The wonders of the night sky

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• Introduction
• - The wonders of the night sky
• Beautiful, but why the names?
• -Constellations have a history
• Used to be part of mythology
• In 200 C.E. Ptolemy had catalogued
  48 constellations.
• In Modern times, there are 88
  constellations.
• Currently used to identify parts of
  the night sky
• -Constellations look different from the Northern
  and Southern Hemispheres
• -There are many different tales of how the
  constellations got their names
• Very interesting, Greeks, Romans,
  Celts, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Chinese,
  etc. all have their own names and
  stories for the Constellations.
• Some are similar
• - We will be covering the most widely accepted
  myths
• Those that will aid you in identifying the most
  features in the night sky
• Constellations that can be seen from Los Angeles
  during the Winter and Spring
• Planets
• -Greek for wanderers
• -Gods Roman Mythology (8)

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Orion One of the best known constellations in
the winter sky Greek for the Hunter Birth The
Gods Zeus, Hermes, and Poseiden are dressed as
beggars and stop by a farm in Boeotia during
their travels. The farm is owned by Hyrieus who
does not know the beggars are actually disguised
Gods and is so nice to them that he even kills
his only animal, an ox, in order to feed them.
The gods knew Hyrieus only wish was to have a
son. That night, the three gods ejaculated and
urinated in the dead oxs hide then buried it in
the ground. Nine months later, Hyrieus dug up
the spot where the oxs hide was buried and found
Orion, his son. Life Orion was said to be
earthborn. He grew to be a giant among men, was
the best hunter the Earth has ever seen, and
could walk on water. Orion walked across the sea
to Chios. There he fell in love with one of
Seven Sisters he followed, Merope, and became
engaged to her. Meropes father Oenopion would
not permit Orion to marry Merope until he had
killed all of the great beasts of Chios.
Oenopion does not want Orion to marry his
daughter so after this deed is completed, the
marriage is still prevented. A distraught Orion
proceeds to get drunk and rape Merope. As
punishment for this misdeed, Oenopion blinds
Orion and drives him out of Chios.
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A blind stumbling Orion then follows the sound of
the blacksmiths hammer until he reaches Lemnos
where the cyclops Hephaestus forge was. Taking
pity upon Orion, Hephaestus told his servant
Cedalion to guide Orion to the sun for healing.
Orion placed Cedalion on the top of his head and
Cedalion guided Orion to the East until the
reached the Sun God, Helios, who healed Orions
sight. Orion returned to Chios, but Oenopion was
able to hide from Orions vengeful wrath.
However, Orion eventually ended up in Crete where
he hunted with Artemis and boasted he could kill
every animal on Earth. There are two ends of
this myth worth telling. In the first ending,
Apollo rejected his sister Artemis love for
Orion. One day while Orion was swimming in the
Aegean Sea, Apollo bet Artemis she could not hit
a black spot in the sea that she could not see.
Artemis took the challenge and fired off an
arrow only to find out the black spot was her
love Orions head. Over come with grief,
Artemis placed in her chariot, the moon, and
carried Orion up and placed him in the sky where
he is visible by all on Earth and will never be
forgotten. The second ending has mother Earth
being upset over Orions boast that he could kill
all the animals. Mother Earth creates a great
scorpion and sets it upon Orion. Orion not
thinking the scorpion is a challenge, ends up
being stung by it and dying. The scorpion is
said to later die from its wounds. Artemis is
overcome by such grief that she asks Zeus to
place Orion among the heavens and he consents.
