The Constellations and their Mythology

Atlas Pleione

Zeus

Hera

Hades

Poseidon

Athena
Auriga

Aphrodite

Amphitrite

Maia Themis Callisto Leda

Alcmena

Danae
Cepheus Cassiopeia

Leto

Orion

Hermes

Astraea
Arcus Pollux Hercules Perseus Andromeda

Artemis

Apollo

Titans Gods

Heroes Coronis The Titans ruled the earth before their own children, the Olympians overthrew them. The Titans were banished to Nymphs Tartaurus, a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides Mortals beneath the underworld. Zeus drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades and became the supreme ruler of the gods. Phaethon He married his sister Hera but was famous for his many affairs. The Olympian gods moved to Mount Olympus, where they Asclepius observed and meddled in the affairs of man, punishing and rewarding as they saw fit. Thus our story begins.

Aldebaran

In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. The whole sky is divided into 88 constellations.

Taurus
Gemini Orion Betelgeuse

Historically, the term was also used to refer to a pattern formed by prominent stars , what we now call asterisms Monoceros We will now examine the mythology, location and points of interest of some of the more popular ones.

M42

Eradnus Rigel Lepus

Canis Major Sirius

Winter Constellations in the Southern Celestial hemisphere

East

The best way to learn the constellations is use a star map or planetary computer program and orientate it with the sky above.

West

Map 1

Once you locate a familiar constellation, use it to help you find others nearby.

We are in winter, facing To see all the constellations, South.

we will use four maps,

This is the view of the sky at midnight, January 1st, facing south.

Maps 1,2 for the Southern and Northern skies in Winter

Maps 3,4 for the Northern and Southern skies in Summer

South
View of the winter sky facing the Southern Horizon

East

Orion was the son of Poseidon and was quite a hunter, Orion fell in love with Artemis, the hunting goddess, and they were about to marry. Artemis' brother, Apollo, was displeased that his sister was not marrying a god. One day while the three were visiting the sea Orion went walking out into the water. Soon he was so far from shore that only his head bobbed above the surface. Apollo challenged his sister, alleging that she could not hit the small speck far out on the water. Not one to back down from a challenge to her abilities as an archer, Artemis fired an arrow out over the sea, hitting the speck squarely. The speck disappeared under the water, and a few moments later the body of Orion washed up on the shore.

We will begin our journey through the winter constellations with the familiar figure of Orion, the hunter

West

Orion

South

Orion
East
Classified as a red Betelgeuse supergiant, Bellatrix Betelgeuse is one of the largest and most luminous stars Alnilam known. If it were at the center of our solar system, its surface would likely Mintaka extend to the orbit of Jupiter, Alnitak

West

M 42

The Orion Nebula, M42, is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye

Saiph

South

Rigel

Taurus
Zeus, the father of the Greek gods fell in love with Europa, a Phoenician princess. She was East always guarded by her fathers soldiers. Zeus transformed himself into a beautiful white bull with a pair of golden horns and wandered towards her while she was plucking flowers in her garden. Europa was mesmerized by the beauty of the white bull and made him her pet. They became instant friends. One day, Europa climbed onto the back of the white bull, who making use of the opportunity, carried her away to Crete. After reaching Crete, Zeus revealed himself and later married her. According to Greek mythology, Zeus as a white bull represents the constellation Taurus.

Orion is looking westwards at the ancient zodiacal constellation, Taurus, the Bull

South

The Pleiades
East
The Pleiades
The Pleiades are a group of seven stars that lie on the Bull's shoulder. The Greeks believed these were the Seven Sisters, daughters of Atlas and Pleione. The eldest was Maia, who features in many stories. It was told that they asked Zeus to place them in the sky to escape Orion, who was desperately pursuing them. Little did they know that Orion would be placed right next to Taurus in the night sky

South

Elnath

Taurus

East
M1

About 10 light-years across, the Crab Nebula M1, is the remnant of a supernova explosion that was seen on Earth beginning on July 4th, 1054

Aldebaran

Aldebaran, called the Bulls eye, is an orange giant star located about 65 light years. It is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky

The Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, M 45, is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth.

South

East

The horns of the Bull direct us Eastwards towards another zodiacal constellation, Gemini, the twins.

