Astronomical Myths Part 3

Orion, with the beautiful stars Rigel and Betelgeuse.

The River Enda.n.u.s, or the River Orion, with the brilliant Achernar.

The Hare.

The Great Dog, with the magnificent Sirius.

The Little Dog, or the Dog which runs before, with Procyon.

The ship Argo, with its fine Alpha (Canopus) and Eta.

The Female Hydra, or the Water Snake.

The Cup, or the Urn, or the Vase.

The Raven.

The Altar, or the Perfuming Pot.

The Centaur, whose star Alpha is the nearest to the earth.

The Wolf, or the Centaur's Lance, or the Panther, or the Beast.

The Southern Crown, or the Wand of Mercury, or Uraniscus.

The Southern Fish, with Fomalhaut.

The twelve zodiacal constellations, which are of more importance than the rest, are generally named in the order in which the sun pa.s.ses through them in its pa.s.sage along the ecliptic, and both Latins and English have endeavoured to impress their names on the vulgar by embodying them in verses. The poet Ausonius thus catalogues them:--

"Sunt: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libraque, Scorpius, Arcitenens, Caper, Amphora, Pisces."

and the English effusion is as follows:--

"The Ram, the Bull, the Heavenly Twins, And next the Crab the Lion shines, The Virgin and the Scales.

The Scorpion, Archer, and He Goat, The Man that holds the watering-pot, And Fish with glittering scales."

These twelve have hieroglyphics a.s.signed to them, by which they are referred to in calendars and astronomical works, some of the marks being easily traced to their origin. Thus [symbol: aries] refers to the horns of the Ram; [symbol: taurus] to the head of the Bull; [symbol: scorpion]

to the joints and tail-sting of the Scorpion; [symbol: saggitarius] is very clearly connected with an archer; [symbol: capricorn] is formed by the junction of the first two letters [Greek: t] and [Greek: r] in [Greek: tragos], the Sea-goat, or Capricorn; [symbol: libra] for the Balance, is suggestive of its shape; [symbol: aquarius] refers to the water in the Watering-pot; and perhaps [symbol: pisces] to the Two Fishes; [symbol: gemini] for Twins may denote two sides alike; [symbol: cancer] for the Crab, has something of its side-walking appearance; while [symbol: leo] for the Lion, and [symbol: virgo] for the Virgin, seem to have no reference that is traceable.

These constellations contain the following stars of the first magnitude--Aldebaran, Antares, and Spica.

To these constellations admitted by the Greeks should be added the Locks of Berenice, although it is not named by Ptolemy. It was invented indeed by the astronomer Conon. The story is that Berenice was the spouse and the sister of Ptolemy Euergetes, and that she made a vow to cut off her locks and devote them to Venus if her husband returned victorious; to console the king the astronomer placed her locks among the stars. If this is a true account Arago must be mistaken in a.s.serting that the constellation was created by Tycho Brahe in 1603. The one he did add to the former ones was that of Antinous, by collecting into one figure some unappropriated stars near the Eagle. At about the same time J. Bayer, from the information of Vespuccius and the sailors, added twelve to the southern constellations of Ptolemy; among which may be mentioned the Peac.o.c.k, the Toucan, the Phoenix, the Crane, the Fly, the Chameleon, the Bird of Paradise, the Southern Triangle, and the Indian.

Augustus Royer, in 1679, formed five new groups, among which we may name the Great Cloud, the Fleur-de-Lis, and the Southern Cross.

Hevelius, in 1690, added 16; the most important being the Giraffe, the Unicorn, the Little Lion, the Lynx, the Little Triangle.

Among these newer-named constellations none is more interesting than the Southern Cross, which is by some considered as the most brilliant of all that are known. Some account of it, possibly from the Arabs, seems to have reached Dante, who evidently refers to it, before it had been named by Royer, in a celebrated pa.s.sage in his "Purgatory." Some have thought that his reference to such stars was only accidental, and that he really referred only to the four cardinal virtues of theology, chiefly on account of the difficulty of knowing how he could have heard of them; but as the Arabs had establishments along the entire coast of Africa, there is no difficulty in understanding how the information might reach Italy.

