Stories Up Above

If I step outside my little abode, on almost any clear evening, I am rewarded with wonderful views of the night sky.  Fortunately,  I live in a dark place with little light pollution.  The sky, in all its glory, just sits up there, waiting to be appreciated.  During the times of the month when the moon is hidden and the skies particularly dark, I can see stars by the thousands/millions/billions.  I keep a pair of binoculars handy for sweeping the skies.  I also have an 8" telescope for more intense viewing. However, at this time of year two of the more famous star groups are sitting pretty directly overhead, and need no glass to be seen.  One is the constellation Orion, known from mythology as The Hunter.  Below is a photo of Orion as you might see him on a clear winter night (unless you live in the city...poor sap):

Constellation Orion

Although many people can spot Orion's belt and sword, the entire image of The Hunter can be more challenging.  Here is a similar photo with an overlay of the The Hunter:

Orion with overlay

Proceeding Orion in the sky, as the stars wheel from east to west, is the star cluster of the Pleiades, also easy to spot in the winter:

[caption id="attachment_464" align="alignnone" width="314" caption="Pleiades star cluster  "]
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The Pleiades are also known as the Seven Sisters (although it's hard to spot the seven stars with the naked eye).

So where do the names "The Hunter" and "The Seven Sisters" come from?  Greek mythology, of course, where many of the words we use in our modern world find roots.  (Remember the titans?  Have a midas touch?  Drive a Saturn?  Been on an odyssey?  Eaten cereal?  Acting a bit narcissistic?  Heard an echo?  Ever consulted an atlas ?)

Although there are various conflicting stories about Orion (as is the way in mythology), it does appear that, in addition to being a brave and capable hunter, he was also one rascally fellow.  He was quite proud of himself; in fact, he claimed he could kill every animal on earth.  According to some stories, he also spent much of his time pursuing a group of seven daughters of the Titan Atlas.  Atlas, as you might guess, was busy holding the heavens on his shoulders (as punishment for waging war, along with the other Titans, against the Olympians).  Zeus, the chief Olympian god, felt sorry for Atlas and these seven daughters, so he tried to help them escape by first turning them into doves.  When this didn't work he turned them into stars and placed them in the heavens.

In the meantime, Orion's boast of killing all the animals on earth offended Gaia, the Greek goddess representing earth.  To protect the earth, she sent a giant scorpion to kill Orion.  The scorpion was successful (it stung Orion on the heel) and Zeus place Orion in the sky.  True to his old ways, Orion the Hunter still pursues the Pleiades across the sky, chasing them from east to west, but never quite catching them.  At this time of year, if you go outside on a clear night you can see both the Pleiades and Orion making their way across the sky.  The Pleiades lead the way, but the Hunter is never far behind.

As a footnote, the scorpion that killed Orion was also placed in the sky as the constellation Scorpius.  However, to keep the peace Zeus placed Scorpius on the opposite side of the heavens from Orion.  Thus, Orion is a winter constellation while Scorpius is a summer constellation.

And some people just look up and say, "awwww...pretty stars."

Comments

[Trey Atkins]

Hey Dave,

Great stuff as always. One of the downers of living in Europe is that we are too densely packed together and get light pollution almost everywhere. Whenever we are in the country, where it is dark enough to see, I take a glance upward just in case I can finally see something. Thanks for the lesson on how these constellations came to be.

Trey

[KR]

So what came first, Greek mythology or the recognition of these constellations and star clusters?

[Daver]

Well, Kenneth, I don't have the answer to that question at my fingertips. However, an (semi)educated guess:

First, we can't forget that western man (Greeks, Romans, etc.) were certainly not the first and only peeps to look up and recognize certain star groups and constellations. In fact, I strongly suspect other cultures have their own names, stories and interpretations for the stars, most of which probably have little or nothing to do with the constellations we know here in the west.

Secondly, since I've read, repeatedly, that the origins and authors of Greek mythology are murky at best, I don't believe I can put a date on the origin of the old stories.

All that being said, I strongly suspect people have been putting stories to the stars since stories came around. Whether there were any stories predating Greek Mythology that used the same star clusters, constellations, etc., I don't know. However, I do suspect, for example, the Pleiades (known by whatever other name might apply) have been recognized and used in stories from the beginning (since they are so very obvious). However, since Greek Mythology is so enduring and well known, the names and stories it uses (Pleiades, etc.), are what seem to have stuck.

Final answer/guess? Greek mythology used some already-recognized star clusters/constellations, etc. and incorporated them into their stories. It's possible certain star groups were "created" for the stories, but would think this a less likely scenario.

Disclaimer: Take Scorpius. It looks like a scorpion to us. The story is about a scorpion. Did this group of stars exist as a scorpion BEFORE the Greek story? I really don't know. If there really was a group of people who saw a scorpion before the Greeks, did they have their own scorpion stories? I really don't know. Did the Greek story lead people to look for a scorpion only after the fact? I really don't know. Regardless, it's a very interesting question.

[jay-f]

http://cosmopolis.com/star-myths/constellation-facts.html