Gemini
West

The Gemini twins were really only halfbrothers. They share the same mother, Leda, but had different fathers. Castor's father was a king of Sparta, while the father of Pollux was Zeus, the Greek king of the gods, who visited Leda on her wedding night in the guise of a swan. Pollux, as the son of a god, was immortal and was renowned for his strength, while his mortal brother Castor was famous for his skill with horses They voyaged in search of the Golden Fleece as Argonauts, and then fought in the Trojan War to bring their sister Helen home to her husband Menelaus. The twins spent their time raiding cattle and abducting young women, a popular pastime in those days. During one such raid, a cousin Idas became enraged at Castor and killed him. Pollux mourned over his brother's loss so deeply that Zeus placed the two in the heavens side by side.

Gemini
East
Castor

West

Pollux

M 35

The Eskimo and Medusa nebulae are both planetary nebulae,

Eskimo Nebula M35 is an open star cluster

Medusa Nebula

South

At Orions foot is a large dog, Canis Major,

East
Laelaps was a magical dog which was always destined to catch his prey. He was first given to Europa of Crete by the god Zeus. Kephalos of Athens used the hound to hunt down the Teumessian Fox, a monstrous beast which was laying waste to the countryside of Thebes. However, the fox was destined never to be caught, and Zeus, pondering the dilemma of the uncatcheable fox being chased by an inescapable hound, turned the pair to stone and placed them in the heavens as the Constellations Canis Major and Minor.

West

Canis Major
South

Canis East Major

Sirius

Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the 'dog star.

West

Messier 41 is an open cluster

M 41

South

The Argo was the ship on which Jason and many Greek heroes sailed to retrieve the Golden Fleece. This seemingly impossible task was given to Jason by his uncle, King East Pelias, who has stolen Jasons fathers throne, The vessel had to pass between clashing rocks before arriving at Colchis, where Jason had to face a daunting series of challenges before he could retrieve the Golden Fleece. He was assisted by Medea, sorceress daughter of King Aeetes. Fortunately, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, had arranged that the princess be stricken with passion for Jason the moment she first saw him. Jason later married Medea, but eventually left her for another princess.

West

South of Canis Major is the Constellation Carina, the keel.

latin for the keel of a ship, the Argo.

Carina

South

Carina
East
The Eta Carinae Nebula is a planetary nebula visible to the naked eye that is being ejected by the erratic variable star Eta Carinae, one of the Milky Way's largest stars and one not far from becoming a supernova.

West
Carina contains Canopus, the second brightest star in the night sky, and the naked-eye globular cluster NGC 2808
Canopus

NGC 2808

Eta Carinae

South

Sneaking up behind Orions back is Leo, the lion.

East

West

Leo
Leo was the Nemean lion whose hide was impervious to weapons which terrorized the countryside of Nemea. When Heracles was commanded to destroy it as one of his twelve labours, he strangled the beast to death with his bare hands. For the rest of his life Hercules used the lionss invulnerable skin as a protective coat. The lion was placed by Hera amongst the stars as the South constellation Leo.

Leo
East
Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It contains many bright stars and galaxies M 105

West

M 95
Regulus Denebola

M 65

M 96 M 66

South

Winter Constellations in the Northern Celestial hemisphere

West

Orion
Once again we will use Orion as a base to see the Northern Constellations

East

Map 2
Still in winter, we now turn around and face north

North
View of the winter sky facing the Northern Horizon

West
Hephaestus was the deformed son of Hera. Upset by having an ugly child, Hera flung him from Mount Olympus, breaking his legs. On Earth he became a famous blacksmith who hammered out exquisite ornamentation and armor for the gods. Because he was unable to walk any great distances, he invented the chariot so that he might get around better. This invention brought him a place of honor in the sky as Auriga, the charioteer. The goat and kids depicted in the constellation figure commemorate the goat upon whose milk Jupiter was reared

Auriga

Above Orions head is the constellation Auriga. the charioteer

East

North

Auriga
Menkalinan

Auriga has many open clusters and other objects because the Milky Way runs through it.

West

East Its brightest star is Capella

Capella

M36 M37 M38

North

Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danae. Danae's father, King Acrisius, set Danae and her son adrift on the sea because of a prophecy that Perseus would kill him. The two were taken in by Polydectes, the king of Seriphus. Polydectes later conceived a passion for Danae, but was unable to force his attentions on West her because Perseus had grown into a redoubtable protector. To get rid of Perseus, Polydectes sent him on a quest to bring back the head of the Gorgon Medusa, a snake-haired maiden who turned all who saw her into stone. He was given a sword by Zeus, winged sandals by Hermes, a helmet of invisibility by Hades and a polished shield by Athena. Perseus was able to slay the Medusa by looking at her reflection in his shield, Below Aurigas feet is Perseus, which looks like a giant y

East

Perseus

North

Perseus
West
Algol represents the eye of the gorgon Medusa. This star is an eclipsing variable stars whose apparent brightness ranges between 2.1 and 3.4 with a period 2.8 days

East

Algol

M 34
Mirfak

M 34 is an open cluster that consists of about 100 stars scattered over an area larger than that of the full moon.