Americus Vespuccius, who in his third voyage refers to these verses of Dante, does not mention the name of the Southern Cross. He simply says that the four stars form a rhomboidal figure. As voyages round the Cape multiplied, however, the constellation became rapidly more celebrated, and it is mentioned as forming a brilliant cross by the Florentine Andrea Corsali, in 1517, and a little later by Pigafetta, in 1520.

All these constellations have not been considered sufficient, and many subsequent additions have been made. Thus Lacaille, in 1752, created fourteen new ones, mostly characterized by modern names--as the Sculptor's Studio, the Chemical Furnace, the Clock, the Compa.s.s, the Telescope, the Microscope, and others.

Lemonnier, in 1766, added the Reindeer, the Solitaire, and the Indian Bird, and Lalande the Harvestman. Poczobut, in 1777, added one more, and P. h.e.l.l another. Finally, in the charts drawn by Bode, eight more appear, among which the Aerostat, and the Electrical and Printing Machines.

We thus arrive at a total of 108 constellations. To which we may add that the following groups are generally recognized. The Head of Medusa, near Perseus; the Pleiades, on the back, and the Hyades on the forehead of the Bull; the Club of Hercules; the Shield of Orion, sometimes called the Rake; the Three Kings; the Staff of S. James; the Sword of Orion; the Two a.s.ses in the Crab, having between them the Star Cl.u.s.ter, called the Stall, or the Manger; and the Kids, near Capella, in the constellation of the Coachman.

This brings the list of the constellations to 117, which is the total number now admitted.

A curious episode with respect to these star arrangements may here be mentioned.

About the eighth century Bede and certain other theologians and astronomers wished to depose the Olympian G.o.ds. They proposed, therefore, to change the names and arrangements of the constellations; they put S. Peter in the place of the Ram; S. Andrew instead of the Bull; and so on. In more recent calendars David, Solomon, the Magi, and other New and Old Testament characters were placed in the heavens instead of the former constellations; but these changes of name were not generally adopted.

As an example of these celestial spheres we figure a portion of one named _Coeli stellati Christiani hemispheric.u.m prius_. We here see the Great Bear replaced by the Barque of S. Peter, the Little Bear by S.

Michael, the Dragon by the Innocents, the Coachman by S. Jerome, Perseus by S. Paul, Ca.s.siopeia by the Magdalene, Andromache by S. Sepulchre, and the Triangle by S. Peter's mitre; while for the zodiac were subst.i.tuted the Twelve Apostles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.]

In the seventeenth century a proposal was made by Weigel, a professor in the University of Jena, to form a series of heraldic constellations, and to use for the zodiac the arms of the twelve most ill.u.s.trious families in Europe; but these attempts at change have been in vain, the old names are still kept.

Having now explained the origin in modern times of 69 out of the 117 constellations, there remain the 48 which were acknowledged by the Greeks, whose origin is involved in more obscurity.

One of the first to be noticed and named, as it is now the most easily recognized and most widely known, is the _Great Bear_, which attracts all the more attention that it is one of those that never sets, being at a less distance from the pole than the latter is from the horizon.

Every one knows the seven brilliant stars that form this constellation.

The four in the rectangle and the three in a curved line at once call to mind the form of a chariot, especially one of antique build. It is this resemblance, no doubt, that has obtained for the constellation the name of "the Chariot" that it bears among many people. Among the ancient Gauls it was "Arthur's Chariot." In France it is "David's Chariot," and in England it goes by the name of "King Charles' Wain," and by that of the "Plough." The latter name was in vogue, too, among the Latins (_Plaustrum_), and the three stars were three oxen, from whence it would appear that they extended the idea to all the seven stars, and at last called them the _seven_ oxen, _septem-triones_, from whence the name sometimes used for the north--septentrional. The Greeks also called it the Chariot ([Greek: Hamaxa]), and the same word seems to have stood sometimes for a plough. It certainly has some resemblance to this instrument.

