September Guest Post: Stars in Our Skies
This September we are featuring a collection of stars from the zodiac known as Capricornus. When translated through Latin, the constellation represents a sea goat. This mythical creature was associated with the god Enki in Babylonian mythology, and later with the Greek deity Pan. In Greek mythology, the constellation is sometimes seen as Amalthea, a goat with a broken horn, which was later transformed into the “horn of plenty,” cornucopia.
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.
June Guest Post: Stars in Our Skies
The evening stars of summer are slowly drifting westward as a new season approaches. Soon we’ll be enjoying familiar star patterns and the return of the Milky Way overhead.