Aries is one of the
constellations of the
zodiac, located between
Pisces to the west and
Taurus to the east. Its name is
Latin for
ram, and its symbol is (Unicode ♈), representing a ram's horns. One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer
Ptolemy, Aries remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. A mid-sized constellation, it is ranked 39th overall with an area of 441 square degrees (1.1% of the
celestial sphere). Though it specifically came to represent the ram whose fleece became the
Golden Fleece in
Ancient Greece, it had represented a ram since late Babylonian times. Before that, the stars of Aries formed a farmhand. Because Aries is zodiacal, its stars were incorporated into different constellations in different cultures, including twin inspectors in China and a porpoise in the Marshall Islands. Aries is a relatively dim constellation, possessing only three bright stars:
Hamal (Alpha Arietis, second magnitude),
Sheratan (Beta Arietis, third magnitude), and
Mesartim (Gamma Arietis, fourth magnitude). The few
deep-sky objects are quite faint and include several pairs of interacting galaxies. Several
meteor showers radiate from Aries, including the Daytime Arietids and the Epsilon Arietids. (more...)
The Christmas tree worm(Spirobranchus giganteus) is a small, tube-building marine
polychaete worm. Both its common and Latin names refer to the two spiral structures, the most common feature seen by divers, which resemble
Christmas trees. These are specialized mouth appendages which trap prey
microorganisms and also act as
respiratory structures.
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