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A number of hours after darkness falls throughout November, the unquestioned landmark of the autumn evening sky occupies a commanding place excessive within the south: the flying horse Pegasus.
The horse’s physique is shaped by 4 vivid stars — the well-known Nice Sq. — one of many best star patterns for astronomy neophytes to hint out. The Nice Sq. can be an excellent place to begin to turn into acquainted with the colours of the celebs. Alpheratz, the highest left star of the sq., is white, however Scheat at prime proper is distinctly reddish. The distinction is probably most simply seen by repeatedly taking a look at one star for a number of seconds after which the opposite.
Play ball!
I might then create varied performs, using stars from adjoining constellations in Aries, Pisces, Cetus, Aquarius, and Piscis Austrinus as outfielders. Within the final constellation, I used the intense star Fomalhaut because the left fielder, together with his again up towards the foul pole chasing after a house run ball already within the stands. By the way, the 2 stars that mark the western (proper) facet of the Nice Sq. level virtually precisely towards Fomalhaut.
Really, that is one in all two baseball video games now well-placed in our mid-autumn sky. We are able to additionally incorporate the Summer time Triangle, which continues to be effectively positioned excessive within the west. That different baseball diamond was conceived by astronomer Henry Neely (1879-1963), who labored at Hayden Planetarium throughout the Nineteen Fifties and who was often called the “Dean of New York Stargazers.” Neeley outlined it in his 1946 e-book “A Primer for Star Gazers” (Harper & Brothers), a dated however nonetheless glorious information to the constellations, copies of which might nonetheless be discovered on-line.
5 years in the past, I wrote a Area.com column evaluating Neeley’s baseball diamond to the one in Pegasus. I referred to Neeley’s as Yankee Stadium, whereas the “Nice Sq. baseball diamond” was the Polo Grounds.
By the way, if we return to Pegasus: For the pitcher, I utilized a dim 4 h-magnitude star, Upsilon Pegasi, seemingly having a dialog with a star of comparable brightness (Tau), which could possibly be the catcher. The reasonably vivid star Matar might signify the house plate umpire, whereas a pair of stars (Sadal Bari and Lambda (simply southwest of Scheat) have been one of many managers arguing with the third-base ump!
Cosmic melodrama
Like a number of different constellations, Pegasus represents a legendary beast. He’s a part of the supporting solid of characters concerned in an oft-told celestial cleaning soap opera that features King Cepheus, Queen Cassiopeia, princess Andromeda, Perseus the Hero and Cetus the Sea Monster. All are additionally favorably positioned for viewing in our November night sky.
In line with the story, Andromeda was chained to a rock as Cetus approached to devour her. Perseus occurred to be using excessive within the sky on Pegasus, and, when he noticed what was about to occur, he pulled from his bag the top of the gorgon Medusa. He held the top in entrance of Cetus, which promptly turned him into stone. Perseus then carried off his bride-to-be on Pegasus, and so they all lived fortunately ever after.
Most astronomy books present varied variations of this story, and but, hardly ever is Pegasus ever talked about in Perseus’ different adventures.
A tragic finish for an egomaniac
On one other event, a youth by the identify of Bellerophon was tasked with destroying a fire-breathing monster often called the Chimera, which had a lion’s head, a goat’s physique and a dragon’s tail.
Bellerophon spent a complete evening within the temple of the goddess Minerva, imploring her to assist him perform his activity. The following morning, Bellerophon awoke and located a golden bridle in his hand and Pegasus ingesting from a close-by fountain. With assistance from his new equine pal, Bellerophon dispatched the Chimera with relative ease; in actual fact, Pegasus appeared to offer him godlike powers, and the younger man quickly started to treat himself as extra than simply an unusual mortal.
Bellerophon finally determined to go to Mount Olympus, the house of the gods, which was strictly off-limits to mortals. As horse and rider approached the Olympian gates, Zeus despatched a gadfly to sting Pegasus, who bolted and threw his rider. When Bellerophon crashed again to Earth, he was rendered blind and lame for the remainder of his life.
A nonmythological footnote entails Napoleon Bonaparte, the real-life navy commander who on the peak of his energy maybe thought that he too was greater than mortal. After a French military below his command was defeated on the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, Napoleon boarded a ship of the British Royal Navy so he might give up to the ship’s captain, thus ending 22 years of just about steady struggle between Britain and France.
The identify of that ship was the HMS Bellerophon.
Joe Rao serves as an teacher and visitor lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Pure Historical past journal, Sky and Telescope and different publications.
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