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In addition to raising Orion, as a memorial to
the fallen hero, Zeus also raised the scorpion,
but placed it at the farthest point of the sky so
the two would never cross paths. From the
Odyssey, some time after Orions death, Odysseus
sees Orion with a great club of bronze, hunting
in the underworld all of the great animals that
he had previously killed during life. In both
endings to the myth of Orion, Orion was placed
among the heavens with his two favorite hunting
dogs Canis Major The eye of Canis Major is the
brightest star in the night sky, Sirius. Sirius
is often referred to as the dog star. Canis
Minor This little dog is a water dog and stands
on the edge of the Milky Way. who chase Lepus,
the hare Orion is depicted wielding his club as
if ready to strike with his right hand while
guarding himself with a lions skin shield raised
upon his left. He, Canis Major, and Canis Minor
traverse the night sky hunting Taurus the
Bull While, Orion is a winter constellation, the
second ending to the myth of Orion has Scorpio,
the scorpion, placed in the night sky so it rises
in July, so it seems Orion is running towards the
horizon and away from his attacker. Canis
Major Canis Minor Lepus Constantly tries to
evade Orion so it crouches close to the horizon,
even as Orion attacks Taurus.
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Taurus The King of Gods, Zeus, had a habit of
falling in love with mortal women. On one
occasion, Zeus fell in love with the Europa who
would not have anything to do with him. Zeus
then disguised himself as a white bull and
meanders to where Europa is picking flowers.
Europa was awe struck by the bulls beauty and
began to pet the bull. Soon, Europa got onto the
back of the bull and it dashed off. The
magnificent bull ran until It reached the sea
where it swam with Europa on its back until it
reached Crete. There, the bull revealed itself
to be Zeus. Europa ended up marrying Zeus and as
a tribute to the magnificent white bull, it was
raised to the heavens. The bull is seen in the
heavens attacking its Orion who is hunting
it. The Pleiades originates from the greek word
for to watch. The Pleiades are known as the
Seven Sisters and were constantly followed and
harassed by Orion. Zeus took pity upon the
sisters and placed them among the heavens. The
Seven Sisters Merope, Taigete, Mayan, Electra,
Alcyone, Celaeno and Asterope were placed within
Tauruss back to so Taurus could protect them
from the harassment of Orion. Ursa Major and Ursa
Minor (The Great Bear and Little Bear, the big
dipper and little bear respectively)
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Callisto was a nymph and hunter servant to
Artemis. One day while hunting, Zeus took notice
of her and was smitten by her beauty. Zeus took
the form of Artemis and approached Callisto.
Happy to see her, Callisto began telling Artemis
about her hunting adventures. Having distracted
Callisto, Zeus took advantage of her. Zeus
wife Hera became Callistos beauty and Zeus
obsession with her. Some time later, Callisto
bore a son Arcas. Hera became enraged and turned
Callisto into a bear so she would not longer have
her beauty, but left Callisto with her human
emotions. While Callisto wandered the forest
hiding from hunters and the other wild beasts,
Arcas grew and became a great hunter. One day
while hunting, Arcas was seen by Callisto.
Having been separated from her son for so long,
Callisto rushed to Arcas, stood up and spread her
arms to welcome him. Arcas did not know this was
Callisto and only saw a bear ready to attack. He
drew an arrow and was about to fire it into
Callisto when Zeus noticed what was happening and
intervened by turning Arcas into a lesser bear.
Zeus swung the two bears around by their tales
and threw them up into the sky. The bears landed
in the heavens so they could be together without
doing any harm to eachother. The force elongated
the short stubby tails of the bears. Even more
enraged that Zeus placed Callisto and Arcas above
her in the Heavens, Hera went to see Poseiden,
the God of the Sea. She complained to Poseiden
who obliged to never let the touch his waters.
This is why Callisto or Ursa Major and Arcas or
Ursa Minor can always be seen in the night
sky. The stars have since changed position so
Ursa Major now goes below the horizon. Ursa
Minor is said to have a longer tail because it
spins by its tail thus the tail kept extending.
Ursa Major is said to be seen running on all
fours and then walking on its hind legs
throughout the year.
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Perseus Hero from Greek mythology. Son of
Zeus. An oracle told King Acricius of Argos about
a prophecy where he would be killed by a son born
of his daughter Danae. King Acricius then locked
Danae in a tower. One night, Zeus came to Danae
in a shower of gold and she became pregnant.
