THE STORY OF ANDROMEDA IN STARS
_Characters_
CEPHEUS, _the King_. ANDROMEDA, _the Princess_.
CASSIOPEIA, _the Queen_. PEGASUS, _the Flying Horse_.
PERSEUS, _the Hero_. CETUS, _the Sea-monster_.
LIKE the shadow of a dream among the summer stars of the northern sky is
a wonderful story of romance and adventure. This story has been
mentioned in all Greek literature of the 5th century before Christ, in
incidents portrayed on early vases and in wall-paintings found in
Pompeii, and its characters have been immortalized on brilliant groups
of stars.
The tale that I am about to recount has lived since the time when great
fabled sea-monsters were wont to appear and frighten the people along
the coasts of the Mediterranean. Wild with terror, the king and his
subjects would fly to the temples for protection and would even
sacrifice their loved ones if an oracle so decreed.
In an age long past, scientists tell us, strange beasts actually
inhabited the waters of the ocean. This they know for they have found
the fossilized skeletons. For the sake of the romance let us imagine
that some of these still survived in Andromeda's time; that one such
monster had wandered in through the straits to the blue waters of the
Mediterranean during the reign of her father King Cepheus, and that this
king, following the advice of an oracle, actually chained his daughter
to a rock upon the sea-shore believing that by this supreme
sacrifice the wrath of Neptune might be appeased. Storms, wrecks and
other disasters relating to the sea were thought to be the handiwork of
the Sea-god seeking revenge for some fancied insult. Seeing the strange
sea-beast appear along their coast, the Ethiopians probably considered
all their sins and decided the cause was the excessive vanity of their
Queen. Thus, from a bare thread, a beautiful story was elaborated and
woven about Andromeda, the Princess; Perseus, the Hero; Cassiopeia, the
Queen; Cepheus, the King; and Cetus, the terrible Sea-monster.
Not only was Cassiopeia proud and beautiful, but she wished others to be
envious of her beauty, and to prove her superiority sent challengers
throughout the country so that none might question it. In the excess of
her vanity, she deliberately took her throne and sat in state by the
shore, loudly repeating her boasts to show that she did not fear even
the peerless sea-nymphs.
When the news of this audacious performance reached the ears of the
Nereids who inhabited the depths of the Mediterranean, there was great
excitement, but particularly was it resented by the sea-beauty Atergatis
who straightway swam to the palace of Neptune, under the Ægean Sea, and
begged him to avenge the insult offered to his nymphs. Neptune, furious
at the effrontery of the Ethiopian Queen, shook the land of King Cepheus
until the hills cracked and sent his waves to flood the country and wash
away the coast. With the onrushing waters came the ferocious sea-monster
which loitered near the shores and the mouths of the rivers and
destroyed every man and animal that came within its reach.
Terrified by such a combination of calamities, Cepheus and Cassiopeia
fled to the oracle of Jupiter, but they found no peace here, for the
oracle informed them that the only way to make amends and ward off the
evil that had befallen them, lay in the sacrifice of their innocent
daughter Andromeda. There being no alternative, Cepheus was
compelled by his subjects to submit to these terms, and taking poor
Andromeda to the sea-beach, chained her wrists and ankles and fastened
them to staples driven in a rock upon the shore. In the meantime the
population of the entire city had gathered weeping upon a cliff, while
in the distance Neptune's monster, sensing the commotion, swam steadily
nearer, with his wicked, gloating eyes staring fixedly on the dainty
morsel baited on the rocks.
Andromeda, in utter despair, bowed her head,--then looked up quickly on
hearing the cheers of the people, for the hero Perseus had appeared,
bounding and skimming along the sky and slanting downward toward the
foaming waves. The hero gave one glance at the awful monster, then drew
his sword and drove it deep into the sea-beast's scaly neck. With his
other hand he pulled the Medusa's head from his wallet,--and the
sea-beast slowly hardened into a beast of stone. With its glassy eyes
protruding like balls of obsidian, the creature then sank in a petrified
mass to the bottom of the sea.
The heroic youth, amazed at the effectiveness of the terrifying head,
flew quickly to Andromeda and struck away the fetters which bound her to
the shore. The King and his subjects then swarmed around them and amid
great rejoicing carried them to the palace. Not long after, the Princess
became the bride of the hero, who put away his fluttering shoes and set
sail in a ship to the island of Seriphus.
CEPHEUS, THE KING
[Figure 22]
This is Cepheus as he is traced among the stars, a king done in
shorthand. He claims no star above the 3rd magnitude, but since his
constellation is near the North Star and just above the Chair of his
Queen, a large and conspicuous "W," it is easy to find and may be seen
any clear night the year around. Cepheus may be seen at his best during
the summer evenings when his stars are nearly overhead in the dome of
the sky.
[Figure 23]
The other characters in this drama were placed among bright stars and
are therefore more easily found, although to less romantic moderns these
stars merely indicate the part of the sky-field where the ancients claim
the royal family were lifted to the stars.
[Figure 24]
Below Cepheus, on a "Chair" of bright stars, sits Cassiopeia, his Queen,
her arms upraised and her face pensive through long ages of humiliating
sorrow; below Cassiopeia stands Perseus transfixed in a heroic attitude,
the segment of three stars shining against his armor-clad body, his
diamond-bladed sword thrust among the fainter gleams above his head.
