60 Fun Facts About Capricorn

Capricornus is usually pictured as a sea goat: half goat and half what?

The hybrid goes back to the Babylonians, who used the goat-fish as a symbol of their god Ea.

Capricorn is which sign in the order of the zodiac?

It spans the 270th to 300th degree, opening at the December solstice.

Which planet rules Capricorn?

Saturn classically also ruled Aquarius before Uranus was assigned there in the 20th century.

Capricorn belongs to which element?

Virgo and Taurus complete the earth triplicity.

What is the modality of Capricorn?

Cardinal signs open the seasons; Capricorn begins northern winter at the solstice.

Which sign sits opposite Capricorn on the zodiac wheel?

The two solstice signs face each other: the crab of midsummer and the goat of midwinter.

Under the tropical zodiac the Sun is in Capricorn between roughly which dates?

The Sun only reaches the actual constellation in late January.

Astrologers describe Capricorn as the season-opening sign of which element?

The combination of element and modality is what gives each of the twelve signs its distinct character.

Which planet is said to be exalted in Capricorn?

Jupiter, by contrast, is in its 'fall' in Capricorn, opposite its exaltation in Cancer.

Capricorn belongs to which polarity group?

The even-numbered earth and water signs are the negative or receptive ones.

Among the twelve zodiac constellations, Capricornus holds what distinction?

It is not the smallest of all 88 constellations, but it is faint, with only one star brighter than magnitude 3.

What is the nickname of the sky region around Capricornus, full of water constellations?

Aquarius, Pisces, Eridanus and Piscis Austrinus all swim nearby.

Which star is the brightest in Capricornus?

Its name means 'the tail of the goat'; the alpha star is a full magnitude fainter.

What does the Arabic-derived name of Capricornus's brightest star mean?

Denebola in Leo and Deneb in Cygnus share the same 'tail' root.

Deneb Algedi, the constellation's brightest star, is what type of variable?

Its light dips by about 0.2 magnitudes every 24.5 hours as its companion passes in front.

Alpha Capricorni is a naked-eye double whose two stars are unrelated; how far apart in distance are they?

They merely line up from Earth: a yellow giant in front and a yellow supergiant far behind.

Beta Capricorni's traditional name Dabih comes from an Arabic phrase referring to what?

Ancient Arabs performed ritual sacrifices when Capricornus first rose before dawn.

What does the name of Gamma Capricorni, Nashira, mean?

It is a white giant about 139 light-years away.

Which catalogue object, a globular cluster some 30,000 light-years from Earth, lies in Capricornus?

Small telescopes can pick out chains of stars extending north from its dense core.

HCG 87 in Capricornus is a compact group of what?

Its three members are interacting and may one day merge into a single giant elliptical.

Which planet was discovered by Johann Galle in 1846 near Deneb Algedi?

By modern boundaries the planet was actually just inside Aquarius at the time.

The Sun stopped being in Capricornus at the December solstice around which year?

Precession has since moved the solstice into Sagittarius, but the Tropic of Capricorn keeps the old name.

The Tropic of Capricorn marks what?

At the December solstice the noon Sun stands directly overhead along it.

At roughly what latitude is the Tropic of Capricorn?

It drifts north about 15 metres a year as Earth's axial tilt slowly changes.

Roughly how far north does the Tropic of Capricorn creep each year?

Earth's tilt varies between about 22.1 and 24.5 degrees over a 41,000-year cycle.

Only four countries lie entirely south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Which of these is one of them?

The other three are Eswatini, Lesotho and New Zealand; 73 countries lie wholly north of the Tropic of Cancer.

How many countries does the Tropic of Capricorn pass through?

They span South America, southern Africa and Australia.

Which Babylonian god used the sea goat as his symbol?

He was the god of wisdom, crafts and the fresh waters under the earth, which suits a creature that is half fish.

Which Mesopotamian city was the main cult centre of Ea, the god whose symbol became Capricornus?

His temple there was the E-Abzu, house of the deep waters.

In Greek myth, Capricornus is sometimes the goat that suckled which infant god?

His mother Rhea had hidden him from Cronus, who was eating his children.

What was the name of the goat, or nymph, who nursed the infant Zeus?

Aratus put her among the stars as Capella in Auriga, so the goat has two claims on the sky.

The broken horn of Zeus's nurse-goat became which famous object?

