Introduction

Between Scorpius and Sagitarius the Constellation the Snake Handler stands splitting the Constellation Serpens in half.
Ophiucus occupies about twenty degrees of the Zodiac and yet is never mentioned in most astrological tables. It is a very old constellation and has always been connected with snakes

Mythology

The Ancient Babylonians considered this a struggle between good and evil- Marduk(the sun god) being the hero in battle with the evil serpent Tiamat.

The Greeks and Arabs however looked at it differently.
To the Arabs he was the snake collector and to the Greeks he was the Physician Escalus the snake handler. The legend is that the physician first learned healing from the snake and became so good at it that Zeus killed him with a lightning bolt to stop him from making men immortal.

Data

• Latin: Ophiucus
• genitive:Ophiuchi
• short form: Oph
• area: 948 sq deg.
• coordinates:RA=17 hrs. Dec=0
• zodiac: yes

Stars and Nebulae

Table One: Major Stars

In about 1600, Johannes Bayer set up the current system of calling the brightest star alpha and then proceeding down the Greek alphabet for subsequent stars; Ophiucus , however,like Ursa Major, has the first seven stars in a sequence dependent on position rather than magnitude. When all Greek letters are used the remaining stars on a chart are given numbers first assigned by John Flamsteed.

Table Two: Clusters and Nebulae

Our Neighbor Star

First discovered in 1912 Barnard's star is moving ever closer and only Alpha Centauri is closer. If Jupiter was just a little larger it might have ignited and become a star like this Red Dwarf. Located less than six light years away, Theta Ophiuchi is 94 times the distance to Barnard's Star.