is a solitary blue giant star about 330 light years away. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase ðanab ad-dulfīn meaning "the dolphin's tail."
Musica (18 Delphini) is a binary star system consisting of a yellow giant and a red dwarf. The system lies about 245 light years away. It has one confirmed exoplanet orbiting it, about 9 times the mass of Jupiter, named Arion. Both names were given by the people of Japan: Musica is Latin for "music," while Arion is a Greek poet and musician who was supposedly saved at sea by dolphins.
Moriah (HAT-P-23) is a solitary Sun-like star about 1,192 light years away. It has one confirmed exoplanet orbiting it, about twice the mass of Jupiter, named Jebus. Both names were given by the people of Palestine: Moriah is an ancient name for the mountain inside the Old City of Jerusalem, while Jebus is the ancient name for Jerusalem.
The constellation of Delphinus, the Dolphin // CHERUBINO
My favorite constellation! Read more about the stars below the cut. It includes a practical joke played on us!
In order of brightest to dimmest:
Rotanev (β Delphini) is a binary star system composed of two white giant stars about 100 light years away. Sualocin (α Delphini) is an octuple system with the primary being a blue giant star. The system is about 250 light years away.
I grouped these two stars together because they share a similar etymology. Niccolò Cacciatore (1770-1841) was the director of the Palermo Observatory. He attached these names to the stars in 1814 in the Palermo Star Catalog. It wasn't until several decades later that the origin of these names was found. Cacciatore's name, Nicholas Hunter in English, would be Latinized to Nicolaus Venator. Reversing the letters of that name produces the two star names, the result of Cacciatore's little practical joke of naming the two stars after himself.
Aldulfin (ε Delphini) is a solitary star, a blue giant about 330 light years away. Its name comes from the Arabic phrase ðanab ad-dulfīn meaning "the dolphin's tail."
γ Delphini is a wide binary system consisting of a white star and an orange giant. The system is about 115 light years away. Both stars are about twice the mass of the Sun.
δ Delphini is another binary system of nearly identical chemically peculiar blue-white stars. They are about 220 light years away, both being about 1.7 times the mass of the Sun and 3.5 times the size of the Sun.
ζ Delphini is a singular star, a blue-white star that is much younger than the Sun. Age estimates put it at about 500 million years old. The star is about 220 light years away.