The horn of plenty could pour out endless food and drink of any kind desired.

Which goat-legged god escaped the monster Typhon by giving himself a fish's tail and diving into a river?

Zeus admired the trick so much he put the half-changed god in the sky.

According to Hyginus, into which river did the goat-god dive to escape Typhon?

The parts above water stayed goat and the submerged parts turned to fish, hence the sea goat.

The goat-god of the wild came from which rustic region of Greece, the principal seat of his worship?

Arcadian hunters used to whip his statue when a hunt went badly.

Which English word comes from the terror the goat-god's angry shout inspired in lonely places?

He was credited with spreading it among the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC.

The goat-god's famous pipes are named after which nymph, who was turned into reeds while fleeing him?

Unable to tell which reed she had become, he cut seven and bound them into an instrument.

What did the Babylonians call the constellation in their star catalogues?

MUL SUHUR.MAŠ, later inherited by the Greeks and Romans as Capricornus.

In Indian astronomy and astrology, Capricornus is called Makara, which is what animal?

The Chinese place the same stars in the Black Tortoise of the North.

Which Hindu festival marks the Sun's entry into Capricorn each January?

In Nepal it is Maghe Sankranti; in Gujarat the day is famous for kite fights with abrasive strings.

The Capricorn festival in India is dedicated to which deity?

It marks the Sun turning northward, so a new beginning; every twelve years it coincides with the Kumbh Mela.

Which gemstone is the birthstone of Capricorn (and January) in tropical astrology?

Garnet is not one mineral but a whole family, in reds, greens, yellows and oranges.

The earliest known depiction of Capricornus appears on a cylinder seal from roughly when?

It was formally listed in Babylonian star catalogues before 1000 BCE.

The Nakh peoples of the Caucasus called this constellation what?

In the Society Islands it was Rua-o-Mere, the 'cavern of parental yearnings'.

Which of these constellations borders Capricornus?

Sagittarius, Microscopium, Piscis Austrinus and Aquarius are its other neighbours.

H. A. Rey's alternative drawing of Capricornus puts which star at the tip of the goat's horn?

Ptolemy's original way of joining the stars is still the more common picture.

The Greek name for Capricorn, Aigókerōs, translates as what?

The sign spans the 270th to 300th degree of the zodiac.

How many stars in Capricornus shine brighter than magnitude 3?

Deneb Algedi, at magnitude 2.9, is the only one; the alpha star manages just 3.6.

How far from Earth is Deneb Algedi, the brightest star in Capricornus?

It varies by about 0.2 magnitudes over a 24.5-hour period.

The Arabic-derived names Algedi and Giedi for Alpha Capricorni mean what?

The two components of the naked-eye double are 109 and 690 light-years away and unrelated.

How far away is the galaxy group HCG 87 in Capricornus?

Its three galaxies are interacting and may merge into a giant elliptical millions of years from now.

In Chinese astronomy, Capricornus lies within which of the four symbolic sky regions?

In the Society Islands the figure was Rua-o-Mere, 'Cavern of parental yearnings'.

In H. A. Rey's alternative drawing, which three stars form the goat's head?

Beta and Alpha-2 form the tail, and Psi and Omega the hind foot.

Due to precession, which constellation holds the Sun at 21st-century December solstices?

When the Tropic of Capricorn was named, the Sun was in Capricorn at that solstice; precession has since shifted it into Sagittarius.

Over what period does Earth's axial tilt vary between about 22.1 and 24.5 degrees, shifting the tropics?

The Tropic of Capricorn sat at exactly 23°27′S in 1917 and will reach 23°26′S in 2045.

How long is the day on the Tropic of Capricorn at the December solstice?

At the June solstice the figure drops to 10 hours 41 minutes.

How long is the Tropic of Capricorn?

It is shorter than the equator because it lies at 23°26′ south.

How many countries lie entirely north of the Tropic of Cancer, compared with just four south of Capricorn?

The four wholly southern countries are Eswatini, Lesotho, New Zealand and Uruguay.

Which 3rd-century BC poet was the first known author to describe Amalthea as a goat rather than a nymph?

Aratus, writing in the same century, identified Amalthea with the star Capella.

Which mass pilgrimage, drawing up to 100 million people, coincides with Makar Sankranti every twelve years?

Pilgrims bathe at the Prayagraj confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna and pray to the Sun.