Download common constellations

COMMON
CONSTELLATIONS
CONSTELLATIONS WE CAN SEE
FROM ORWIGSBURG,
PENNSYLVANIA
BIG DIPPER AND
COMPANIONS
URSA MAJOR INFORMATION
• Ursa Major is the best known of the constellation and it
appears in every reference known.
• Calisto was changed to a bear because of Zeus's
jealousy and transferred her to the sky. This is
improbable, as the constellation was already well
established before this time.
• The drawings all show a bear with a long tail, again not
likely correct since bears have no tails. The most likely
explanation for the bears and one which I find intriguing
is the fact that Native Americans called the
constellations the bear, but instead of the tail they
depict the bear being chased around the pole by seven
braves.
• Ursa Minor is a cub of the mother bear, all of this I find
fascinating as it is the same story in Asia, could it be
that the stories are similar because of common ancestry
or contact between the two races?
•
•
•
•
•
FOLLOW THE DRINKING
GOURD
Nonetheless, slaves knew perfectly well freedom lay to the north, and they knew how to
locate north. They used the North Star, or as it is more correctly named, Polaris. Polaris
lies almost directly north in the sky. Slaves fled using the simple direction "walk towards
the North Star." However, unable to plan a route, they risked walking into impassable or
dangerous terrain.
Members of the Underground Railroad were fully aware of the predicament of fleeing
slaves. About 1831 the Railroad began to send travelers into the South to secretly teach
slaves specific routes they could navigate using Polaris. By the beginning of the Civil War
in 1861, about 500 people a year were traveling in the South teaching routes to slaves,
and well established escape routes had been established. Scholars estimate that 60,000
to 100,000 slaves successfully fled to freedom.
Polaris became a symbol of freedom to slaves as well as a guide star. As soon as they
were old enough to understand, slave children were taught to locate Polaris by using the
stars of the Big Dipper.
Slaves passed the travel instructions from plantation to plantation by song. Slaves
brought from the tribal cultures of Africa the custom of creating songs to transmit factual
information. In America slaves turned song into codes that secretly transmitted
information they wished to keep from whites.
"Follow the Drinking Gourd" is a coded song that gives the route for an escape from
Alabama and Mississippi. Of all the routes out of the Deep South, this is the only one for
which the details survive. The route instructions were given to slaves by an old man
named Peg Leg Joe. Working as an itinerant carpenter, he spent winters in the South,
moving from plantation to plantation, teaching slaves this escape route. Unfortunately,
we know nothing more about Peg Leg Joe.
ORION: THE MIGHTY
HUNTER
ORION INFORMATION
• Orion the Giant Hunter or Warrior, he was a giant so tall
that he could wade through any sea, His first marriage
ended when the boastfulness of his first wife got her
banished to the underworld. He was blinded by a
jealous father when he fell in love with a Greek
princess, but regained his sight when an oracle told him
to look into the sun at dawn. When he saw Aurora the
goddess of dawn, they fell in love. All was well until
Orion was stung by a Scorpion, he fell sick and died. In
order to honor him and protect him from his enemy he
rises in the east as his enemy, the Scorpion sets in the
West. Orion is never seen at the same time as the
Scorpion.
• Orion was used to predict the seasons, a midnight rising
of Orion meant that the grapes were ready to harvest, a
morning rising meant that Summer was beginning, and
an evening rising that winter is here
THE ORION NEBULA
•
INFORMATION ABOUT THE
ORION NEBULA
• The Orion Nebula
• Orion Nebula
•
•
Orion is also home to one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky, the Orion
Nebula. The third "star" down in Orion's sword is not a star at all, but the Orion
nebula. If you get a pair of binoculars and look closely at this "star", you will see not
one, but many stars. This is a sight that is easy for anyone to see, even without a
telescope. If you have a telescope, you will be able to make out some of the giant cloud
of gas that makes up this nebula.
This nebula is also one of the very few places in the sky where the Hubble Space
Telescope has been able to spot disks of dust around some the the young stars. Stars
with these disks may be forming their own solar systems.
TAURUS: THE BULL
TAURUS INFORMATION
• Taurus is another of the earliest known constellations,
and so also probably orginated from the Babylonians.
• To the Greeks, Taurus was one of the two bulls with
brazen feet that were tamed by Jason of the Argonauts.
