One of the great constellations of the autumn Everett sky is Pegasus the winged horse and its adjacent constellations Andromeda the Princess. You can’t miss them in the eastern sky. The easiest part of the flying horse to see is a giant diamond of four stars about halfway up in the eastern sky. That’s called the square of Pegasus and it outlines the body or torso of the great horse.
One of the great things about constellations is that they’re subject to interpretation. There’s nothing etched in stone about how you should visualize the creatures and figures in the stars. Traditionally, Pegasus is seen as a celestial horse flying upside down in the heavens with puny little wings. I don’t see it like that and I have lots of company. I see the giant horse proudly flying upright in the eastern sky with a giant wingspan. It always reminds me of the Mobil Oil flying horse logo. I want to sell you one seeing Pegasus the same way. If you’re a stuffy constellation purist you’re probably not going to be that happy with me, but if you’re ready to fly high with a winged horsey I’ll do my best to be your pilot.
According to Greek and Roman mythology, the great square of Pegasus in the eastern sky is the torso of the big horse that also resembles a giant baseball diamond. Home plate is at the top of the diamond, first base is the left side, third base is on the right corner, and second is on the bottom. Off of first base or the left corner, you can’t help but see a long, curved line of stars that arcs up and to the left. Traditional interpretation has that as the constellation Andromeda the Princess. In my version of Pegasus that long line of stars is the giant wing of the horse, with Princess Andromeda riding on top of the wing. Off of home plate look for a faint line of stars that depicts his neck and head. Gazing off of third base you’ll see a crooked line of four stars that is the front leg of the horse.
Pegusus the Winged horse plays a huge role in one of the greatest star lore sagas there is. It begins the great hero Perseus who was sent on a mission to rid the countryside of the monster Medusa. He borrowed the winged shoes of Hermes, the messenger of gods, so he could fly around freely and carry out his mission. On his way back toting the severed head of Medusa, Perseus noticed a beautiful Princess Andromeda on the seashore about to be devoured by a sea monster. As he swooped down for a closer look, some drops from Medusa’s head fell onto the sea and somehow that magically created the winged horse Pegasus. There must have been some de-hydrated horse in Medusa’s blood. Perseus was quick thinking on his winged feet and sent Pegasus swooping down to shore. Princess Andromeda was within 20 feet of the sea monster’s tentacles when the horse suddenly popped down on the shore next to her. With hardly a millisecond to spare Andromeda climbed onto Pegasus’ wing and flew off to safety. Andromeda married Perseus as a reward and the coupled lived happily ever after… until Perseus was killed in drunken swordfight at a local bar.
Again I hope you’re seeing Pegasus the same way I do. One of the really cool things is that all the characters in this story are all represented by nearby constellation. The eastern part of autumn evening sky is one giant sky novel.
One of the coolest celestial goodies in our sky, the Andromeda Galaxy, can be found just above Pegasus’s wing and Princess Andromeda. Scan that area of the heavens with your binoculars or a small telescope and look for a ghostly fuzzy patch. If you’re out in the countryside and really have dark skies you can see it with your naked eye. That fuzzy little patch is our Milky Way Galaxy’s next door neighbor. I’ll have much more on our galactic next door neighbor next week in Starwatch.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications available at bookstores at http://www.adventurepublications.net
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