[Figure 25]
The snaky-locked Gorgon Medusa hangs downward from his shield, while
among its fearful tresses blinks Algol, the Demon Star. On the line
of stars that twinkle at the hero's feet, lies the fair maid Andromeda,
her hands outstretched and bound, and her long, dark hair caught with a
star on the Square of Pegasus.
[Figure 26]
The silvery-winged Horse was, oddly enough, placed upside down upon his
constellation with his head extending earthward from a corner of the
"Square" and his feet pawing upward into the darkness. Far below in the
south glitters Cetus, Neptune's wicked monster, although Cetus does not
appear until September and is not completely visible until January. The
ancient royal family from Ethiopia, now famous for all time, and the
immortal Perseus, from whom proud kings claim their ancestry, are
conspicuous figures in the northeast during the late summer evenings,
and are at their best here rather than in the dome of the sky or in the
west.
A small meteor shower radiates from the vicinity of Cepheus during the
latter part of June. Remember that Cepheus lies up near the North Star
near the Pole of the Heavens and these meteors will not be difficult to
locate.
It is also interesting to note that in the constellation of Cepheus may
be found the north polar star of the planet Mars.
CASSIOPEIA, THE QUEEN
[Figure 27]
The "Chair of Cassiopeia" rests upon the path of the Milky Way in the
northern part of the heavens. It consists of five bright stars which
suggest the outlines of an "M" or "W," and may be easily located by
projecting a line drawn from the Big Dipper through the North Star and
on again for an equal distance. Thus the Dipper and the "W" in beautiful
balance, teeter, now high and now low, about the pole. The "W,"
however, is most impressive when near the horizon.
Poets tell of the silvery currents of the Milky Way that wind in and out
among the stars of this "Chair," but with the telescope one may see more
clearly and perceive that the "silvery currents" are a magnificent
wilderness of suns.
[Figure 28]
When the nymphs of the Mediterranean discovered that Cassiopeia had been
honored with a choice position among the stars, they were perfectly
furious, and even the sympathy of Juno did not console them as she
recalled the time that Callisto was transposed as Ursa Major to the
stars. Odd fate that forced an Arcadian maid and an Ethiopian Queen to
follow each other forever around the Arctic circle of the heavens! The
Nereids, however, protested violently to Jupiter that such a reward for
Cassiopeia's boasting was unfair and their influence so far prevailed
that the Queen was set in a tilted fashion and forced to swing half of
every night with her head hanging downward, and both her arms upraised.
Furthermore, her "Chair" was strongly outlined while her queenly person
was quite ignored. Thus the petty spite of the sea-nymphs was much worse
than Cassiopeia's boasting.
[Figure 29]
There was a slight compensation, when, for all this humiliation, two of
the stars in the "W" were named after the Queen's 'heart' and 'hand' by
the Arabian astronomers,--Alpha, the lower star of the five bright ones,
being called Shedir, "the heart," and Beta, in the back of the chair,
Caph, "the tinted hand."
About six centuries ago, a phenomenon happened among the stars in
Cassiopeia's constellation, where, suddenly, in a position which
had previously been blank, a new star shone forth. This star glowed as
brightly as the planet Venus, which outshines every star in the sky. It
was so bright that it was even visible in the daytime! This brilliancy
then commenced to diminish, the star growing fainter and fainter until
in about a year and a half it had completely disappeared.
While new stars have been noted during the course of centuries, the
appearance of one is always so unusual that it stands out against the
background of the sky with almost a disquieting effect. The presence of
an additional bright star, strange as it may seem, is immediately
noticeable to one who is familiar with the constellations. Astronomers
record its history with as much interest as the appearance of a new
island or volcano would occasion on earth.
Two theories for temporary stars are given in Moulton's "Introduction to
Astronomy." Professor Moulton tells us that these theories are
surrounded by serious objections--but they are interesting nevertheless.
One is "that there is invisible nebulous or meteoric matter lying in
various parts of space, particularly in the region occupied by the Milky
Way (there is confirmatory evidence of this hypothesis); that there are
also dark or very faint stars"--(that is stars which are in the last
stages of cooling, a phenomenon also confirmed)--"that the dark stars,
rushing through the nebulæ, blaze into incandescence as meteors glow
when they enter the earth's atmosphere; that the heating is superficial
and quickly dies away." Another hypothesis is that temporary stars "are
produced by collisions of stars with stars."
Still another hypothesis among astronomers which has lately gained
considerable support is that at the time of an outbreak in a typical
nova (new star), a shell of incandescent gas is actually ejected at an
enormous rate of speed. Such a phenomenon has been witnessed in the case
of one very recent nova.
A 3-inch telescope will show two interesting double stars on the second
part of the "W" of Cassiopeia, although the lower of these double stars
may also be seen through a 2-inch telescope.
[Figure 30]
The lower star (α) is a lovely double, one of its components being a
rose and the other a clear-hued blue; the yellow star above it has a
purple companion which with the larger star whirls around a common
center of gravity in a period of about 200 years. Since these stars are
suns, as all stars are suns, it is often speculated what effect such
combinations of colors would have on a family of planets,--but only a
mathematical astronomer would be privileged to figure this out, with
such complicated days and nights and seasons. Perhaps there would be no
nights--only purple days and yellow days, or blue days and rose days,
while peculiar combinations of life--inducing light rays and heat rays
might produce strange and awesome forms and eerie vegetation!
