CANCER (THE

CONSTELLATION)
By: Rafael Chavez
3B (#BestClass)

Dont
state the
obvious!

Origin

In mythology, Cancer is associated with the crab in the story of the

Twelve Labours of Heracles (represented by the Hercules constellation).
In the myth, Hera sends the crab to distract Hercules while the hero is
fighting the Lernaean Hydra, the serpent-like beast with many heads
and poisonous breath, represented by Hydra constellation. When the
crab tries to kill Hercules, the story goes, Hercules kicks it all the way
to the stars.
In another version, the crab gets crushed instead and Hera, a sworn
enemy of Hercules, places it in the sky for its efforts.
However, she places the crab in a region of the sky that has no bright
stars, because despite its efforts, the crab was not successful in
accomplishing the task. Cancer does not have any stars brighter than
fourth magnitude.

>=

Iota Cancri
Type: giant (double star)
Color: Yellow & white
Magnitude : +4.02
298 Light years from Earth

Acubens
A.K.A. (alpha) cancri
Type: giant (double star)
Color: red & white
Magnitude: 4.2 4.27
174 Light years from Earth

Altarf (or Al Tarf)

A.K.A. (beta) cancri
Type: giant
Color: orange
Magnitude: +3.5
290 Light years from Earth

Star Clusters

Beehive Cluster: Open star cluster, over

1000 stars from 6-6.5 magnitudes, 577
Light years from Earth.
Messier 67 (M67): one of the oldest star
clusters, over 100 stars including red
giants, 6.1 magnitude.

Others Around Cancer

NGC 2274 (Caldwell 48)- spiral galaxy,
55.5 million Light years from Earth,
multiple spiral arms with few H II regions
(new star formations).
Regulus- Leos brightest star
Castor & Pollux- Stars within the Gemini
constellation.
[Picture of
NGC 2274 & 2275]