July Guest Post: Stars in Our Skies

Of the twelve zodiacal constellations, only one of them represents an inanimate object while the other eleven depict living entities. It is also the star pattern we are highlighting for the month of July. Called MUL Zibanu (meaning “scales” or “balance”) by ancient Babylonian astronomers, the constellation of Libra was sacred to their sun god Shamash, who also served as a divine judge. The Ancient Egyptians, by contrast, thought that the three brightest stars in Libra (Alpha Librae, Beta Librae, and Sigma Librae) formed a boat.