Fact sheet
- Latin name
- Crater (Crt)
- Brightest star
- δ Crateris (δ Crt)
- Relative brightness
- 3.56 mag
- Hipparcos catalogue
- HIP 55282
- Area
- 282 deg² (rank: 53 out of 88)
- Right ascension
- 10h 51m 06s to 11h 56m 24s
- Declination
- -25° 11' 45'' to -6° 39' 44''
- Neighbouring constellations
- Leo, Sextans, Hydra, Corvus, Virgo
Visibility
The constellation Crater
Crater is a constellation of the southern hemisphere. Its brightest star is the orange giant δ Crateris. Next to it is α Crateris, which bears the Arabic name Alkes (cup). Unfortunately, the constellation is very faint and hard to notice. The easiest way to find it is to use the brightest star of Leo (Regulus) as a guide. The constellation Crater lies to the south-east of it.
Mythology
We meet the cup in two legends. The first legend is about a raven, a water snake and a cup.
The raven was the bird of the god Apollo, a son of Zeus, the father of the gods. One day Apollo was preparing to make a sacrifice to his father. He sent out his raven to fetch fresh water from a spring. The raven took a gilded cup and flew away. On the way he spotted a fig tree, but its fruit was not yet quite ripe. Although Apollo had told him to hurry, he could not resist, and he waited there for several days until the figs were ripe. Full of figs and looking for an excuse, he grabbed a water snake and flew back to Apollo with it. He told Apollo that this water snake had blocked the way to the spring. However, Apollo saw through his lie. As a punishment, he took away the raven's ability to drink anything during the time when the figs ripen. He then placed the raven, the water snake and the cup in the sky. Since then, the raven has tried in vain to reach the filled cup. For the raven, being placed in the sky was therefore not an honour but a punishment in public view, like a pillory. Since that time it has been said that the hoarse croaking of ravens is caused by their great thirst.
The second legend about the constellation Crater is about King Demophon of Elaious. To protect his city from a plague, he had the daughter of a nobleman sacrificed every year. The unlucky girl was chosen by drawing lots. Only his own daughters were excluded. The nobles did not like this, and when the nobleman Mastusius demanded that the draw should be the same for everyone, Demophon sacrificed Mastusius's daughter. Mastusius swore bitter revenge and killed the king's daughters. He served their blood to the king in a cup, mixed with wine. When the king realised this, he had Mastusius executed. The cup was placed in the sky as a reminder that nobody profits from an evil deed.
