This is part of a longer tale, where years ago before it became popular I began to write of the constellation of Ophiuchus this was written of by myself and has been alluded to in numerous works.
It is of interest to see how many Astrologers are now making money from many of these ideas and beguiling the Glitterati!
What follows is an insight received last week via a journey. Make of it what you will however recall that I have written of the potential first.
I await additional astronomical data to further perceive the past, current and futute potential for this recent insight.
Jonathan MacLean-Lambie
08th of June 2012
Sagitta surrounded by
Vulpecula/The Little Fox, The Hero Hercules, The Eagle Aquila and
The Dolphin Delphinus.
Here we see a pattern where the mythos is not the same as the Eagle, (Scorpio
Water), Angel, (Aquarius
Air), Bull,(Taurus
Earth), Lion,(Leo
Fire), These are all fixed Zodiacal Signs of our current astrology however the archetypal symbolism is the same.
Therefore
Sagittta is Surrounded by
Vulpecula,(The Little Fox
Earth -
Healing),
Hercules, (Hero
Fire -
Energy),
Aquila,(Eagle
Air DNA Potential), and
Delphinus, (Dolphin
Water Unconscious Becoming Conscious Psyche). The elements have progress and evolved through their archetypes experiences.
ASTRUM ARCHON
Saggita is the Arrow fired by the Centaur in Sagittarius, (The Arrow is The Creative Force The Potential of Mutable Elements).
Sagittarius has to his left The Feathered Eagle Called Scorpio, (DNA), and to his right The Sea-Goat Capricorn,above him is the Serpent Holder who stands over the three common astrological signs Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn.
The Purpose of The Serpent Holder who holds The Head and Tail of the Dragon (DNA on a Galactic Scale) is to Heal the Wound of the World.
The Worlds Wound is told by The Centaur Chiron who is in the Sign of Pisces. Pisces is the Dying Astrological Age. With Aquarius the incoming Astrological Age.
The following is to assist with the outgoing of one age the incoming influences of the other as well as the potential of a leap with in the Psyche of humanity.
As the alignment is fixed in December 2012.
With Ophiuchus forming the path that is direct to The Galactic Centre and the Supermassive Black Hole in SagittariusA. This allows for the Arrow to Pass via The Healer Ophiuchus onwards to Hercules who stands over the Serpent Holder. In it's passing The Arrow, (Sagitta), is used by The Hero Hercules to effect the Cosmic DNA, (Aquila), within the Constellations around himself and also within himself. As Within So Without. In all it assists with the Healing, (Vulpecula), The Opening of Energy within, (Hercules/Mankind), The Activation of New Potential,(Delphinus), (in particular within the Region of Rho Ophiuchi).
As Above So Below.
The above is my insight regarding the importance of the above events both astrologically, astronomically, spiritually, within our psyche and within our very essence.
At the lower left is the Dolphin. Parts of Cygnus and Lyra are above and Aquila below. Sagitta is a quite distinct group of stars resembling nicely an arrow, whereas it is almost impossible to visually identify the pattern of Vulpecula with its 4th magnitude stars in between the rich milky way.
The milky way is quite prominent in the shown field. A dark band, called the "Great Rift", apparently divides the galaxy into two parts and continues from Cygnus through the shown field further south to Aquila and finally gets lost in Ophiuchus.
In the two constellations Delphinus and Equuleus are no bright deep sky objects, whereas in the surrounding field are for example the globular cluster M 15 in Pegasus and the famous Cirrus Nebula in Cygnus.
The extended constellation Cygnus and the small constellation of Lyra on the right hand side Cygnus is sometimes also called the Northern Cross.
The most prominent star is Vega, brightest star of Lyra with a visual magnitude of 0.04 mag. Deneb, visible in the upper left, is the brightest star of Cygnus with 1.26 mag. Together they form the famous summer triangle with the star Altair in the more southern constellation Aquila. Sagitta can be seen above and Scutum to the lower right.
The declination of the constellation borders ranges from -12 to +19 degrees. Brightest star is Altair with a visual brightness of 0.8 mag. Together with the stars of Deneb in Cygnus and Vega in Lyra Altair forms the well known summer triangle of the northern summer sky.
The large constellation of Ophiuchus fills the space and extends even somewhat more out. It lies below of Hercules and in between of the head (right) and the tail of the serpent (left) which the "serpent bearer" is carrying
The field is very close to the direction of the galactic center which lies eight degrees below the lower left image corner.
