Fixed star: SCEPTRUM | |
Constellation: 53 Eridanus | |
Longitude 1900: 03GEM51 | Longitude 2000: 05GEM15 |
Declination 1900: -14.30′ | Declination 2000: -14.18′ |
Right ascension: 04h 38m | Latitude: -36.00′ |
Spectral class: K4 | Magnitude: 4.0 |
The history of the star: Sceptrum
53 Eridanus, Sceptrum, is a star in the north east of the River Eridanus
This star is a “left-over” from the now obsolete (non-IAU) constellation “Sceptrum Brandenburgicum“, the “Brandenburg Sceptre”. It contains four stars, of the 4th and 5th magnitudes, standing in a straight line north and south, below the first bend in the River Eridanus, west from Lepus
The Chinese here had an asterism, Kew Yew, the nine Scallops of a Pennon, but in this they included mu (μ), omega (ω), and of Eridanus.
Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889].
The astrological influences of the constellation Eridanus
Legend: Eridanus represents the river Padus or Po into which Phaeton fell when slain by Jupiter for having set the world on fire by misguiding the chariot of his father Phoebus. [Robson, p.44.]
Influences: According to Ptolemy all the stars with the exception of Achernar are like Saturn. Eridanus gives a love of knowledge and science, much travel and many changes, a position of authority, but danger of accidents especially at sea and of drowning. [Robson, p.44.]
References:
Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923].