Cassiopeia, as well as the Big Dipper, has been called a "celestial
clock" for one may read the sidereal time from this configuration of
stars with an error not exceeding 15 or 20 minutes. When the star Caph,
or β Cassiopeiæ, is vertically above the Pole Star it is sidereal
noon; 6 hours when it is on the great circle drawn from the Pole Star to
the west point of the horizon; 12 hours when vertically below it; and 18
hours when due east. Caph, or β Cassiopeiæ, leads the other stars of
the constellation in their journey westward.
PERSEUS, THE HERO
[Figure 31]
This is the hero Perseus, easily recognized by the three bright stars
which lie in a curved row. These stars hang just below the W-shaped
Chair of the unfortunate Queen Cassiopeia who sits in the Milky Way.
Aratus, the Greek poet, claims that the sparkles of light which twinkle
in this vicinity are particles of dust which the hero stirred up in his
haste to rescue Andromeda.
"His giant strides the blue vault climb and move
A cloud of dust in heaven."
What a charming picture to impress upon the sky!
But now in the twentieth century we analyze this dust which the ancients
claim their Perseus raised--and what do we find? Every particle in that
misty path is a mighty sun, suspended amidst multitudes of other mighty
suns, massed in one long strip of splendor across the sky. For (calmly
speaking) the Milky Way is a zone of innumerable stars so very distant
that the individual lights are blended in one continuous band of silvery
haze.
Against this glorious path stands Perseus, sword upraised among its
stars, while entangled in the fearful locks of the Gorgon Medusa glows
Algol, the "Blinking Demon." This so-called demon-star actually winks,
that is, it indulges in one long, slow wink at intervals of exactly 2
days, 20 hours and 49 minutes. Such a phenomenon used to be a source of
terror to the Arabs who feared it might be predictive of some disaster.
Although Perseus and the Gorgon are figments of fancy the wink of this
amazing star is not imaginary by any means, for its light actually drops
from the 2nd magnitude to the 4th magnitude and stays thus, half
darkened, for about 20 minutes. Then it begins to slowly brighten and in
the course of the next three hours regains its former brilliancy. In the
clear air of the desert where the large stars burn like fire-brands,
this change in brightness is very noticeable. Since it was not
understood, it seemed terrifying and the superstitious Arabs imagined it
to be the eye of a demon. It seemed a fitting star for the ancient
Greeks to place on the grewsome head of the Gorgon Medusa where
ever after it has flashed and faded in the most eerie fashion.
The mystery of this winking star was not discovered until 1889. Then
Vogel found that the periodical change of brightness in Algol is caused
by a huge dimly lighted sun,--relatively dark compared with
Algol,--which revolves around the major sun at a distance of only
3,000,000 miles. (The earth revolves at a distance of 93,000,000 miles
from our sun.) Every time this darker body passes between Algol and the
earth, five-sixths of the light from Algol is cut off, thus making it
appear to blink. Vogel also found, through the aid of the spectroscope,
the diameter and mass of these stars. Algol was found to be about one
million miles in diameter with a mass less than half that of the sun
while its companion was found to be about 800,000 miles in diameter with
a mass about one fourth that of our sun.
Thirty stars are now known to be of the Algol type. One of the most
remarkable of these, V. Puppis, was found to be in the southern
hemisphere and was carefully examined by Dr. A. W. Roberts. This star
has a light variation of only 1½ days and is believed to whirl so
closely to its companion that it is in actual contact.
The most favorable seasons for seeing Algol during the early evening are
in the autumn, winter and early spring; in the autumn, low in the
northeast, when it rises at sunset in the middle of September; in the
winter, high up in the north, not far from the zenith; and in the
spring, low down in the northwest. At the correct time it is possible
for anyone to see its change in brilliancy although the best time to
watch for this is during September and October. Algol rises at sunset in
the middle of September and consumes 9 hours and 12 minutes in reaching
the meridian. To best appreciate the change in this star compare it with
the stars near by, especially to the 4th magnitude star that lies quite
near to it.
Thus Perseus holds Algol on the Gorgon's head which flashes with "fiery
snakes,"--his right hand brandishes a glittering sword, his armor is
decked with stars, while the 'dust' he raised swirls in a milky path
from the zenith to the trees on the horizon.
In the Sword Hand of Perseus the ancient Greeks saw the gleam of the
sword borrowed from Mercury, a diamond-bladed, diamond-hilted sword,
carved from a single diamond, but modern astronomers searching in the
same spot discovered a more wonderful object for, through the eye of a
telescope, the two nebulous patches of hazy light on the Sword Hand were
resolved into countless stars! These star clusters are interesting even
in a field-glass although higher powers disclose them as veritable
sun-bursts of diamond-like stars. The two clusters may be located about
half-way between Mirfak, the brightest star in the Segment of Perseus,
and the "W" of Cassiopeia.
