The Mythology of the Night Sky An Amateur Astronomer's Guide to the
Every amateur astronomer can easily recognize most of the constellations, but how many of us know the story behind them? What myths did the Ancient Greeks weave around the mighty hunter Orion that places him so prominently in the sky? Did you know that th
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The Mythology of the Night Sky An Amateur Astronomer’s Guide to the Ancient Greek and Roman Legends David E. Falkner
David E. Falkner Blaine, MN, USA
ISSN 1431-9756 ISBN 978-1-4614-0136-0 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-0137-7 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-0137-7 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011934973 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
This book is dedicated to my wife, Kathy, who showed love, patience and support throughout this project. I also want to thank my children and my brothers and sister who were very encouraging. I would also like to dedicate this book to my daughter Julie and my brother Bob, who have passed before us but I’m sure are giving their support in ways I do not understand.
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Preface
If you have ever found yourself in an area far away from the bright city lights you have experienced what it must have been like for the people of ancient cultures. It is a moving experience to go out on a clear, moonless night and look up at the stars. Ancient astronomers watched the stars and grouped them into the constellations and other patterns called asterisms that we know today. Many are familiar, such as the Big Dipper in the northern sky. In winter Orion the Hunter is easily identified by the four bright stars that form a box for his body and his distinctive three-star belt. For as long as humans have roamed Earth, people have gazed at the heavens on clear nights and wondered at the bright points of light. Surely there was some reason for their being there? As humankind became more civilized and began to study and record their observations of the sky, people realized that there a was certain predictability to the starry sky. This book is about the 48 constellations named by the first-century astronomer Ptolemy, as well as the Solar System planets and their moons. The constellations, planets, and most of the planetary satellites were named for characters and objects associated with Roman mythology, which was derived from ancient Greek mythology. Since we are talking about gazing at constellations in the sky it seemed like it might be fun to talk about h
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