We are going to get to know Ophiuchus better in this post.
Ophiuchus is who we are looking for in the July night sky, let’s see how we can find him.
This is lesson three of our free beginner video course to help you learn the star constellations of the night sky using nothing more than your curious mind and naked eyes.
In lesson two, we learned how to find Scorpio The Scorpion and Aquila The Eagle and in our bonus 4th of July video, we were introduced to Ophiuchus for the first time.
We will use the information we have already learned to help us learn to see Ophiuchus.
In recent years, Ophiuchus has gotten some extra attention becoming known as the 13th sign of the zodiac. One of the reasons for this is because the foot of Ophiuchus does touch the arc of the ecliptic, just like the other 12 constellations of the zodiac do. (see images in video)
Most know of the zodiac constellations through their star sign in astrology and we will be getting back to the renewed interest of Ophiuchus being the 13th sign of the zodiac in other posts, but for this one let’s learn to do something not even your favorite astrologer likely knows how to do…find the star constellation known as Ophiuchus in the Summertime sky.
To find Ophiuchus, we will first focus on the special area of the sky we call The Real Oracle or The Real All-Seeing Eye. This is the special place in the sky where the Arc of the Ecliptic crosses the North-South Meridian Line when we face south and look up.
During the month of July in the Northern Hemisphere, you will find Ophiuchus traveling along the area of the cross of the Arc of the Ecliptic and the North-South Meridian Line, right above Scorpio The Scorpion’s location, during the 1st 2 hours after sunset, in the Northern Hemisphere.
All we have to do is lift our gaze just above Scorpio’s location to find Ophiuchus, though he is a bit of a challenge to identify.
The first challenge to see Ophiuchus is that this constellation does not have many big or bright stars in it, though, I use what I call the tip of Ophiuchus’ hat to guide me.
Another challenge is that the constellation of Ophiuchus is a large, spread out star grouping. Combining this with the lack of bright stars makes this constellation a little harder to locate, but using what we’ve already learned about Scorpio and Aquila, it should make it easier to spot Ophiuchus – The Serpent Handler AKA The Wounded Healer in the Summertime sky.
The information we are learning here comes from the book series Constellations by Campfire: The Easy and Naked Eye Way – Summer Season – Northern Hemisphere, available in both paperback and e-book versions. (links included)
When you look at old celestial atlas drawings of Ophiuchus The Serpent Handler, it is difficult to see the mythological man holding a serpent in Ophiuchus. We will learn going forward that some constellations like those we’ve looked at already; Ursa Major, Leo, Scorpio and Aquila look more like what they are said to represent than constellations like Ophiuchus. Isn’t it easier to look up and see what our ancient ancestors did in a bear, a lion, a scorpion and an eagle than it is to see this man holding a serpent in the constellation of Ophiuchus?
We are also going to learn as we go forward that as beautiful as some of the older celestial atlas illustrations of star constellations are beautiful, they were being used to cover up some bigger or higher truths about the knowledge of these star groupings and the way that they move, how long we’ve had this knowledge and who exactly it is that has covered this knowledge up today.
One instance of what I mean can be found by searching the mainstream information about Ophiuchus we are give. If you search Wikipedia, for example, for information on Ophiuchus, you will find that they report that the constellation of Ophiuchus has no record of it as being known as a constellation until the 4th or 5th Century B.C.E. , specifically in Ancient Greece.
Because of the enormous discoveries we made, I know that this same constellation may have not been called Ophiuchus until the 4th or 5th Century B.C.E. in Ancient Greece, but was known and tracked long before then.
Our research finds strong evidence that this same star constellation we call Ophiuchus today, had a similar “wounded healer” story, but was much older and called a different name in a different civilization. A civilization going back to perhaps the 24th Century. This means some 2,000 plus years older than the Ancient Greek culture that began calling this star grouping Ophiuchus.
We will get into more of this and the mythology of Ophiuchus in another post, but for this one see if you can go outside in the July sky, the first 2 hours after the sun goes down and locate Ophiuchus The Serpent Handler in the Northern Hemisphere Summertime sky tonight.
If you like the Ophiuchus design featured in this post, you can find it in the shop.
Until next time…stay lit and be well,
shannon