One might at first glance take these crowded masses of stars as an
example where the great force of gravity had worked not wisely but too
well; but it is only the unbelievable distance that our earth lies from
these stars which makes them look so closely clustered together. Would
the brighter naked-eye stars which bespangle our sky look like this--a
glimmering spot--from so vast a distance? To know that our solar cluster
of stars is not the only cluster in the heavens is enough to take a
little of the conceit out of man's colossal opinion of himself.
A good meteor shower appears in the vicinity of the constellation of
Perseus about the 10th of August. These meteors are best seen around
three o'clock in the morning and have been recorded as appearing as far
back as 811 A.D. This would seem to reasonably assure the annual
reappearance of the spectacle but since the number of meteors is
steadily decreasing there is a time in the future when it will cease to
be. These meteors are popularly known as the "Tears of Saint Lawrence,"
mentioned as the "fiery tears" in ancient legends because Saint
Lawrence was burned at the stake upon the 10th of August in the "sad old
days" of religious intolerance. Every year, like ghosts, his tears
return and rain down from the sky in drops of fire. They fall at the
rate of about one a minute. Miss Proctor, in "Half Hours with the Summer
Stars," mentions a quaint old oriental legend in which the meteors are
supposed to be darts which are thrown by the angels at the evil ones who
are barred from heaven and eavesdrop at its gates.
The myth which is woven about the hero Perseus is a very beautiful one
and a few words as to why the Greeks so loved this gallant lad might be
well appreciated by those who are not familiar with the story.
Acrisius, King of Argos, was so selfish and quarrelsome that finally
Jupiter, who watched over the affairs of mankind, determined to give him
something real to worry about, so Acrisius was informed through an
oracle that he would lose his crown and die by the hand of his own
grandson. Soon after this Perseus was born, and the King was indeed
terrified. His fear increased daily, finally bringing him to such a
state of madness that he placed the Princess Danae, his own daughter,
and her little son in a large chest and threw it into the sea.
The gods, however, watched the chest and held it steady among the
roughest waves, finally stranding it in the sea-weed on the little
Island of Seriphus where the wanderers were rescued and given a home.
Years passed, and the King of Seriphus grew to love Danae, but he feared
Perseus who looked like a golden-haired god. One day this king planned a
great feast and informed his guests that each must bring a gift as proof
of his loyalty, and the gift must be either costly or rare. Since
Perseus had no wealth, the king suggested that he bring to court the
head of the Gorgon Medusa who lived across the sea in the wilds of a
strange and distant land.
With his heart filled with sorrow at the thought of this wellnigh
impossible task, Perseus went out into the fields and walked about
alone. What chance had he against this fearful creature that had the
wings of an eagle and hair that writhed in living snakes about her
shoulders, and coiled and hissed and darted on her head? More than this,
her eyes were filled with horror and turned all who gazed upon her into
stone! Walking along thus enwrapped in dreary thoughts, the youth felt
himself suddenly grow buoyant, and looking down on his sandals saw that
living wings had grown upon their heels; then a polished shield
reflecting like a mirror was hung upon his arm, and a sword carved from
a diamond, which must have once equaled the size of a bowlder, was
thrust into his hand. The gods had again taken care of their own!
Holding himself proudly, our hero walked to the end of the island where
a high cliff jutted above the rocky shore below. He stood on the edge
and looked down at the rocks beneath him; then he raised his head and
looked at the high white clouds in the sunny sky. He thought of the gods
and his mother--and bravely stepped over—then laughed joyously as he
skimmed like a bird in the warm rays of the sun.
It is a long tale to tell how he journeyed northward to the land of snow
and ice, then southward again, and across the Mediterranean.
"He saw the southern, and the northern pole:
And eastward thrice, and westward thrice, was whirl'd."
After finding the Three Gray Sisters who had but one eye between them,
Perseus forced them to tell him where to find the country where the
Gorgons dwelt. After many hardships, he found this country on the
western shore of Africa and knew it immediately, for all around stood
the images of men and beasts whose flesh and blood the Medusa's eyes had
hardened into stone:
"Beasts to the rocks were fix'd and all around
Were tribes of stone and marble nations found."
--_Lucan's Pharsalia._
There, amid the rocks, lay the Medusa asleep, with half of the snakes
awake and squirming restlessly. With his eyes on the reflection in the
shield, the son of Danae swooped quickly downward, cut off the monster's
head and grasped its clammy, lifeless locks in his hand.
Winging his way over northern Africa, Perseus came to the mountain on
which the Titan Atlas sat, hunched up on a peak with his shoulders
sagging under the weight of the heavens. Somewhat weary after his long
flight, the youth landed in the Garden of the Hesperides, which lay at
the foot of the mountain, and watched the maidens, daughters of
Hesperus, the silver Evening Star, as they danced around a shining tree
of golden apples. But he dared not touch or even go near the apples, for
around the trunk was coiled old Laden, a monstrous dragon whose watchful
eyes were never closed. He then climbed up to the top of the mountain to
talk to Atlas, but Atlas did not receive him hospitably for an oracle
had declared that the day would come when a son of Jupiter would take
his golden fruit, and he had therefore forbidden strangers to come into
his land. Perseus begged for just one night of rest, but Atlas roared in
anger and would not even listen to him. "Have a rest yourself, then!"
shouted our hero, and held up the Gorgon's head. The great giant gave
one startled look, which was plenty, for the features of his face grew
stiff as weather-beaten ledges, his bones congealed like a mass of Tock,
and his beard stuck out like a forest of naked trees! Perseus hurriedly
swung the head behind him and, a trifle panic-stricken perhaps, flew
away over the African desert with the blood falling drip, drip, drip on
the hot, gray sands.