• In Taurean myth, Zeus swam out to Crete as a bull and
seduced Eurpopa who bore a son, Minos, father of
Minotaur, a half man and half bull monster. Minotaur
was locked in a Labyrinth and ate human flesh.
Minotaur was killed by Theseus when he was helped by
Adiadne's ball of thread.
• Taurus was also referred to as being rich in maidens
(the Hyades and the Pleiades, all daughters of Atlas).
THE CRAB NEBULA
INFORMATION ABOUT THE
CRAB NEBULA
•
In 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers wrote down that a "guest star" had suddenly
appeared in their night skies. At the same time, Native Americans made drawings in at
least two places that appear to record the same event. What was somewhat casually noted
as a guest star was in fact a giant star that had violently exploded at the end of its life. An
explosion of this type is called a supernova. The explosion was so large and so bright
that it was visible in broad daylight for at least twenty-three days. It must have been
amazing! You can still see the remnants of this explosion in Taurus. It is called the Crab
Nebula.
The Crab Nebula is one of the most intensely studied and frequently photographed
objects in the night sky. Almost every telescope has taken pictures of it because of its
beauty. You can also see it with almost any telescope or good pair of binoculars, but
don't expect the colors to be as brilliant as the ones in the picture we show. It's still
worth seeing, though. Although this explosion happened almost a thousand years ago,
the gases are still spreading out in space at a speed of thousands of miles per hour.
CYGNUS: THE SWAN
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE
•
The Summer Triangle is another sign that lets us know that Summer is in full
swing here in the Northern Hemisphere. On any clear summer evening, the
distinctive triangle formed by Deneb, Altair and Vega gives us another good reason
to go outside and enjoy the beauty of the night sky.
The last star in Cygnus' tail is Deneb, which is one corner of the Summer Triangle.
After you have found Deneb, which should be easy to do, take a minute to
appreciate this giant star. This is another of the supermassive stars that dwarf our
small Sun. Deneb is more than a hundred times larger than our Sun and much,
much brighter although its great distance keeps us from seeing just how bright it is.
After you have found Deneb, use our chart to locate Vega and Altair, which form
the other two corners of the Summer Triangle. Vega is one of the very brightest
stars on the sky, so it should be very easy to find whether you live in the city or the
country. Vega was also a star in the movie "Contact", which was based on the
novel by Carl Sagan. In the fiction movie, Vega was the star that was the source of
radio signals detected here on Earth.
CANIS MAJOR: THE GREAT
HUNTING DOG
INFORMATION ABOUT
CANIS MAJOR
• Every hunter needs hunting dogs as companions and the Great
Hunter Orion is no exception. Orion has two dogs as companions,
Canis Major (the Great Dog) and Canis Minor (the lesser dog). Both
of these faithful companions sit at the feet of Orion waiting for their
next expedition.
In addition to being one of the companions of Orion, Canis Major is
also the stellar home of Sirius, which is the brightest star in the night
sky. When Canis Major is visible, the brilliant white light of Sirius
shines like a searchlight in the sky. Although Sirius is not a very
large star, being only about one and one-half times as large as our
own Sun, its young age and relatively close distance combine to
make it so bright.
GEMINI: THE TWINS
INFORMATION ABOUT
GEMINI
• Gemini is one of the larger constellations in our sky and also has,
along with most of the other constellations, very interesting
mythology. Although the Gemini is called "The Twins" and actually
resembles a set of twins in the sky, these twins actually had different
fathers.
The twins in this case are Pollux and Castor, which are the stars that
represent the heads of the twins. The twins' mother was Leda,
Castor's father was Tyndareus, who was the mortal king of the
ancient Greek city of Sparta. Pollux's father, on the other hand, was
the Greek god Zeus.
This resulted in the very unusual situation where Castor was mortal
and Pollux, being the son of a mythological god, was immortal.
LEO: THE LION
LEO INFORMATION
• Leo is another companion to Orion in our night sky. You can easily
find Leo any time that Orion is visible by looking East of the Great
Hunter. Although Leo is not as large as Orion, its distinctive shape
makes it very easy to pick out. If you click on the link for the map of
Leo on the right, you will notice that the outline of the lion's head
and the triangle formed by the stars in the lion's hindquarters are
two very distinctive shapes that make this constellation very easy to
spot.
REGULUS: THE HEART OF
THE LION
• The largest and brightest star in Leo is Regulus.