North

The Queen Cassiopeia, wife of king Cepheus of , was beautiful but also arrogant and vain. She boasted that both she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than all the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the Titan, Nereus. This brought the wrath of Poseidon, ruling god of the sea, upon the kingdom of Macedonia. East Poseidon decided to direct the sea monster Cetus to destroy it. Trying to save their kingdom, Cepheus and Cassiopeia consulted a wise oracle, who told them that the only way to appease the sea gods was to sacrifice their daughter, Andromeda. Andromeda was therefore chained to a rock to await her fate.

Continuing northwards, we arrive at Cassiopeia, which looks like a W

Cassiopeia

North

Cassiopeia
West
M 103

East

Two Messier objects, M 52 and M 103 are located in Cassiopeia.

M 52

North

West

To appease the sea monster Cetus who was ravaging the coast of her parents kingdom, Andromeda was chained to a East rock as a sacrifice. Perseus, riding Pegasus was returning from having slain the Gorgon Medusa, found Andromeda and slew Cetus by turning him to stone. He set her free, and married her in spite of Andromeda having been previously promised to her uncle Phineus. Andromeda followed her husband to Tiryns in Argos, Their descendants included the great hero Hercules and the Persian people. After her death, Andromeda was placed by Athena amongst the constellations in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia.
West of Queen Casseopia is her daughter Andromeda

Andromeda
North

Andromeda
M33 The Triangulum Galaxy Messier 33 is another prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies

The most famous deep sky object in Andromeda is a spiral galaxy M 31, the Andromeda Galaxy, one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda is a dim constellation, but the Andromeda galaxy can be found by starting with the great square of Pegasus.

Summer Constellations in the Northern Celestial hemisphere

West
We now see some new constellations which we will explore using the Big Dipper as our guide.

East

Map 3

6 months later we are now in Summer, facing north

The Big Dipper

North View of the Summer sky facing the Northern Horizon

The wood-nymph Callisto was a maiden in the wild region Arcadia. Zeus caught sight of her and immediately desired her. Callisto bore him a son Arcas, infuriating Zeuss wife Hera. Out of jealousy, Hera transformed the girl into a bear. Maia , eldest of the seven daughters of Atlas, raised the infant Arcas to protect him from Hera.

East

Ursa major

The Big Dipper is just a part of the large constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear

North

Alkaid

Ursa Major West

M101

Alioth

East

M109
M81 M82 M97
Merak Dubhe

Polaris

M 108 The stars Merak and Dubhe are known as the "pointer stars" because they are helpful for finding Polaris or True North

Several bright galaxies are found in Ursa Major, including Messier 81, one of the brightest galaxies in the sky and Pinwheel Galaxy, M101. The bright planetary nebula Owl Nebula (M97)can be found along the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper.

North

West

Bootes
The handle of the dipper leads us on to Botes the plowman

In one version, Bootes was Arcas, son of Zeus and Callisto, who Hera had turned into a bear. When he was grown up, Arcas went hunting and met with the she-bear, Callisto, and, since obviously he didn't recognize her as his East mother, he tried to kill her. Callisto, followed by Arcas, sheltered herself in a temple, a sacred place whose profaners were convicted to death. To avoid such fate, Zeus decided to set them in the sky, Arcas as Botes and Callisto as Ursa Major.

North

Bootes
West
Bootes contains the third Arcturus brightest star in the night sky, Arcturus. NGC 5466 is a loose globular cluster that can be observed with most telescopes.

Botes has no M objects, but hosts a large number of double stars suitable for viewing by amateur astronomers.

East

North

Son of Zeus and the woman Alcmena, who the god seduced in the shape of her husband Amphitryon, king of Thebes. His constant persecutor was Hera, West who crazed with jealosy of her husbands liason with Heracles' mother caused the hero many troubles. While Heracles was just a baby in the cradle, she sent two snakes which the child strangled, one in each hand. She also made him insane for a while, which made him murder his children with Megara. Ready to commit suicide after killing his family, he was told by the oracle in Delphi to purify himself by serving his cousin king Eurystheus of Mycenae and to do whatever the king told him. The most famous stories about Hecacles are about the twelve labors.