Therefore a lot of galactic deep sky objects join the field. Ophiuchus is famous for its large number of globular star clusters. The galactic distribution of globulars is spherical with a concentration towards the galactic center. In contrast to this is the disky distribution of field stars and open star clusters which defines the galactic plane.
The brightest globulars are M 10 and M 12 which are well visible with binoculars. Interesting is the huge emission nebula Sharpless 27. Its very low surface brightness is visually not detectable, even with a large aperture. A small area of Ophiuchus to the south of the contains the interesting region around Rho Ophiuchi.
In a distance of about 500 lightyears the region around Rho Ophiuchi represents the Earth's closest star nursery. Embedded in the most dense clouds of molecular gas and dust stars are born right now. The dust is emitting light in the infrared and absorbing stellar light in the optical and X-ray regime. The blue and yellow color of the nebulae in the optical image is from interstellar light reflection of embedded stars. The red emission is mainly from ionized hydrogen.
Sagittarius A* (pronounced "Sagittarius A-star", standard abbreviation
Sgr A*) is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. It is part of a larger astronomical feature known as Sagittarius A. Sagittarius A* is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole, such as are now generally accepted to be at the centers of most spiral, and elliptical galaxies. Observations of the star S2 in orbit around Sagittarius A* have been used to show the presence of, and produce data about, the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, and have led to the conclusion that Sagittarius A* is the site of that black hole.
Astronomers have been unable to observe Sgr A* in the optical spectrum because of the effect of 25 magnitudes of extinction between the source and Earth. Several teams of researchers have attempted to image Sagittarius A* in the radio spectrum using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). The current highest-resolution measurement, made at a wavelength of 1.3 mm, indicated an angular diameter for the source of 37 μas At a 26,000 light-year distance, this yields a diameter of 44 million kilometers. For comparison, the Earth is 150 million kilometers from the Sun, and Mercury is 46 million kilometers from the Sun at its perihelion. The proper motion of Sgr A* is approximately −2.70 mas per year for the right ascension and −5.6 mas per year for the declination.
Sgr A* was discovered on February 13 and 15, 1974, by astronomers Bruce Balick and Robert Brown using the baseline interferometer of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
On October 16, 2002, an international team led by Rainer Schödel of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics reported the observation of the motion of the star S2 near Sagittarius A* over a period of ten years. According to the team's analysis, the data ruled out the possibility that Sgr A* contains a cluster of dark stellar objects or a mass of degenerate fermions, strengthening the evidence for a massive black hole. The observations of S2 used near-infra red (NIR) interferometry (in the K-band, i.e. 2.2 μm) because of reduced interstellar extinction in this band. SiO masers were used to align NIR images with radio observations, as they can be observed in both NIR and radio bands. The rapid motion of S2 (and other nearby stars) easily stood out against slower-moving stars along the line-of-sight so these could be subtracted from the images.
The VLBI radio observations of Sagittarius A* could also be aligned centrally with the images so S2 could be seen to orbit the galactic centre. From examining the Keplerian orbit of S2, they determined the mass of Sagittarius A* to be 2.6 ± 0.2 million solar masses, confined in a volume with a radius no more than 17 light-hours (120 AU) Later observations determined the mass of the object to be about 4.1 million solar masses within a volume with radius no larger than 6.25 light-hours (45 AU) or about 6.7 billion kilometres. They also determined the distance to the galactic centre, which is important in calibrating astronomical distance scales, as 8.0 ± 0.6 × 10
3 parsecs.
In November 2004 a team of astronomers reported the discovery of a potential intermediate-mass black hole, referred to as GCIRS 13E, orbiting three light-years from Sagittarius A*. This black hole of 1,300 solar masses is within a cluster of seven stars. This observation may add support to the idea that supermassive black holes grow by absorbing nearby smaller black holes and stars.
After monitoring stellar orbits around Sagittarius A* for 16 years, Gillessen
et al. estimate the object's mass at 4.31 ± 0.38 million solar masses. The result was announced in 2008 and published in
The Astrophysical Journal in 2009.
Reinhard Genzel, team leader of the research, said the study has delivered "what is now considered to be the best empirical evidence that super-massive black holes do really exist. The stellar orbits in the galactic centre show that the central mass concentration of four million solar masses must be a black hole, beyond any reasonable doubt."