"The gory drops distilled, as swift he flew,
And from each drop envenomed serpents grew."
Thus from this monster Nature produced the first snakes, which bred and
multiplied on the desert until the region was infested with the
miserable creatures.
The great dark splash which the sea had caught when first he rose in the
air after beheading the Gorgon, had formed the silvery winged Pegasus,
the world's first horse. This splendid animal, however, did not stay
with Perseus, but spread its beautiful feathered wings in the air and
flew directly to Greece, where it was presented to the Muses on Mount
Helicon and afterwards given a constellation.
Flying over mountains and deserts and the narrow green valley of the
Nile, Perseus came to the shore of Palestine, the home of the
Ethiopians, which he found inundated with floods and strewn with the
wreckage of towns and villages. Traveling slowly above the sea-coast of
this unfortunate country, he spied something white at the water's edge,
and coming closer saw that it was a maiden chained by her wrists and
ankles to a rock, while not far distant and ever approaching closer, was
the most terrifying monster that he had ever seen. On the star maps this
creature is labeled a "whale." It may have been a whale, and it may not,
who knows? Sixty or seventy feet of whale lashing a tail big enough to
destroy a large boat would certainly seem a terrible sea-monster to
people who had never seen a whale. How could they know that its fifteen
or sixteen feet of gaping mouth had never tasted anything but tiny
crustaceans and acalephæ strained from sea-water! Hero indeed was
Perseus, for he skimmed swiftly down to a nearby wave, and poising upon
its frothy peak, thrust the monster deep below the jaw. A brave, brave
deed was this, and the people shouted their vast amazement and delight.
As the great sea-creature leaped and lunged and fell, Perseus again
snatched the blood-freezing head of the Medusa from his wallet--and the
cliffs trembled as the monster hit the bottom of the sea!
[Figure 32: THE STORY OF ANDROMEDA IMMORTALIZED IN STARS.
"She still in heaven her captive form retains,
And on her wrists still hang the galling chains."
--_Aratus._]
According to some of the poets, Jupiter was so inordinately proud of the
youth's achievements, that he caused all the principal characters in his
adventures to be immortalized in stars, the sea-monster sharing the
honor in a dim constellation far to the south. He, as well as the horse,
has been given a name and even grave astronomers call him "Cetus."
For a thousand years the famous rock was shown at Joppa and the slaying
of the Medusa and the rescue of Andromeda were favorite subjects in
ancient art. Artists thrilled to their theme as they made it glow in
colors on their canvases, and poets made the story live again and again.
If anyone wonders what became of the awful Medusa's head after Perseus
had won Andromeda for his bride, it might be well to add that after
reducing two courts of cowardly nobles to statues of stone, Perseus gave
the head to the goddess Minerva who placed it on her shield. This
goddess is very chaste and with the fearful head has since succeeded in
freezing all beholders.
ANDROMEDA, THE PRINCESS
[Figure 33]
The charming Princess Andromeda wears her chains in the sky just as she
did upon the sea-shore of the earth, only as a constellation she has a
line of pretty yellow stars on which to rest, one of the stars lighting
her dark hair, one adorning her girdle and one sparkling like a jewel
upon her sandal. The head of the Princess lies against the Square of
Pegasus, the Winged Horse, and her feet reach out almost to Perseus, who
with a ready sword watches her protectingly.
The orange star on Andromeda's sandal is the radiant point of the Biela
meteors. These appear every year on the 27th of November. This star is a
delight to the eye when viewed through a large telescope, for not
only one star is disclosed but three--a sea-green and a blue beside the
one of orange-gold!
Just above Mirach, the star on the girdle, are two fainter stars and a
small misty object. A large telescope will show that this misty object
is a long shuttle-shaped nebula of the most colossal size. This is the
famous nebula of Andromeda, the only spiral nebula in the heavens which
may be located without a telescope. The nebula of Andromeda is not a
gaseous nebula but an outside universe, an aggregation of millions of
suns comparable to the Galaxy. (The Galaxy is our Milky Way.)
[Figure 34]
This in itself is astounding, but it is also astounding that we have
been privileged to gaze over a chasm so wide that an aggregation of
millions of suns looks no more to our eyes than a misty spot of light.
Dr. Edwin Hubble, of the Mount Wilson observatory in California, has
recently made the discovery that the more distant spiral nebulæ may
also be resolved into stars. Dr. Hubble made his investigations
photographically with the 60-inch and 100-inch telescopes. Although most
of the spiral nebulæ appear very small because they are at least a
million light years distant, the nebula of Andromeda is comparatively
close, its apparent diameter being about six times the diameter of the
moon.
This famous nebula may be most easily located when near the zenith
during the latter part of October. Watch for it just after the star
Alpheratz, on the head of Andromeda, has passed the meridian and started
toward the west.
[Figure 35: THE GREAT NEBULA OF ANDROMEDA.
Photograph by Yerkes Observatory through the 40-inch refracting
telescope.]