Lying next to Bootes is the large dim constellation Hercules

Hercules

East

North

Hercules
West East
Hercules contains two of the most conspicuous globular clusters: M13, the brightest globular cluster in the northern hemisphere, and M92. M 13

M 32

North

West

Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia, daughter of Atlas. Moments after being born Hermes ran off to Thessaly, where his brother Apollo grazed his cattle. Hermes stole a number of the herd and drove them back to Greece. Using the intestines from one of the cows and a hollow tortoise shell, he made the first lyre. When Apollo realized he had been robbed he protested to Maia that it had been Hermes who had taken his cattle. During the ensuing argument, Hermes began to play his lyre. The sweet music enchanted Apollo, and he offered Hermes to keep the cattle in exchange for the lyre. Apollo later became the grand master of the instrument, and it became one of his symbols.

By Hercules foot lies the tiny East constellation Lyra, Its name derived from the lyre, a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later.

Lyra

North

Lyra
West
M57

M57, the Ring Nebula It is one of the best known of all planetaryEast nebulae.

Vega

Lyras principal star, Vega, is one of the brightest in the sky.

M56

North

West

Cygnus was a king and friend of Phaethon, son of Apollo. One day, without his father permission, Phaethon took Apollo's sun-chariot and went racing across the sky. He lost control of the horses and reeked havoc on Earth and heaven. Zeus was so mad he hurled a thunderbolt that instantly killed Phaethon, his charred body falling into the river Eridanus. Cygnus plunged into the river and dove like a swan looking for Phaethon. Apollo took pity on him and placed him among the stars.

East

Moving in the same direction beyond Lyre lies the coss shaped constellation, Cygnus, the Swan.

Cygnus

North

Cygnus
M 56
Albireo

West
Albireo a double star with blue and yellow components is at the "head".

East

Several star clusters and nebulae are found in Cygnus due to its position on the Milky Way M29

Veil Nebula

Deneb

Deneb its brightest M 39 star, is at the tail

North American nebula Pelican nebula

North

Summer Constellations in the Southern Celestial hemisphere

East
To view the important constellations in the southern sky, we start with Crux, the Southern Cross

West

Map 4
In our last map we are still in Summer, but facing South

Crux
South

CRUX, the smallest of the constellations, was originally part of Centaurus. However, early voyagers sailing round the Cape of Good Hope in the sixteenth century decided that such a brilliant quartet of stars merited their own identity and they became known as CRUX.

View of the Summer sky facing the Southern Horizon

Gacrux

Crux
Crux is dominated by a cross-shaped asterism that is commonly known as the Southern Cross.

Another deep sky object within Crux is the Open Cluster NGC 4755, better known as the Jewel Box The Jewel Box nebula The Coal Sack nebula
Acrux

Since the southern sky lacks an easily visible pole star, Acrux and Gacrux are commonly used to mark south

South

The Coalsack Nebula is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, easily visible to the naked eye as a big dark patch in the southern Milky Way.

Ixion was a descendant of Ares, God of War, Ixion married Dia, who was daughter of Deioneus, son of Aeolus, king of Phocis. To marry a princess Ixion had to pay a large dowry to Deioneus. As time went on it was soon clear that Ixion could not pay his debt and so in retaliation Deioneus crept into Ixions stables and stole his horses. Ixion was livid and, after inviting Deioneus to dinner, pushed him into a fire. After this murderous act Ixion fell into insanity and was ostracized by his country. Zeus sympathized with Ixion and brought him up to Olympus. When Ixion saw Hera, Zeus' wife, he instantly fell in love with her. Zeus set a trap for him by changing a cloud nymph named Nephele into the likeness of Hera. She bore him a son named Centaurus, who was a deformed. The only place where Centaurus felt like he belonged was on the mountain of Pelion. Here he roamed, lived, and mated with the Magnesian horses who resided there. From this union the centaurs were spawned.

Centaurus
Above the Southern Cross is the large constellation Centaurus

South

M83

Centaurus
East
Alipha Centauri is a binary star, to which the much fainter red dwarf Proxima Centauri is gravitationally bound. At 4.2 light years away, Proxima is the nearest known star to the Sun.

West

Centauri

Alpha Centauri

Centaurus also contains Omega Centauri which is the brightest globular cluster containing several million stars.