If the apparent position of Sagittarius A* were exactly centered on the black hole, it would be possible to see it magnified beyond its actual size, because of gravitational lensing. According to general relativity, this would result in a minimum observed size of at least 5.2 times the black hole's Schwarzschild radius, which, for a black hole of around 4 million solar masses, corresponds to a minimum observed size of approximately 52 μas. This is much larger than the observed size of 37 μas and so suggests that the Sagittarius A* radio emissions are not centered on the hole but arise from a bright spot in the region around the black hole, close to the event horizon, possibly in the accretion disc or a relativistic jet of material ejected from the disc.
The mass of Sagittarius A* has been estimated in two different ways.
- Two groups—in Germany and the U.S.—monitored the orbits of individual stars very near to the black hole and used Kepler's laws to infer the enclosed mass. The German group found a mass of 4.31 ± 0.38 million solar masses while the American group found 4.1 ± 0.6 million solar masses. Given that this mass is confined inside a 44 million km diameter sphere, this yields a density ten times higher than previous estimates.
- More recently, measurement of the proper motions of a sample of several thousand stars within approximately one parsec from the black hole, combined with a statistical technique, has yielded both an estimate of the black hole's mass, and also of the distributed mass in this region. The black hole mass was found to be consistent with the values measured from individual orbits; the distributed mass was found to be 1.0 ± 0.5 million solar masses. The latter is believed to be composed of stars and stellar remnants.
Astronomers are confident that these observations of Sagittarius A* provide good empirical evidence that our own Milky Way galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, 26,000 light-years from the Solar System because:
- The star S2 follows an elliptical orbit with a period of 15.2 years and a pericenter (closest distance) of 17 light hours (1.8×1013 m) from the center of the central object.
- From the motion of star S2, the object's mass can be estimated as 4.1 million solar masses.
- The radius of the central object must be significantly less than 17 light hours, because otherwise, S2 would either collide with it or be ripped apart by tidal forces. In fact, recent observations indicate that the radius is no more than 6.25 light-hours, about the diameter of Uranus' orbit, leading to density limit 8.55×1036 kg / 1.288×1039 m3 = 0.0066 kg/m3.
- The only widely hypothesized type of object which can contain 4.1 million solar masses in a volume that small is a black hole.
While, strictly speaking, there are other mass configurations that would explain the measured mass and size, such an arrangement would collapse into a single supermassive black hole on a timescale much shorter than the life of the Milky Way.
The comparatively small mass of this black hole, along with the low luminosity of the radio and infrared emission lines, imply that the Milky Way is not a Seyfert galaxy.
Ultimately, what is seen is not the black hole itself, but observations that are consistent only if there is a black hole present near Sgr A*. In the case of such a black hole, the observed radio and infrared energy emanates from gas and dust heated to millions of degrees while falling into the black hole. Although other possibilities exist for how these gases emanate energy, such as radiation pressure and interaction with other gas streams, interaction with a massive source of gravity is the simplest explanation. The black hole itself is believed to emit only Hawking radiation at a negligible temperature, on the order of 10
−14 kelvin.
The European Space Agency's gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL has observed gamma rays interacting with the nearby giant molecular cloud Sagittarius B2, causing x-ray emission from the cloud. This energy was emitted about 350 years before by Sgr A*. The total luminosity from this outburst (L≈1,5×1039 erg/s) is an estimated million times stronger than the current output from Sgr A* and is comparable with a typical AGN. This conclusion has been supported in 2011 by Japanese astronomers observed the Galaxy center with Suzaku satellite
Mythos.
Scorpio (♏) a Fixed Zodiacal Sign (Greek: Σκορπιός, "Skorpios", Latin: "Scorpio") is the eighth astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the 210th and 239th degree of celestial longitude. In the Tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac between October 24th to November 22nd each year.
In Sidereal astrology, the sun currently transits the constellation of Scorpio from November 16th to December 15th (approximately). Individuals born during these dates, depending on which system of astrology they subscribe to, may be called Scorpios.
In Greek mythology, the Scorpio is featured in the myth of the giant hunter Orion and the Goddess Artemis. According to the Phenomena of Aratus, Orion was enjoying the slaughter of all manner of beasts when he laid his hands upon Artemis's robes. In anger she proved his vulnerability by rousing the deadly scorpion whose unsuspected bite destroyed the supposedly invincible hunter. The goddess raised the Scorpion to the heavens in gratitude, placing its constellation in opposition to that of Orion. The scorpion and the hunter are thus said to be linked forever in conflict in the sky, such that Orion flees beneath the western descendant whenever his murderer rises in the east.
