SkyNews – September 2019

36 SKYNEWS •SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

G

REEK LEGENDrecords that a

teenager named Phaethon, who

was raised by his mother, found

out that he was the son of Apollo the sun

god. Phaethon celebrated by taking the

family vehicle for a joyride. Said vehicle was

the fiery chariot in which Apollo rode from

sunrise to sunset, and Phaethon couldn’t

handle it. In a matter of hours, the reckless

youth managed to scorch both heaven and

earth. The chief god Zeus was not amused.

He corrected the chariot’s trajectory, then

zapped Phaethon with a thunderbolt and

dropped him into the nearest river.

Enter Cygnus, Phaethon’s best friend.

Cygnus was horrified but could do little

more than plunge into the water to retrieve

his buddy’s charred remains. The heroic

act did not go unnoticed. The gods trans-

formed Cygnus into a swan and elevated

him to the Milky Way. The location is

appropriate, for the band of the Milky Way

is said to be the glittering path created by

Phaethon during his wild ride across the

heavens. Needless to say, the impetuous

Phaethon was notplaced among the stars.

The basic outline of Cygnus is established

by a well-known asterism called the North-

ern Cross. The top of the cross is emblazoned

by first-magnitude Alpha Cygni, or Deneb

(“tail”). At the other end is third-magnitude

Beta, or Albireo. The name isn’t easily trans-

latable, but it marks the head of our long-

necked bird. Between those stars, at the cen-

tre of the cross, is second-magnitude Gamma,

or Sadr (“breast”). Sadr is flanked by 2.5-

magnitude Epsilon, or Gienah (“wing”), and

third-magnitude Delta, the only star in the

Northern Cross without a proper name.

Another myth concerning Cygnus un-

derscores the fact that the constellation

makers of long ago didn’t think much about

gender balance. The salacious story told

how Zeus disguised himself as a swan to

seduce Queen Leda of Sparta. Leda pro-

duced children for both her husband King

Tyndareus and her feathery lover Zeus.

Among the brood were the famous twins

Castor and Pollux, the former a mortal son

of Tyndareus and the latter an immortal

son sired by Jupiter. Typical of classical

mythology, Castor, Pollux and Cygnus were

all symbolized in the night sky, whereas

Leda is nowhere to be found. ✦

CONSTELLATION CORNER by KEN HEWITT-WHITE

CYGNUS

In ancient times, Cygnus was a huge swan in graceful flight

along the Milky Way

IMAGE FROM ALEXANDER JAMIESON’S 1822 CELESTIAL ATLAS

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