If we take the seven stars as representing the characteristic points of a chariot, the four stars of the quadrilateral will represent the four wheels, and the three others will represent the three horses. Above the centre of the three horses any one with clear sight may perceive a small star of the fifth or sixth magnitude, called the Cavalier. Each of these several stars is indicated, as is usual with all the constellations, by a Greek letter, the largest being denoted by the first letter. Thus the 4 stars in the quadrilateral are [Greek: a], [Greek: b], [Greek: g], [Greek: d], and the 3 tail stars [Greek: e], [Greek: x], [Greek: e]. The Arabs give to each star its special name, which in this case are as follows:--Dubhe and Merak are the stars at the back; Phegda and Megrez those of the front; Alioth, Mizat, and Ackar the other three, while the little one over Mizat is Alcor. Another name for it is Saidak, or the Tester, the being able to see it being a mark of clear vision.

There is some little interest in the Great Bear on account of the possibility of its being used as a kind of celestial time-keeper, and its easy recognition makes it all the more available. The line through [Greek: a] and [Greek: b] pa.s.ses almost exactly through the pole. Now this line revolves of course with the constellation round the pole in 24 hours; in every such interval being once, vertical above the pole, and once vertical below, taking the intermediate positions to right and left between these times. The instant at which this line is vertical over the pole is not the same on any two consecutive nights, since the stars advance each day 4 minutes on the sun. On the 21st of March the superior pa.s.sage takes place at 5 minutes to 11 at night; on the following night four minutes earlier, or at 9 minutes to 11. In three months the culmination takes place 6 hours earlier, or at 5 minutes to 5. In six months, _i.e._ on Sept. 22, it culminates at 10.55 in the morning, being vertically below the pole at the same hour in the evening. The following woodcut exhibits the positions of the Great Bear at the various hours of September 4th. It is plain from this that, knowing the day of the month, the hour of the night may be told by observing what angle the line joining [Greek: a] and [Greek: b] of this constellation makes with the vertical.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4.]

We have used the name _Great Bear_, by which the constellation is best known. It is one of the oldest names also, being derived from the Greeks, who called it Arctos megale ([Greek: Arktos megale]), whence the name Arctic; and singularly enough the Iroquois, when America was discovered, called it Okouari, their name for a bear. The explanation of this name is certainly not to be found in the resemblance of the constellation to the animal. The three stars are indeed in the tail, but the four are in the middle of the back; and even if we take in the smaller stars that stand in the feet and head, no ingenuity can make it in this or any other way resemble a bear. It would appear, as Aristotle observes, that the name is derived from the fact, that of all known animals the bear was thought to be the only one that dared to venture into the frozen regions of the north and tempt the solitude and cold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.]

Other origins of the name, and other names, have been suggested, of which we may mention a few. For example, "Ursa" is said to be derived from _versus_, because the constellation is seen to _turn_ about the pole. It has been called the Screw ([Greek: Elike]), or Helix, which has plainly reference to its turning. Another name is Callisto, in reference to its beauty; and lastly, among the Arabs the Great and Little Bears were known as the Great and Little Coffins in reference to their slow and solemn motion. These names referred to the four stars of each constellation, the other three being the mourners following the bearers.

The Christian Arabs made it into the grave of Lazarus and the three weepers, Mary, Martha, and their maid.

Next as to the Little Bear. This constellation has evidently received its name from the similarity of its form to that of the Great Bear. In fact, it is composed of seven stars arranged in the same way, only in an inverse order. If we follow the line from [Greek: b] to [Greek: a] of the Great Bear to a distance of five times as great as that between these stars we reach the brightest star of the Little Bear, called the Pole Star. All the names of the one constellation have been applied to the other, only at a later date.

The new constellations were added one by one to the celestial sphere by the Greeks before they arranged certain of them as parts of the zodiac.

The successive introduction of the constellations is proved completely by a long pa.s.sage of Strabo, which has been often misunderstood. "It is wrong," he says, "to accuse Homer of ignorance because he speaks only of one of the two Celestial Bears. The second was probably not formed at that time. The Phenicians were the first to form them and to use them for navigation. They came later to the Greeks."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CONSTELLATIONS FROM THE SEA-Sh.o.r.e.

The Swan--The Lyre--Hercules--The Crown--The Herdsman--The Eagle--The Serpent--The Balance--The Scorpion--Sagittarius.]