BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Cancer the Crab *new*

Cancer the crab scuttles across the late winter sky, well away from its nemesis Hercules. Cancer is a zodiac constellation, the Tropic of Cancer is named for it, and it has existed for over three thousand years. Yet it seems to be a dim and unremarkable constellation. Why all the attention?

Cancer the Crab

How do you see stars during the daytime? One way is with a filtered telescope. But another is if you happen to have a total solar eclipse handy! This amateur astronomer was quite excited to have captured Gamma Cancri (Asellus the southern donkey) while photographing an eclipse. You have to look carefully to find the star: Eclipsed Sun and Asellus Australis.

The Tropic of Cancer is the farthest north you can go and still see the Sun directly overhead. This happens at the June solstice. There's an interesting monument in Taiwan to the Tropic of Cancer. Prize-winning astrophotographer Rogelio Bernal Andreo has taken a beautiful picture of it . The structure is actually all white, but in this picture one side is colored orange by city lights. That side is just south of the Tropic of Cancer and the other side is just north.

A few thousand years ago the Sun was in the constellation Cancer at the June solstice, then in Gemini, and now in Taurus.