Danae gave birth to a son, Perseus. Fearful of
the prophecy being fulfilled, but also of the
vengeance of the Gods if he killed Perseus, King
Acricius stuck Danae and Perseus in a chest and
cast it off to sea. The chest floated to
Seriphos where it was found by Dictys who helped
raise Perseus to his teenage years. Dictys
brother, Polydectes who was the King of Seriphos
began to like Perseuses mother Danae. When
Perseus objected to Polydectes intentions, the
King declared his intentions to marry another
woman and required a gift from everyone on the
island. Perseus was unable to provide a gift,
but claimed he would give anything for King
Polydectes to leave his mother alone. The King
then asked for the head of the gorgon,
Medusa. Perseus said he would provide King
Polydectes with this gift and set out on a
journey. Perseus wandered aimlessly as he did
not know how to accomplish this task. He was
just a simple man and Medusa was a gorgon with
hair of snakes and whose look turned mortals to
stone. Athena came to assist Perseus. She
told him the renegade titan Atlas could tell him
where to find the Gray sisters and if they would
be able to tell him where to find the nymphs who
guard the helmet of invisibility. Before leaving
him, Athena gave Perseus her mirrored shield to
aid him on his venture.
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The Gray sisters were born of unkind features,
the least of which was their gray hair and
complection. The three sisters had a single
eyeball which they passed back and forth between
them, thus sharing sight. When the sisters would
not tell Perseus where he could find the nymphs
guarding the helmet of invisibility, Perseus
snatched the eyeball as they were passing it
between themselves. He then held it captive
until the sisters told him the location of the
nymphs guarding the helmet.
Perseus traveled to the River Styx in the deepest
darkest part of Hades to where the nymphs and the
helmet of invisibility were located. Perseus
managed to procure the helmet, the directions to
Medusas lair, a pair of winged sandles, and a
sac to keep Medusas head in once it had been cut
off. For Medusas glare could still turn objects
to stone even after her decapitation. Along the
way to the gorgons lair, Hermes gave Perseus a
sickle of adamantine to cut off Medusas head.
Perseus used the helmet of invisibility to enter
the lair of the gorgons, swiftly moving between
the statues of former mortals. When Medusa
slept, Perseus snuck into her chamber and using
the reflection of the mirror to find and approach
her, he cut off her head. Perseus quickly placed
the head in the sac and used the winged sandals
to flee the scene before Medusas two immortal
gorgon sisters could take vengeance upon him.
From the neck of Medusas lifeless body, Pegasus
and Chrysaor sprung. On his way home, Perseus
came upon Andromeda chained to the side of a
cliff. Andromedas parents the King and Queen of
Ethiopia, Cepheus and Cassiopeia, had chained her
there to fulfill the prophecy of an oracle and
save their land from the sea creature Cetus.
Perseus used Medusas head to turn Cetus into
stone and save Andromeda. Despite her previous
engagement, Perseus later married Andromeda who
bore him many children. Of their descendants, the
most famous of is Heracles.
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Perseus returned to Seriphos where he eventually
turned King Polydectes and his court to stone.
Perseus and Andromeda would then found Mycenae
rule it. Eventually, Perseus accidentally kills
King Acricius of Argos, thus fulfilling the
prophecy that led to his conception. Upon his
death, Perseus was placed in the heavens near his
wife Andromeda and her parents, Cepheus and
Cassiopiea. Perseus can be seen in the heavens
carrying a sword in his right hand and Medusas
head in his left. Cetus A large whale that was
set upon the land of Ethiopia by Poseiden as
punishment for the Queen Cassiopeias bragging.
The whale was on its way to kill the King and
Queens sacrifice, their daughter Andromeda, when
Perseus intervened. Perseus saved Andromeda and
used the head of Medusa to turn Cetus to
stone. Lynx An imaginary creature, named as a
constellation to fill a void where stars were
located. Gemini Representative of the twins
born to the Queen of Sparta, Leda. Leda was
impregnated by two men in one night. Zeus took
the form of a swan and pursued her thus
impregnating her with Pollux who was immortal.
The King of Sparta, Tyndareus, impregnated Leda
who gave birth to their mortal son, Castor. The
brothers were said to have been hatched from an
egg. The immortal brother Pollux was a skilled
fighter while the mortal brother, Castor, was a
skilled horseman. The brothers were very
intelligent and educated. They travelled the
world together, even sailing with the Argonauts
on Jasons journey for the Golden Fleece. The
two brothers went everywhere together. They took
part in the siege on Troy while trying to free
their sister Helen.
