Constellation Chart

The River Eridanus

"Eridanus" is a name of river in the Greek mythology. The river starts at the left foot of Orion, at Rigel, in the north, flows southward meandering a few times, and ends far to the south at Achernar, meaning the end of river. The star, alpha Eri is bright over the first magnitude, and is only visible in latitudes south of 33 degrees, which eliminates most of Japan. The story of Eridanus is related with Phaethon, son of Helios the Sun God. One day, Phaethon borrowed the celestial chariot from his father, the sun was seen as carried on a chariot driven by Helios. But Phaethon failed to control the chariot driving on the original road on which the sun should be carried. As he galloped so far in the sky, and the earth was to freezing, then he plunged so close to the ground that the earth was burnt. Zeus was very angry when he knew this nonsense, and sent a thunderbolt by which killed him. And the story tells that Phaethon fell into the river Eridanus. You can see a very minor constellation of Fornax that is seen being held in the Eridanus. The constellation was invented by Lacaille in 16th century, and represents a furnace for chemical experiments.

Galaxies In Eridanus

NGC1300

NGC1300 is a small galaxy lying in the middle of Eridanus meandering in the winter south sky. The galaxy has a major axis of 6 arc minutes and 11th magnitude; it cannot be listed in observing objects with amateur telescopes because of its small size and darkness. But NGC1300 is positioned at 2.3 degrees north of tau4 Eri with 4th magnitude so it's fairly easy to catch in the field of view. A major characteristic of NGC1300 is being well-proportioned "bared" structure. You can detect a clear bar stretched to east and west direction from a dimmed nucleus, and two spirals are coiled up from each tip of the bar. Actually NGC1300 is fairly familiar with photographs taken by big telescopes, and often quoted as a typical example of Bared Galaxies.

NGC 1232

NGC 1232 is a "Grand Design" spiral galaxy not unlike M101. However, in this case the spiral arms are curiously bent and not gently curved as is more typically the case. This is most likely due to gravitation interactions with its neighbor (on the top in this image). It is almost as if the structure of the central bar of the galaxy has somehow been morphed into the structure of the arms (wild speculation!). NGC 1232 is approximately 70 million light years away.

Nebula's In Eridanus

IC2118

IC2118 is an extraordinary faint reflection nebula distributed just west of Rigel, beta Ori. This picture has been taken a strong emphasizing process to make appear the dimmed shape of nebula. A white and bright star in lower left hand side is Rigel, and the nebula is reflecting the light of Rigel. But IC2118 belongs to a neighbored constellation of Eridanus. The nebula has a shape of like a crescent with a length of about 3 degrees in north-south direction. And IC2118 associates the face of aged-witch with its chin turned-up, so the nebula has a comical nickname of "The witch's face".

NGC 1535

NGC 1535 is very similar to the Eskimo Nebula in both structure and color. Through our telescope this bubble of gas appears to glow a pale neon aqua. Visually the central star can sometimes be difficult to see- but in the image its existence is quite certain. NGC 1535 is no less than 1,500 light years away. Once you have seen NGC 6543, NGC 6826, and NGC 7662- be sure to swing by Eridanus for this little gem.

Planetary Destinations In Eridanus

HD 19994

Parent Star: HD 19994 (F8 V) is also known as 94 Ceti in the constellation of Eridanus is located at a distance of 72.99 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 03 12 46.4365 & Declination: -01 11 45.964. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 5.07 . The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 1 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 3.12 AU and the estimated stellar lifespan of the star is 4064 million years. Orbiting around HD 19994 is planet HD 19994b (94 Ceti ) the planet is believed to be a Sulfurous Cloud Jovian planet and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planets Appearance is Sulfur stained clouds of water or H2SO4 and the Planet it is at the inner edge of habitability Zone at Mean Orbital Distance estimated radius of the planet is 1.041 Jupiters 1. The planet Orbits around the star every 454 ± 19 Days and was discovered by M. Mayor, D. Naef, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, N.C. Santos, S. Udry in 2000.

HD 10647

Parent Star: HD 10647 / q1 Eridani (F8V) in the constellation of Eridanus is located at a distance of 56.42 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 01 42 29.3157 & Declination: -53 44 27.003. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 5.52. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.64 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 1.99 AU. Orbiting around HD 10647 is planet HD 10647b / q1 Eridani b the planet is believed to be a Water Cloud Jovian planet and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planets Appearance is White water ice clouds at Mean Orbital Distance of 2.1 AU and passes through the habitability zone. The planet Orbits around the star every 1040 ± 37 Days and was discovered by MAYOR M. et al in 2003.

HD 28185

Parent Star: HD 28185 (G8 V) in the constellation of Eridanus is located at a distance of 128.5 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 04 26 26.3205 & Declination: -10 33 02.955. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 7.81. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.51 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 1.59 AU and the estimated stellar lifespan of the star is 10306 million years. Orbiting around HD 28185 is planet HD 28185b the planet is believed to be a Water Cloud Jovian planet and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planets Appearance is White water, ice, and clouds at Mean Orbital Distance of 1.03 AU. The Planet is believed to be at Earthlike Temperatures within the habitability zone. The planet Orbits around the star every 383 ± 2 Days and was discovered by Michel Mayor, Dominique Naef, Francesco Pepe, Didier Queloz, Nuno C. Santos, Stephane Udry, Michel Burnet in 2001.