Nothing But The Facts About the Constellation Pisces

Left: A mythological image of Pisces. (Image credit: Fulkanelli at Wikimedia Commons under a GNU Free Documentation license, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Pisces2.jpg)

Below right: This photo of the constellation Pisces shows, enlarged in their true color, the main "naked eye" stars that make up the shape of the constellation. Image courtesy of http://www.scienceandart.com

1. Image of: A pair of fishes

2. Right ascension: 1h

3. Declination: +15 degrees

4. Genitive: Piscium

5. Latitudes visible at: Between +90 degrees and -65 degrees

6. Time best visible: At 21:00 in November

7. Area of sky covered: 889 square degrees

8. Rank in constellation size: 14th

9. Stars: Alpha Piscium (Al Rischa), Beta Piscium (Samaka), Epsilon Piscium (Kaht), Delta Piscium (Linteum), Zeta Piscium (Revati), Eta Piscium (Kallat Nunu) and Omicron Piscium (Torcular)

10. Other objects in the constellation: M74 (a spiral galaxy)

11. Brightest star: Eta Piscium (Kallat Nunu, with an apparent magnitude of 3.6)

12. Nearest star: Van Maanen's star, about 14.1 light-years away

13: Meteor showers: Piscids

14. Mythology: In Greek mythology, Pisces is a representation of Aphrodite and her sons who transformed into fishes to escape from Typhon. Their tails are tied together so that they dont lose one another.

15. Symbolic significance: The star Beta Piscium has the Arabic name Samaka (for "the fish").

16. Position in the Zodiac: Twelfth.

17. Traits associated with Pisces in astrology: malleable, gentle, compassionate, instinctive, versatile, selfless. gullible

Above right: The symbol for Pisces (Image credit: Tlust'a at Wikimedia Commons, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Pisces.svg, public domain.)

Below: A constellation map of Pisces (Image credit: Torsten Bronger at Wikimedia Commons, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Pisces_constellation_map.png/, GNU Free Documentation license.)

1. Vernal Equinox: The vernal equinox point, also known as the First Point of Aries has now shifted to Pisces due to precession.

2. Water Sign: Pisces, in astrology, is a water sign and is considered to be a negative, feminine sign which means it is introvert.

3. Spiral Arms: The galaxy M74 (NGC628) is a classic example of Sc type of galaxies in the de Vaucouleurs extension of Hubble's galaxy classification in which spiral arms arise directly from the core instead of arising from the surrounding region.