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The brothers killed the husbands of two women
they fell in love with, but during the battle,
Castor was mortally wounded. Pollux prayed to
his father Zeus to let him share his immortality
with his brother Castor. Zeus obliged and placed
the brothers in the sky as the constellation
Gemini as a symbol of brotherly love. However,
the two were fated to Alternate between day and
night. Eridanus is a river associated with the
River Po in Northern Italy. In Roman
mythology,Phaethon, the son of the Sun God Apollo
and a nymph Clymene asked Apollo to prove that he
was his father. Apollo said he would grant the
boy anything and by surprise the boy asked to
drive his chariot for a day. Apollo resisted,
but Phaethon became adamant that if Apollo was
his father, he would let him drive the chariot.
Apollo had given his word so he tried to prepare
his mortal son for driving the chariot though he
kept advising Phaethon against it. Phaethon was
determined to drive the Chariot and pull the sun
across the sky, but lost control of the horses
before he even realized his quest begun. The
horses were wild and feeling no control in their
reins, raced to and fro. As Phaethon approached
the beasts of the Heavens, he became scared and
dropped the reins altogether. The sun was thrown
back and forth, scorching the people and lands of
Ethiopia and setting the Heavens ablaze. To
stop it, Zeus climbed to the top of Mount
Olympus, took aim at Phaethon on the chariot, and
fired a lightning bolt straight into his heart.
Phaethon then fell from the Chariot and through
the heavens until he landed in the waiting River
Eridanus. Zeus then placed the Eridanus in the
heavens as the river of the sky.
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Bootes From Greek for the Herdsman and his
plow. Crater During his sweltering task of
pulling the sun across the sky in his chariot,
Apollo sent his crow to fetch him some water from
the rivers. The crow carried Apollos chalice,
but was lackadaisical and took his time on the
errand. He stopped by some mulberry trees and
ate the berries for a few days. The crow finally
stopped in the river and filled Apollos chalice
and returned to Apollo. The crow brought Apollo
not just his chalice, but a water snake. He
claimed the snake had attacked him and that is
what took him so long to return. Apollo, seeing
through the crows falsehoods, thrust his arm
knocking the cup, crow, and water snake into the
heavens. The crow is the constellation Crovus
and faces Apollos chalice, Crater. Crovus thus
endures eternal punishment as he constantly sees
the chalice, Crater, and its thirst quenching
water, but can never attain its contents. Leo
From Greek mythology, Leo represents the Nemean
Lion which ravaged the lands of Corinth. This
gigantic and fiercely Lion descended from the
moon to the Earth in the form of a meteor and had
a coat that was impenetrable by stone or metal.
As his first labor, Hercales trapped the Lion and
strangled it with his bare hands. Hydra A
monster with a canines body and 9 serpentine
heads that lived in a lake near Lerna and ravaged
the land of Argos. Hydra was a formidable
opponent as when one of its 9 heads was cut off,
2 would grow in its place, and both its blood and
breath were poisonous. For his second Labor,
Heracles killed Hydra with the help of his cousin
Iolaus. When Heracles would chop off on of
Hydras heads, Iolaus would quickly cauterize the
wound so another head could not grow back.
Heracles ran into two more problems in his fight
against Hydra. First, Hera had sent a crab,
Cancer, to nip at his legs and feet during the
battle and Heracles had to crush the crab under
his foot. Second, Hydras central and 9th head
was immortal so Heracles had to bury it under a
huge boulder so it would not be
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be able to escape. Cancer Giant Crab sent by
Hera to nip at Heracles feet while he was
fighting Hydra. With his strength, Heracles
crushed Cancer under his foot. To honor the
crabs brave service, Hera lifted it to the
Heavens. Virgo Depicted as the virgin and
bringing the harvest. Considered Persephone who
spends half the year with her mother on Mount
Olympus and the other half in Hades with Hermes.