Cygnus

 Cygnus is a prominent constellation in the northern sky. Its name means “the swan” in Latin and it is also known as the Swan constellation.

 The constellation is easy to find in the sky as it features a well-known asterism known as the Northern Cross .

Also  the star Deneb  is one of the vertices of summer  triangle .





The Mythology of Cygnus

Cygnus (the swan) had many identities; however Cygnus was most likely Zeus in disguise. Leda (the wife of the Spartan king, Tyndareus, and the mother of the Gemini and Helen of Troy) had unrivaled beauty. Leda was so beautiful that Zeus could not resist her. Zeus knew that as himself he would not be able to win the love of Leda. Instead he took the form of a beautiful swan and eventually won her love.

Another story about Cygnus involves two gods who were racing chariots in space. The two friends were so intent and focused on the race that they were not paying attention to where they were going. Suddenly, they found themselves too close to the sun, and their chariots started to melt. The two friends fell toward the Earth. One fell through some trees, which broke his fall. The other landed in a river and was knocked unconscious. The first friend wanted to rescue the other from the river but did not know how to swim. He asked Zeus to turn him into a swan, so that he could dive to the bottom of the river and save his friend. Moved by the young man’s friendship, Zeus turned him into a swan. He dove to the bottom of the river and saved his friend’s life. Zeus was again moved by his bravery, so when the swan died, Zeus placed him in the sky to serve as a reminder of courage and friendship.

Next will see the  small constellations  nearby it.

Til then goodbye. 

Keep  commenting. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hast, Chitra & Swati (13,14,15)

Image
 Welcome again to Nakshatra yatra.  The next Nakshatra is Hast,which is 13th in the order, also it's the last Nakshatra of mansoon. In this Nakshatra, the crop is nourished very well. It's shape is like hand,so the name Hast. First see Saptarshi in the North. If you extend the line from last star of Saptarshi on a curved path, you can see 2 bright stars .        The Red one is Swati (Arcturus) & the Blue one is Chitra (Spica). Extend the line further,then you get a pentagon in the shape of a hand, that's Hast. If we put a ball at Saptarshi,it will go on rolling on an imaginary line, till it is caught by Hast. The stars are very bright,so it's called as  necklace in the sky. So these are13th,14th & 15th Nakshatras. The Rashi is Kanya,the 6th one. It's called Virgo in English. Kanya Rashi consists of 3/4 Uttara Falguni (Denebola), full Hast(Corvus) & 1/2 Spica. When full moon is in Chitra, the month is Chaitra. 1st month of Marathi Calendar. On 1st day of
Read more

Mrug (Orion)Part 1

Image
15 December,2020, Tuesday,Dev Deepawali. Starting of Marathi month Margashirsh.(Head of a deer) In this month you can see Mrug Nakshatra in the East rising in the evening.It is Orion in English meaning hunter . It's the brightest & most beautiful object in the  sky. I personally like this Nakshatra very much. As we have seen earlier half of Mrug Nakshatra comes in Vrushabh Rashi & other half in Mithun Rashi. As the Mrug or Orion  is a big constellation it's story is also big,so let's divide it in two parts. In this part we will know about the story of the constellation & how to spot it in the sky. It's very easy to see because all the stars are bright of this constellation. At 8 pm , in the East, you can see 4 bright stars & 3 stars in straight line in between. According to Indians ,the 4 bright stars are 4 legs of a deer (Mrug) & the middle 3 stars arrow in it's pet.If you observe closely, you can see a triangle out side of the two legs towards
Read more

Sky in February( 12,3,4)Nakshatras Ashwini (1)Bharani (2)Krittika (3)Rohini (4)

Image
 See the beautiful Mrug Nakshatra in South-East corner at 8 p.m. It is a rectangle with 4 stars.At the boundary ,4 feets of Mrug & the arrow piercing through it's belly consisting of 3 stars. You can spot the 3 stars in line easily.  If you extend the line westward ,there's a red star which is Rohini. After a while when your eyes  are adapted for darkness the 'V' shape of Rohini Nakshatra can be seen.  If you extend it further just a bit offside a group of 6 stars  can be seen which is Pleiades (Krittika). After getting Krittika, go for a small equilateral triangle, all stars are faint in this triangle. It's Bharani Nakshatra.  Then go for 2 bright stars which are close to each other, the third star forms an abtuse angle. This is Ashwini Nakshatra.  Ashwini means horse.It looks like Horsehead in inverse direction,so the name.  These are first 4 nakshtras. Ashwini ,Bharani,Krittika, Rohini. There are 27  Nakshatras & 12 Rashis . Ashwini Nakshatra comes under
Read more