This large blue star shines brightly as the heart
of the lion. Although not a giant star, Regulus is
still over five times as large as our Sun. A small
telescope will show you that Regulus is part of
what is called a "binary system". Binary stars
are stars that have one or more companions that
orbit around the largest star in the group, much
like the planets orbit around our Sun.
DRACO: THE DRAGON
THE STORY OF DRACO
• The Dragon is usually associated with guardian's of the
temples and treasures. Draco was important as it was
the guardian of the star that never moves, the celestial
pole. The celestial pole in ancient times was the
doorway between the mortal world and the eternity. In
Greek mythology the dragon is Ladon, the guardian of
the 'golden apples' of immortality which grew in the
garden of Hesperides, beyond the River of Time, in the
land of death. It is Ladon which Hercules kills in his 11th
labor to get the golden apples.
URSA MINOR: THE LITTLE
BEAR
IMPORTANCE OF URSA
MINOR
• Ursa Minor is mostly known for Polaris,
the North Star which may be found at
the end of the asterism, the Little
Dipper. Ursa Minor does not have any
mythology attached to it, it was created
in the 6th century B.C. as a
navigational aid for sailors out of a long
forgotten constellation called the
Dragon's wing.
CASSIOPEIA: THE QUEEN
CASSIOPEIA INFORMATION
• Cassiopeia is known as the Celestial W
when below the pole and the Celestia M
when above it.
• Cassiopeia is bound to her chair and
forever circles the pole with her head
downward. A fitting punishment by the
Nereids (Sea Nymphys) for her boast of
being more beautiful than all the
Nereids.
• Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus and
mother of Andromeda
HERCULES: THE SON OF
ZEUS
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
ABOUT HERCULES
• Hercules, the Son of Zeus, is best seen in the summer
in the Northern Hemisphere. You can find him by
looking between Draco and Ophiuchus. Hercules is
visible in the Southern Hemisphere from May until
August. Hercules is another of the oldest constellations,
but he was not known to the first Greek astronomers by
that name (early Greeks called him the Kneeling One).
Hercules is best known for his twelve labors, because he
killed his children in a fit of anger. The twelve labors are
thought to represent the Sun's passing through the
twelve zodiacal constellations.
SCORPIUS: THE DEADLY
KILLER
SCORPIUS
• Scorpius is one of the real highlights of the summer sky. Unfortunately,
you can only see the entire constellation during the months of July,
August and September. The head of Scorpio starts to peek above the
southern horizon in June, and, after September, you will just see its tail
as it dips below our horizon until the following summer. At the same
time, the appearance of Scorpio in the southern sky means that summer
is in full swing once again.
The mythology is very interesting because in the legend, Scorpio spent a
great deal of time trying to kill the great hunter Orion, but they are on
opposite sides of the sky. According to varying legends, Scorpio either
was or was not finally successful in killing the mighty hunter. Scorpius
is the slayer of Orion. Sent by a jealous Artemis, Orion was stung
by the Scorpion and caused his death. Orion could not be saved
even by Asclepius, the god of healing.
• Scorpius was also responsible for the runaway horses of Phoebus
Apollo when Phaethon tried to drive the Chariot of the Sun, he
caused great havoc as he careened around the skies, drying up
rivers and scorching the earth.
PERSEUS
THE RESCUER OF
ANDROMEDA
• His quest was to bring back the head of Medusa, not
knowing her whereabouts he went to the three sisters
of Polydectes, who were blind and shared a glass eye.
They refused to help him until he stole the eye and
would not return it until they told him where to find
Medusa. Using a shield given to him by Minerva, he
avoided looking directly at Medusa and beheaded her.
Pegasus sprang out of the Medusa's blood and he rode
him back to Artos, where he found Andromeda chained
to the rocks as a sacrifice to Cetus, using the Gorgons
head, Cetus turned to stone. Perseus and Andromeda
fell in love, both were placed among the stars.
ANDROMEDA: THE
PRINCESS
THE STORY OF
ANDROMEDA
• Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and
Cassiopeia, the king and queen of Ethiopia.
She was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to
Cetus,the sea monster as punishment for her
mother's boast that she was more beautiful
than all the Nereids (sea nymphs). Andromeda
was saved by Perseus when he turned Cetus
to stone by using the dismembered head of
Medusa. The constellation's creation is
credited to the Greeks, but it is likely that they
borrowed it and the story from the
Babylonians