The Rambling Astronomer

This is the largest of the four sections into which the ancient constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, the constellation was dismembered in the 1750s by the French astronomer Nicolas Lacaille. The other sections are Carina the Keel, Pyxis the compass and Vela the sails.

This constellation has been known since ancient times and is often represented as a fish drinking the flow of water from the urn of the neighbouring Aquarius the water bearer. The fish has been identified with the Babylonian fish god Oannes and is said to be the parent of the zodiacal fish Pisces.

An ancient constellation representing a pair of fishes tied by their tails, the knot being marked by the star alpha. One legend identifies the constellations with Venus and her son Cupid, who turned themselves into fishes and swam away from the attack of the monster Typhon.

Phoenix was the largest of the 12 constellation described by Petrus Plancius in 1597-98 its an inconspicuous constellation lying near the southern end of Eridanus the River representing the mythological bird that was regularly reborn from its own ashes. It was introduced in 1603 by Johann Bayer in an area known by the Arabs as the boat moored on the shores of the river.

Perseus was the hero of Greek mythology who rescued Andromeda who was chained to a rock waiting to be eaten by the Kraken sea monster. Previously he had killed the medusa. The Gorgons eye is marked by Algol. Perseus lies in a rich part of the milky way and is worth sweeping with binoculars.

The winged horse of Greek mythology, born from the blood of Medusa after she was slain by Perseus, who can be found nearby in the sky. The most famous feature is the great square outlined by 4 stars. Strangely and for some unknown reason the top left hand star of the square which used to be known as delta Pegasi has now been transferred to Andromeda where it has become alpha Andromedae.

‘Twas the night before Christmas… and the festive season of 1965 would be like no other when, above the small Leicestershire village of Barwell, a very large turkey size meteorite was about to crash from the sky. This is the amazing story of the Barwell Meteorite.

Introduced by Johann Bayer in 1603 it is one of a series of celestial birds in this region of the sky including Apus, Grus, Phoenix and Tucana. In mythology the peacock was sacred to Juno, goddess of the heavens. According to legend Juno sent a creature with a 100 eyes called Argus to watch over a white heifer; Juno guessed that this heifer was the form into which her husband Jupiter had turned one of illicit lovers the nymph Io.
At Jupiter’s request Mercury decapitated the watchful Argus and released the heifer. Juno place the 100 eyes of Argus on the peacock’s tail.

This is the story of how Venus changes from the goddess of love to the vision of hell when 2 spacecraft one American the other Russian in 2 Decembers 8 years apart changed our views of our nearest planetary neighbour.

Without doubt the brightest and grandest constellation in the sky, crammed with objects of interest for all sizes on instruments. Orion’s impressiveness stems from the fact that it is an area of star formation in a nearby arm of the galaxy, centred on the famous Orion Nebula.
In one story the boastful Orion was stung to death by a scorpion and is now placed in the sky so he sets as the scorpion rises.