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Cancer

 
Dictionary: Can·cer   (kăn'sər) pronunciation
n. In all senses also called Crab.
  1. A constellation in the Northern Hemisphere near Leo and Gemini.
    1. The fourth sign of the zodiac in astrology.
    2. One who is born under this sign.

[Middle English, from Latin. See canker.]


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(Latin: "Crab") In astronomy, the constellation lying between Leo and Gemini; in astrology, the fourth sign of the zodiac, governing approximately the period June 22 – July 22. It is represented as a crab (or crayfish), a reference to the crab in Greek mythology that pinched Heracles while he was fighting the Lernaean hydra. Heracles crushed the crab, but his enemy Hera rewarded it by placing it in the sky as a constellation.

For more information on Cancer, visit Britannica.com.

The Crab, in astronomy, a winter constellation and the faintest of the zodiacal groups. Cancer, the fourth sign of the zodiac, is important because during early times it marked the northernmost limit of the ecliptic, when the zodiacal system was adopted. The Tropic of Cancer takes its name from this constellation. Four faint stars form a rough Y outline, which is suggestive of a crab. In the center of Cancer is a hazy object. This is a magnificent cluster of faint stars called Praesepe (the Beehive) or the Manger. See also Constellation.


 
Cancer [Lat.,=the crab], in astronomy, constellation lying on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Gemini and Leo; it is a constellation of the zodiac. It contains the star cluster Praesepe, but no bright stars. The tropic of Cancer takes its name from this constellation, in which the summer solstice was located about 2,000 years ago. Now, because of the precession of the equinoxes, the summer solstice has moved westward into the constellation Gemini. Cancer reaches its highest point in the evening sky in March.


Wikipedia: Cancer (constellation)
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Cancer
Constellation
Cancer
List of stars in Cancer
Abbreviation Cnc
Genitive Cancri
Pronunciation /ˈkænsər/, genitive /ˈkæŋkraɪ/
Symbolism the Crab
Right ascension 9
Declination +20
Area 506 sq. deg. (31st)
Main stars 5
Bayer/Flamsteed
stars
76
Stars with
known planets
2
Bright stars 0
Nearby stars 2
Brightest star β Cnc (Altarf) (3.5m)
Nearest star DX Cnc (11.8 ly)
Messier objects 2
Meteor showers Delta Cancrids
Bordering
constellations
Lynx
Gemini
Canis Minor
Hydra
Leo
Leo Minor (corner)
Visible at latitudes between +90° and −60°.
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of March.

Cancer is one of the thirteen constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Its symbol is Cancer glyph.png (Unicode ♋). Cancer is small and its stars are faint. It lies between Gemini to the west and Leo to the east, Lynx to the north and Canis Minor and Hydra to the south.

Contents

Notable features

Planetary system

55 Cancri is a quintuple planet system with four gas giants and one terrestrial planet.

Deep sky objects

Cancer is the best noted among stargazers as the home of Praesepe (Messier 44), an open cluster also called the Beehive Cluster or the Gate of Men, which contains the star ε Cancri. The smaller, denser open cluster Messier 67 can also be found here.

Named Stars

Bayer Name Origin Meaning
α Acubens Arabic the claws
β Al Tarf Arabic the end
γ Asellus Borealis Latin northern donkey
δ Asellus Australis Latin southern donkey
ε, M44 Praesepe (or the beehive cluster) Latin manger
ζ Tegmine Greek skin
λ Kwan Kei Chinese bright fire
ξ Nahn Persian nose

Names

In Ancient Greece, Aratus called the constellation Καρκινος (Karkinos), which was followed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy. The Alfonsine tables called it Carcinus, a Latinized form of the Greek word. Eratosthenes extended this as Καρκινος, Ονοι, και Φατνη: the Crab, Asses, and Crib.

The Indian language Sanskrit shares a common ancestor with Greek, and the Sanskrit name of Cancer is Karka and Karkata. In Telugu it is "Karkatakam", in Kannada "Karkataka" or "Kataka", in Tamil Karkatan, and in Sinhalese Kagthaca. The later Hindus knew it as Kulira, from the Greek Κολουρος (Koloyros), the term originated by Proclus.

In Ancient Rome, Manilius and Ovid called the constellation Litoreus (shore-inhabiting). Astacus and Cammarus appear in various classic writers, while it is called Nepa in Cicero's De Finibus and the works of Columella, Plautus, and Varro; all of these words signify crab, lobster, or scorpion.

Athanasius Kircher said that in Coptic Egypt it was Κλαρια, the Bestia seu Statio Typhonis (the Power of Darkness). Jérôme Lalande identified this with Anubis[citation needed], one of the Egyptian divinities commonly associated with Sirius.

Representations

Cancer as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.

The modern symbol for Cancer represents the pincers of a crab, but Cancer has been represented with various types of creatures, usually those living in the water, and always those with an exoskeleton, decapods in particular.

In the Egyptian records of about 2000 BC it was described as Scarabaeus (Scarab), the sacred emblem of immortality, although Peter Jensen claimed this sign had been a tortoise in Babylonia, and that it was so figured there and in Egypt 4000 BC.[citation needed] In the 12th century, an illustrated astronomical manuscript shows it as a water beetle. Albumasar writes of this sign in the work published in 1489 as a large crayfish. Jakob Bartsch and Stanislaus Lubienitzki, in the 17th century, described it as a lobster.

Mythology

Cancer the crab, plays a minor role in the Twelve Labors of Hercules. While Hercules was busy fighting the multi-headed monster, Hydra, the goddess Hera, who did not like Hercules, sent the Crab to distract him. Cancer grabbed onto the hero's toe with its claws, but barely breaking the rhythm of his great battle with Hydra, Hercules crushed the crab with his foot. Hera, grateful for the little crustacean's heroic but pitiful effort, gave it a place in the sky; but none of its stars were bright because the crab had failed to accomplish its given task.

Cancer is said to have been the place for the Akkadian Sun of the South, perhaps from its position at the winter solstice in very remote antiquity. But afterwards it was associated with the fourth month Duzu (June-July in the modern western calendar), and was known as the Northern Gate of Sun.[citation needed]

Showing but few stars, and its brightest stars being of only 4th magnitude, Cancer was often considered the "Dark Sign", quaintly described as black and without eyes. Dante, alluding to this faintness and position of heavens, wrote in Paradiso:

Then a light among them brightened,
So that, if Cancer one such crystal had,
Winter would have a month of one sole day.

Astrology

As of 2002, the Sun appears in the constellation Cancer from July 21 to August 9. In tropical astrology, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Cancer from June 24 to July 23, and in sidereal astrology, from July 16 to August 15.

References

External links


Coordinates: Sky map 09h 00m 00s, +20° 00′ 00″


 
 
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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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