Eridanus
Eridanus is the 6th largest constellation in the sky. It is part of the constellation family The Heavenly Waterrs, located between Taurus in the north, Cetus to the northwest, Fornax and Phoenix to the southwest, Hydrus to the south and finally Horologium, Caelum, Lepus and Orion to the east.
It streches from the celestial equator to the far south, roughly from RA = 0 degrees to RA = - 58 degrees and Decl = 1h 20m to Decl = 5h 10m.
The river Eridanus is thought to originate near the star Rigel (belongs to the constellation Orion) and ends at its brightest star alpha Eri.
Despite of its size there are not many bright stars in this constellation. Notable are alpha Eri, called Achernar (arab.: end of the river), with 0.5 mag the 6th brightest star in the sky, and epsilon Eri, a star similar to our sun, which is just 10.7 light years away.
There are several faint galaxies within this constellation, but there are too faint to be observable by amateur scopes. Yet they show up nicely on long-exposure photographs.
BACK to Constelations
BACK to the List of Lists
BACK to the Quiz Bowl Main Page
BACK to Mrs. Merwin's Main Page