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

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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