South

In another version concerning Orions death, it is written that he boasted to goddess East Artemis that he would kill every animal on the earth. Although Artemis was known to be a hunter herself she offered protection to all creatures. Artemis sent a scorpion to deal with Orion. The pair battled and the scorpion killed Orion. When Orion and the scorpion were placed among the stars, they were given places far from each other, so that Orion would be out of danger. Even today you can see that when Scorpius is just rising, chasing after Orion, the hunter is just starting to disappear behind the western horizon.

West
Centaurus is looking directly at a large scorpion in the sky. Scorpius, sometimes known as Scorpio, is one of the constellations of the zodiac,

Scorpius

South

Scorpius
M 80 M19

East
M62
Antares

West

Scorpius contains M4 many bright stars, including the red supergiant, Antares M6

M7

South

Due to its location on the Milky Way, this constellation contains many open and globular clusters.

East

Sagittarius

The constellation Sagittarius represents the form of Chiron. Chiron was the king of the centaurs, but unlike his race he was intelligent and wise. So wise, in fact, that he tutored Jason, Theseus, Archilles and Hercules, who became one of his great friends. One day Hercules was visiting his friend Pholus, another centaur. After dinner Hercules took some wine that was sacred to the centaurs. The infuriated centaurs grabbed weapons and charged at Pholus' house. During the West battle Hercules' poison arrow grazed the knee of Chiron, who had came out to try and stop the fight. The immortal Chiron could not die from his wound and thus lived in pain and agony. He begged Zeus to give him relief and end his life. Zeus took pity on the centaur let him die. To honor him, Zeus gave Chiron a place amongst the stars.

To the East of Scorpius is the centaur, Sagittarius

South

Sagittarius
East

The Eagle Nebula M 23

West
M 16 M 17 M 18 The Trifid Nebula The Lagoon Nebula

The galactic center lies in Sagittarius and consequently, the constellation contains many star clusters and nebulae. It has 15 M objects, the highest number in any constellation

M 25

M 22

M 54
The M 70 Teapot

M 55

M7 M 69

South

Once the crow had beautiful snowy white feathers and could speak to humans, but that all changed. As Apollo's sacred bird, the crow was told to watch over his pregnant love,Coronis, a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis. Coronis slowly lost interest in Apollo and was attracted to a mere mortal. The crow, who was secretly spying on her, reported her unfaithfulness to Apollo. In a rage he flung a curse upon it so furious that it scorched its feathers, which is why all crows are black. Apollo sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Coronis with her deadly arrows because he couldnt bear to do it himself. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, cut the unborn child Asklepios out of her womb and gave him to the centaur Chiron to raise. Coronis was later placed amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus.

West

Corvus
Over to the west is the small constellation Corvus, the Crow

South

Corvus
East West

Planetary nebula NGC4361

The Antennae Galaxies are a pair of interacting galaxies

Corvus includes only 11 stars visible to the naked eye and contains no Messier objects

South

North of Corvus we find Virgo, the Virgin

East

West

Virgo
After their war with the Titans, Zeus sent Pandora with a box filled with all the evil demons, which she unleashed on the earth. All the gods immediately left the earth for their home in Olympus. Astraea, the daughter of Zeus and Themis, was so much in love with earth that she waited till the end after everyone else had left. Being the goddess of virtue she was placed in the sky as the constellation of Virgo. From there she looks down every night to see if the demons on earth have left so she may come back to earth again.

South

Virgo
Because of the presence of a galaxy cluster within its borders, this constellation is especially rich in galaxies. East M 58

M 90

West

M 61

The Sombrero Galaxy

Spica

South

Over to the east we will end with Aquila, the eagle.

East

Aquila

West

Prometheus was one of the last Titan gods who became an advisor to Zeus. He was protective of humankind and, seeing how they suffered because they had no fire, he stole a ray from the Sun which he smuggled down to earth in a hollow stem. Zeus did not believe that man was worthy of such a gift, and was furious that Prometheus had acted without his permission. The well-meaning Titan was chained to the side of a mountain and was continually attacked by Aquila. Since he was immortal, his dreadful wounds healed themselves every evening, only to be opened up again the next day by Aquila. After many years Prometheus was saved by Hercules, who ,using his bow and arrow, killed Aquila, who was then placed by Zeus to soar in the heavens.

South

Deneb The Summer Triangle

Vega

NGC 6804

Aquila
Three interestingWest planetary nebulae include NGC 6751, also known as the Glowing Eye,

East

The alpha star, Altair Altair, is a vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism.

NGC 6781

South

The glowing Eye

Gerry Barrow