At an art festival last fall, a customer was reading the information on the back of an image of the Trifid Nebula. She came across the fact that the nebula is located in the constellation Sagittarius and exclaimed, “That’s my sign”! From that remark was born the Zodiac Collection of images. This collection consists of a single galaxy or nebula for each of the constellations of the zodiac. For example, since the Trifid Nebula is located in the constellation Sagittarius, it became the deep-sky object for that zodiac sign. In other words, the Trifid Nebula is the deep-sky object for everyone born between November 22 and December 21. Since that time, the images of the Zodiac Collection have become my best-selling items. Especially popular are the 5 x 7 matted images and the art magnets. People are both for themselves and as unique birthday gifts for friends and relatives.
I thought I might take your mind off the Coronavirus for a few moments by bringing you posts on each of the images in the Zodiac Collection. Before we get into that, I’m going to spend the rest of today’s post talking about the Zodiac itself.
It was the ancient Babylonians, in about 400 BC, who first marked the path of the Sun throughout the course of a year (the ecliptic). They divided the sky into 12 equal portions and assigned a constellation to each portion. These same constellations are the ones we use today.
Here are the zodiac constellations and the modern dates, along with the deep-sky objects that I’ve assigned to each one. Each deep-sky object is in or near the constellation to which it is assigned.
CONSTELLATION DATES DEEP-SKY OBJECT
Aquarius Jan 20 – Feb 18 Eye of God Nebula
Pisces Feb 19 – Mar 20 Pinwheel Galaxy
Aries Mar 21 – Apr 19 Pleiades
Taurus Apr 20 – May 20 Crab Nebula
Gemini May 21 – Jun 20 Jellyfish Nebula
Cancer Jun 21 – Jul 22 Medusa Nebula
Leo Jul 23 – Aug 22 Leo Trio Galaxies
Virgo Aug 23 – Sep 22 Sombrero Galaxy
Libra Sep 23 – Oct 22 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
Scorpio Oct 23 – Nov 21 (Not available yet)
Sagittarius Nov 22 – Dec 21 Trifid Nebula
Capricorn Dec 22 – Jan 19 (Not available yet)
By the way, birthdays in the US aren’t evenly spread throughout the year. The most common signs are Cancer, Leo and Virgo.
Head to https://hiddenskies.com/astrophotography-gallery/ to see (and purchase!) images of each of deep-sky objects listed here.
Next Post: The deep-sky object of Aquarius – The Eye of God Nebula.
Stay safe!
Alan