The constellation Eridanus

The constellation Eridanus

The constellation Eridanus is a constellation of the southern hemisphere. It is partly circumpolar around the South Pole. This means that some of its stars are so close to the celestial pole that they never set as seen from Sydney. Part of the constellation is therefore above the horizon all year round there.

The constellation Eridanus is said to represent the great river at the end of the world, or the river of the underworld. Its brightest star, at the southern end, bears the Arabic name Achernar (end of the river). It is the ninth brightest star in the sky, but is only visible in the southern hemisphere and at the southernmost latitudes of the northern hemisphere.

Mythology

Phaethon was the son of the sun god Helios. One day he persuaded his father to lend him his sun chariot. Helios did not feel entirely comfortable with this and told him not to leave the existing track in the sky. At sunrise, Phaethon jumped onto the golden, jewel-studded sun chariot, which was drawn by four horses. The horses noticed at once that it was not Helios in the chariot and raced off. Phaethon had neither the strength nor the skill to steer them. Trapped in the swaying chariot far away from the track, he had to watch as it brushed against the stars of the Big Dipper (in the constellation Ursa Major). The friction made them so hot that the constellation Draco, sleeping next to them, woke up and hissed angrily. When the constellation Scorpius then also raised its poisonous sting in a threatening way, Phaethon dropped the reins in fright. The sun chariot sank far down, so that the Earth caught fire and was in danger of burning up. According to mythographers, this is how Libya became a desert, the seas of this region dried up and the Ethiopians got their dark skin colour. Full of anger, Zeus hurried to the scene to prevent further disasters and struck Phaethon down with a bolt of lightning. Phaethon fell like a shooting star into the river Eridanus. Shortly afterwards, the Argonauts (the myth of the ship Argo) passed by. They saw a terrible sight: his still smouldering body, and birds flying past that fell dead from the sky because of the acrid smoke.

Phaethon's friend, King Cycnus, was endlessly sad about his early death and from then on wandered sadly along the banks of the Eridanus. In the end, the gods took pity on him and placed him in the sky in the form of the swan.