Little Constellations around Pegasus

October 04, 2021

The constellation of Pegasus is bordered by the constellations of Andromeda, Aquarius, Cygnus,

Delphinus, Equuleus, Lacerta, Pisces, and Vulpecula.

Equuleus

As the legend goes, Equuleus is a horse,brother of the winged horse Pegasus.

There was competition between Poseidon, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses. and Athena godess associated with wisdom, handicraft, and warfare to determine which of them would be the superior.

During that Equuleus was struck from Poseidon's trident .

Because this section of stars rises before Pegasus, it is often called Equus Primus, or the First Horse.

Lacerta was created by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687.Its name is Latin for lizard .

It is a small, faint constellation that is sometimes referred to as Little Cassiopeia because its brightest stars form a “W” shape, just like the stars in the considerably larger Cassiopeia constellation.

In Greek mythology, Cetus was the sea monster that was sent by Poseidon to swallow Andromeda, daughter of King Cepheus of Ethiopia.

In some accounts, the Greek hero Perseus used the Medusa's head to turn Cetus to stone;

in others, Perseus killed Cetus with his sword.

The Indian name for Cetus is Timingal (devmasa)

Triangulum

Triangulum is a small constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "triangle."

The Greeks knew the constellation as Deltoton, named for its shape, which resembled the capital Greek letter delta(Δ).

Eratosthenes,a greek asronomer said that the constellation represented the delta of the river Nile.

Roman writer Hyginus wrote that some people saw it as the island of Sicily.

Sicilia was one of the early names for the constellation because Ceres, who was the patron goddess of the island, was said to have begged Jupiter,god of the sky and thunder and king of the gods to place the island in the sky.