One of the marquee constellations of the autumn sky is Pegasus, the winged horse, and its next door neighbor constellation, Andromeda, the princess.
You can’t miss them in the eastern sky. Just look for 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.
Now the great thing 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. I hope you see Pegasus the same way. If you’re a stuffy constellation purist, you’d better check out another part of The Herald, but if you’re ready to fly high with a horsey, read on.
In the stargazing world, a mystical world exists above our real world. According to Greek and Roman mythology, the great square of Pegasus in the eastern sky is the torso of the big horse.
It 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 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. 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 home plate look for a faint line of stars that depicts his neck and head. Gazing off third base you’ll see a crooked line of four stars that is the front leg of the horse.
According to legend, the great hero Perseus was sent on a mission to rid the countryside of the monster Medusa. He borrowed the winged shoes of Mercury, the messenger of gods, so he could fly around freely and carry out his mission.
As I like to tell it, on his way back toting the severed head of Medusa, Perseus noticed the beautiful Princess Andromeda on the seashore about to be devoured by a sea monster. As he swooped down for a closer look, some drops of blood from Medusa’s head fell onto the sea, and somehow that magically created the winged horse Pegasus. There must have been some dehydrated horse in Medusa’s blood.
Perseus was thinking quickly on his winged feet and sent Pegasus swooping to the rescue. Andromeda climbed onto Pegasus’ wing and flew off to safety. Andromeda married Perseus as a reward.
So, that’s my version. See if you see Pegasus the same way I do. By the way, if you think you’ve seen a picture of the winged horse before, you have. Mobil gas stations have Pegasus as part of their logo.
One of the coolest celestial goodies in our sky, the Andromeda Galaxy, can be found just above Pegasus’ 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 have really dark skies, you can see it with your naked eye. That fuzzy little patch is our Milky Way Galaxy’s next door neighbor.
Admittedly the Andromeda Galaxy won’t make you do back flips when you see it, even in the biggest of telescopes. It’s like I said, a fuzzy white patch of light with a brighter center. But just know you’re looking at a galaxy of possibly a trillion stars, much larger than our home galaxy.
Also let it sink in that you’re observing something well over 2 million light-years away, with just one light-year equaling almost 6 trillion miles. That’s especially impressive if you spot it with the naked eye.
In fact, it’s the most distant thing that can be seen with our unaided eye. Since it’s more than 2 million light-years away, you’re not seeing it as it is right now, but as it was more than 2 million years ago. It takes the light that long just to get here.
One more thing: Whenever you gaze on the Andromeda Galaxy, remember that our Milky Way and Andromeda are on a collision course. In about 3 billion to 4 billion years they’ll create a corporate merger of galatic proportions. The two galaxies are moving toward each other at about 50 miles a second.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com.
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