To the unaided eye, it appears as a small mass of faint light and
inexperienced observers often mistake it for a comet. Although this mass
of light may be considered as being comparatively close compared to
other spiral nebula, it is scarcely like sighting a ship at sea, for so
far away does the spiral of Andromeda lie, that a ray of light must
travel at least 36,000 years in order to reach the earth--36,000 years
with light traveling 186,000 miles a second!
PEGASUS, THE FLYING HORSE
[Figure 36]
The constellation of Pegasus, the Winged Horse of the Muses, is marked
by a great square formed by four bright stars. This "square" lies
against the horse's neck and wings, while his head, adorned by the star
Enif, hangs downward from one corner and stretches toward the west.
[Figure 37]
Enif lies about 10 degrees west of a small but conspicuous
diamond-shaped constellation called The Dolphin, or Job's Coffin.
Although Pegasus is close to Perseus in the sky, this winged horse was
not with the hero either at the time he met Andromeda or at any other
period of his life. Since only half of his body is represented on
his star square it is sometimes said that the remainder is hidden behind
the rocks to which Andromeda is chained. The reason that artists so
often draw Pegasus beside the hero Perseus must be that they take the
astronomical picture instead of the mythological version of the story as
a basis for their theme, although his unnatural position of being upside
down is studiously ignored;--even the ancient poets refrained from
comment upon this point.
Mr. Clark, in "Astronomy from a Dipper," aptly remarks that "the square
suggests a box-stall in which a horse could be kept rather than a portion
of a great flying horse." There is certainly "more truth than poetry" in
this idea and just about all of the constellations look most like "what
they are not." Not possessing the vivid imagery of the Greeks, most of
us must be content with looking at the bright Square which marks the
place of the great Winged Horse in the darkness.
It will be recalled that when Perseus swooped down and cut the head off
the Gorgon, its life-blood crimsoned the foam on the sea. Neptune,
seeing this, spun it into silver with the wind and waves, and formed, in
a moment, the wondrous horse.
Born full-grown, gifted with immortal life and blessed with incredible
speed, Pegasus lifted his silvery wings and sprang toward the clouds. He
then rushed headlong toward Mount Helicon where he flew about the
mountain, alighted in its sacred groves, and was petted by the Muses.
According to all accounts the hoofs of this beautiful creature must have
possessed not only miraculous strength but also some of the properties
of a divining-rod, for, when thirsty, all that he needs must do was to
strike his magic hoof upon the ground and up would spout a fountain or a
spring—crystal clear and delightfully cool.
"He it was, men say, that brought down from lofty
Helicon the bright waters of bounteous Hippocrene."
The Fountain of Hippocrene was the result of an almost unbelievable
exhibition of strength which occurred, as the story goes,
at the time that the nine Muses and the nine daughters of Pierus
engaged in a musical contest on Mount Helicon. When the nine
daughters of Pierus began to sing, the heavens scowled and grew
dark, but when the nine Muses lifted their voices in song, the skies
grew gold with sunlight, the rivers stopped spellbound in their
courses and Mount Helicon rose skyward in sheer delight. Neptune,
observing the mountain, advised Pegasus to stop its ascension
by kicking it with his hoof. The winged steed kicked and not
only quenched the rising enthusiasm of Helicon, but caused the
waters of Hippocrene to burst forth from the very crest of a vast
rock. Poets were not long in discovering that a draught of these
sparkling waters fired their minds with divine inspiration, and
the beauty in their souls grew like flowers into poems which stayed
fresh and fair through all succeeding centuries. No wonder
modern poets sigh
"for a beaker full of the warm south
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking on the brim."
--_Longfellow._
Twenty "stadia" below the Fountain lay the Grove of the Muses, situated
in a pleasant hollow, while below this Grove, at the foot of Helicon,
was the village of Ascra, the residence of Hesiod, and the earliest seat
of poetry in Greece. One can imagine that the poets made frequent trips
up the two miles or so that brought them to the Fountain of the Horse.
In modern times, Hippocrene has been identified with a fine spring at
Makariotissa.
The limpid spring of Pirene on the citadel of Corinth was also opened by
a blow from the winged horse's foot. The water from Pirene was in later
days conveyed down the hill by subterranean conduits into a marble basin
made especially to hold it Pegasus was not given credit for having
opened these springs, however, until the days of the Alexandrian poets.
In lovely fancies, these "Spring-inspired" poets not only extolled the
wondrous strength in the hoof of Pegasus as he cleft a chasm in the
earth, but they also sang of so light a foot that he no more than shook
the sweetness from the flowers.
For a long time Pegasus flew about Mount Helicon, adored by the Muses
and admired by the gods, but finally one day, while drinking at a
spring, he was captured by a Grecian youth named Bellerophon. After
making him fast with a golden bridle loaned to him by Minerva,
Bellerophon mounted the broad back, slipped his feet between the wings
and soared to the sky. As might have been expected, Bellerophon
henceforth spent a good part of his time along the dizzying heights
above and around the clouds and one day accomplished the praiseworthy
deed of swooping down and slaying a triple-headed monster which had been
terrorizing all the surrounding land.
