Ophiuchus

[of-ee-yoo-kuhs, oh-fee-]

noun

Astronomy.

genitive

Ophiuchi 

1. the Serpent Bearer, a constellation on the celestial equator between Libra and Aquila.

Ophiuchus

/ ɒˈfjuːkəs /

noun

1. a large constellation lying on the celestial equator between Hercules and Scorpius and containing the dark nebula, Ophiuchus Nebula

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ophiuchus¹

C17: via Latin from Greek Ophioukhos, from ophis snake + ekhein to hold

Example Sentences

This cloud complex, known as Rho Ophiuchi, is the closest star-forming region to Earth and is found in the sky near the border of the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius, the serpent-bearer and scorpion.

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Zeus placed Orion, the scorpion, and Ophiuchus in the sky, but arranged it so that Scorpius and Orion are never in the sky together.

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Not to worry, however: This black hole is 1,600 light-years away, in the constellation Ophiuchus; the next nearest known black hole is about 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros.

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This world — 395 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus — is so young that its building blocks of gas and dust are still coming together.

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Using this technique, scientists successfully found at least 70 new rogue planets with masses comparable to Jupiter in the Upper Scorpius and Ophiuchus constellation of the Milky Way galaxy.

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