Rising in the east this month, two mighty giants challenge each other head-to-head in the night sky. That’s the exciting news: on the flip side, they are both composed of stars so faint you could easily overlook these great heroes.
Conveniently, we can use some bright stars to guide us. Bright red Antares lies low in the south and the large irregular egg-shape of stars to its upper left marks the outline of Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer). To the Romans, he represented Aesculapius, the god of healing. According to legend, he was held captive in a snake-infested prison when he saw a serpent bring a herb to a mortally wounded snake – which then instantly recovered. Aesculapius then harvested this herb and set about curing sick humans. (That’s also why the traditional medical symbol features two snakes wrapped around a staff.)