After this famous ride, Bellerophon seized what he considered a good
opportunity and tried to ascend to the top of the broad summit of Mount
Olympus which towered almost twice as high as the summit of Mount
Helicon. But Mount Olympus was the abode of the gods and this
presumptuous act so angered Jupiter that he sent an insect to torment
the steed which reared backward and threw its rider to the earth. Being
now quite accustomed to a rider, Pegasus was presented to Aurora,
Goddess of the Dawn, whose duty it was to lift the curtain of night with
her rosy tinted fingers and open the eastern gates for Apollo, the
Sun-god. In art Aurora is often pictured as a spirited maiden in
dazzling robes riding swiftly on the winged Pegasus, although she is
also represented as rising out of the ocean in the east in a car drawn
by four white horses. Perhaps she decided to employ the latter
exclusively to usher in the dawn, for Pegasus was later transposed to
the stars and never again permitted to stray earthward. His great
dark sky square with a star on each corner is exceedingly easy to find
especially during September when it is on the sky slope in the east,
although if there is any difficulty in locating it, let the eye travel
from Cassiopeia to the Segment of Perseus--which resembles a rod bent in
the middle and swayed by the weight of this big chained Square.
The Square rises and sets in a tilted fashion with its corner star,
Scheat, on the horse's knee, almost above Algenib, which lies on his
wing.
[Figure 38]
"as if by art at equal distance placed." This causes the Square to
resemble a distorted diamond-shaped figure when seen in the east or west
but when the figure travels along the south about nine o'clock during
the latter part of October or the first of November, its sides are
horizontal and vertical.
The Winged Horse first makes his appearance in the northeast near
midnight in the middle of June but is better seen in the east between
nine and ten o'clock a little later in the summer. Any time during the
Autumn he may be seen flying inverted across the dome of the heavens and
by November is high in the west. Evening after evening his silvery wings
fly lower and lower; the star Enif flutters as it nears the thickened
atmosphere about the horizon and Andromeda probably trembles as he
draws her near Cetus, head downward through the western sky.
[Figure 39: The Winged Horse flies head downward
in the west.]
"The head of Andromeda is setting and against her is brought by the
Misty South the mighty terror, Cetus, but over in the North Cepheus with
his mighty hand upraised warns him back."
--_Aratus._
By the first of the year the starry "Square" of the beautiful Pegasus
has entirely disappeared. Andromeda and Perseus soon follow but
Cassiopeia continues around the horizon in the north. Throughout the
spring and early summer Pegasus remains in regions below our sight but
in September he again appears and flies inverted up the heavens in the
east.
CETUS, THE SEA-MONSTER
[Figure 40]
Early poets describe Cetus as a monster armored with heavy scales or as
being long-necked and clawed, which brings to mind the sea-reptiles
which are known to have inhabited the sea during the Mesozoic Age.
Although poets are known for their tendency to exaggerate, this in
itself is enough to lend a spicy interest to the legend, for one's
thoughts fly back to the world's young days when reptiles of great
size literally overran the earth and cluttered up the sea. Many of these
forms have been reconstructed from fossils found embedded in the rock
strata. These are most amazing, grotesque and even terrifying and may be
seen in any of the great museums. If a museum is not handy one may
shiver with real thrills by going through the pages of a well
illustrated text on geology.
Some such creature as one of these was Cetus,--according to the poets.
Some authors think that the whole story of Andromeda is an allegory;
others, that it may have been based, though somewhat lightly, upon a
historical fact. Ancient authorities (Pliny, Josephus and others), claim
that the bones of Cetus were brought from Joppa to Rome and there
exhibited by M. Scarus, and it is also claimed that the people along the
sea-coast at this time were driven forth in hysterical fear, for when
the monster appeared it not only swallowed up the cattle as they came to
browse at the river's mouth but also snatched the children as they
splashed about at play. Mythology tells us that Hercules, as well as
Perseus, once killed such a sea-monster as this and it is then related
that he tried to narrow the width of the strait leading into the
Mediterranean by pushing the rocks on either shore closer together so as
to prevent further invasions of Neptune's fierce and terrible creatures.
The pictures of Cetus differ in the old star-maps although he is almost
always represented as being strange and ferocious. After having drawn
the animal, however, with scales and claws, a mad, mad tail and
sometimes even rows of teeth, the mapmaker becomes conservative and
calls it "Cetus, the Whale."
As a constellation, Cetus first begins to appear in September but does
not get fully above the horizon for almost four months. By January he is
completely visible, his huge, faint form covering over 40 degrees of
sky. His head is rather pentagonal as impressed among the stars and
extends on a long neck above the celestial equator; his tail is
even longer than his neck and curls upward as if he were angry--which he
assuredly was when petrified by Perseus into stone. His sides are clear
and black with unadorned sky-space and seem quite devoid of even the
fainter stars.
Always look for Cetus in the southeast, south or southwest, in front of
and below Orion and far below Andromeda. The point of the V-shaped
Hyades also directs the eye toward his pentagonal head which extends
toward the east.
Just about in the center of the long, giraffe-like neck of Cetus, the
villain in our play, lies Myra, a most extraordinary star.
[Figure 41: Cetus, the Whale.]
This star is called "Myra, the Wonderful" because of its amazing
behavior in a period of only eleven months. For three months Myra is
visible to the unaided eye; during the other eight it can only be seen
in a good telescope. Put in another way--for five months at a time it is
completely invisible to the unaided eye; then from a mere speck it
slowly brightens until in the course of three months more it has become
a star of the 2nd magnitude, although it remains a star of the 2nd
magnitude for only a few weeks. This change from a telescopic star of
the 9th or 10th magnitude to one of the 2nd magnitude means that Myra
must blaze up from 1000 times to 1500 times its ordinary brilliancy!
Such a statement may overwhelm the casual reader but we must remember
(in order not to become unduly excited) that this star is so far
away that such a conflagration would only mean the gradual appearance of
a star where none had been visible before, and then its gradual
disappearance.
Myra is indeed so far away that we are just 23 years behind time in
seeing each explosion, for it takes 23 years for its light to travel to
our eyes. If the roar of the conflagration could be heard here, however,
the sound would not reach the earth for many millions of years, for
sound travels much more slowly than light.
[Figure 42: Myra, the wonderful variable star, on the neck of Cetus,
the Sea-monster.]
Because of the variation of its light, which is very excessive in the
case of Myra, this star is called a variable star. Our sun is also a
variable star, but it is variable only in a very slight degree as
compared with the exuberant combustibility of Myra. But the theory of
spots which are believed to be responsible for the almost imperceptible
variation in the light intensity of our sun does not altogether explain
the phenomenon of Myra's variability and its mystery is still as great
as ever.
Thus is ended the story of Perseus and Andromeda and many of the
interesting bits of information connected with the constellations
of the various characters after they were transferred to the sky.
Three small constellations lie between Andromeda, Cetus and the Square
of Pegasus, and a word about them here will help to impress this part of
the sky upon the mind without the trouble of carrying maps every time
one feels inclined to gaze at the stars. These constellations are
Pisces, the Fish; Triangulum, the Triangle and Aries, the Ram.
[Figure 43]
Pisces represents two small fish tied by their tails by two long 'star
lines' which meet at a common star sometimes called Al Rischa or the
"Knot Star."
"Their tails point to an angle
Filled by a goodly star."
--_Aratus._
Although the constellation occupies a large space in the heavens it has
no conspicuous stars in it. It is best seen when the parallelogram of
Orion is in the sky and may be located above and to the west of Cetus.
Look for it on the first of January about 8 P. M. although it is
also viewed to good advantage when passing the meridian during the
evenings of October and November. Pisces lies in a region which in early
times was known as "the Sea" because several other sea-creatures such as
the Dolphin, which lies west of the Square, the Sea-goat and the Whale
are found here.
Some authorities claim that when the fire-breathing giant Typhon
appeared in Thessaly, the horrible creature so frightened the
inhabitants of Olympus that they fled to the Nile where they concealed
themselves under assumed shapes. Here the great god Jupiter
"was changed into a Ram
From whence the horns of Libyan Ammon came."
and the fun loving Pan into a sea-goat, now the constellation
Capricornus, while the goddess Venus and her son Cupid threw themselves
into the river and were changed into two fishes, which are now
represented by Pisces, in the sky. The fate of Typhon has already been
mentioned, and even modern Sicilians have seen Etna burst its crown to
let out his fiery breath.
Just below Andromeda and above the head of Cetus is a long slim
triangle-shaped figure called Triangulum, the Triangle, and a crooked
line formed by a large star and two smaller ones called Aries, the Ram.
In legend, Aries was a great ram with a golden fleece and possessed the
ability to fly. Mercury brought this beautiful creature to Helle and
Prixus, the persecuted children of the King of Thessaly, so that they
might climb upon its back and escape across the sea from their cruel
stepmother. On the way over, Helle lost her hold on the fleece, sank
under the waves and was drowned. Commemorating this tragedy, the sea was
ever after called the Sea of Helle or the Hellespont but in modern days,
the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles is a narrow channel separating Europe
from Asia, and is the "Hellespont" that Leander so faithfully swam when
visiting Hero, his sweetheart. Prixus, coming safely to the end of
his journey, dedicated the ram to Jupiter who placed it among the stars.
It is now a zodiacal constellation with the horns of the ram for its
sign: ♈︎. The golden fleece, while on earth, was of course very
desirable so that it was fastened to an oak tree in the sacred grove of
the War-god Mars at the eastern end of the Black Sea and a sleepless
dragon was wound around the tree-trunk to protect it. It was to obtain
this fleece that, in 936 B. C., Jason built a fifty-oared galley--the
first of ships--and invited the heroes of Greece to go with him on the
expedition. This adventurous undertaking was afterward known as the
Argonautic Expedition. The ship Argo was placed in the sky as a southern
constellation, or at least a part of it was for the bow is said to have
been lost when passing through the Bosporus.
"Argo, exalted for that daring feat
To fix in heaven her shape with stars."
--_Wordsworth._
But even the portion that was lifted to the sky is so large that
astronomers, for convenience, have divided it into three parts,--Carina,
the Keel; Puppis, the Stern; and Vela, the Sail. The beautiful star
Canopus lies on the Keel.
Triangulum and Aries, traveling beneath Andromeda, rise in late
September and October and pass the meridian in the early evenings during
the first weeks of December.
[Figure 44: THE PARADE OF THE ZENITH CONSTELLATIONS.
During the spring and summer months these clearly marked constellations
parade slowly across the dome of the heavens. Leo, the Lion, may be
easily located beneath the Big Dipper.]