Sagittarius Mutable (♐) is the ninth astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the 240th and 269th degree of celestial longitude. In the Tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac from November 22 to December 21 each year.
In Sidereal astrology, the sun currently transits the constellation of Sagittarius from December 16 to January 14 (approximately).
Bestial - the signs symbolised by four-footed animals (also called quadrupedian 'four-footed'). These can lack in social graces and sometimes indicate coarseness and a poor appreciation for "niceties" and polite manners. They can also be a little inarticulate, caring more about making their point, than the elegance of the style in which it is made.
Bi-corporeal (double-bodied) - all the mutable signs are double-bodied - Gemini: two twins; Virgo: maiden and bird; Sagittarius: man and horse; Pisces: two fish. They represent the months that join the seasons and signify a dualistic nature that is easily adaptable and can be one thing or another. For this reason the mutable signs are referred to as "common" signs in traditional terminology.
Feral - the sign of Leo and the last part of Sagittarius (the animalistic part) is traditionally defined as "feral," which literally means wild, uncultivated, savage or brutal. This relates to the cruel and insensitive streak associated with these signs when they disassociate their actions from their feelings and empathetic consideration of others. It is also one of the reasons why these signs may be taken to signify uncultivated territory and places where wild animals roam.
It is of note to consider the import of the North and South Nodes and Sagittarius.
Exaltation
No planet (Some say South Node)
Fall
No planet (Some say North Node)
The North and South Nodes are the very head and tail of the Dragon/Serpent, (Galactic DNA that all align in December 2012).
The nodes are called by different names in different areas of the world.
Since the ascending node is the point of intersection between the ecliptic and the plane of the lunar orbit where the Moon is ascending from the South to the North, it is sometimes called the North node.
In ancient European texts, it is referred to as the dragon's head (Caput Draconis, or Anabibazon). The symbol of the ascending node is , the astronomical and astrological symbol for the Dragon's head.
Similarly the descending node is the point where the Moon is descending from North to South, and is sometimes referred to as South node. It is also known as the dragon's tail (Cauda Draconis, or Catabibazon), and its symbol is the inversion of that of the ascending node: .
Note that the so-called North node may in fact lie South of the South node in the course of the nodal cycle.
In Hindu astronomy, the ascending node ☊ is called Rahu and the descending node ☋ is called Ketu.
In Western Astrology only the north node is usually marked in horoscopes, as the south node is by definition at the opposite point in the chart.
In Vedic Astrology, the north and south nodes are called Rahu and Ketu respectively, and both are marked in the chart.
Nodes always move retrograde and are considered natural malefics. There is no consensus on their special aspects.
In Tibetan Astrology (partially based on the Kalachakra Tantra) the southern node is named Kalagni.
Capricorn - Cardinal(♑) is the tenth astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Capricornus.
t spans the Zodiac between the 270th and 299th degree of celestial longitude. In astrology, Capricorn is considered an introvert sign, an earth sign, and one of the four cardinal signs. Capricorn is ruled by the planet Saturn. In the Tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac from December 22 to January 20 each year.
In Sidereal astrology, the sun currently transits the constellation of Capricorn from January 15 - February 14 (approximately).
The constellation is usually depicted as a goat with a fish's tail.
One myth says that when the goat-god Pan was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish.
Capricorn is sometimes depicted as a sea-goat, and sometimes as a terrestrial goat.
The reasons for this are unknown, but the image of a sea-goat goes back at least to Babylonian times. Furthermore, the Sumerian god Enki's symbols included a goat and a fish, which later combined into a single beast, the goat Capricorn, recognized as the Zodiacal constellation Capricornus.
"The symbol of the goat rising from the body of a fish represents with greatest propriety the mountainous buildings of Babylon rising out of its low and marshy situation; the two horns of the goat being emblematic of the two towns, Nineveh and Babylon, the former built on the Tigris, the latter on the Euphrates; but both subjected to one sovereignty."
On the other hand, the constellation of Capricornus is sometimes identified as Amalthea, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother Rhea saved him from being devoured by his father Cronos (in Greek mythology). The goat's broken horn was transformed into the cornucopia or horn of plenty. Some ancient sources claim that this derives from the sun "taking nourishment" while in the constellation, in preparation for its climb back northward. As such, it is a symbol of sovereignty.
The Other Fixed Zodiacal Signs
Leo (♌) is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Leo. It spans the Zodiac between the 120th and 149th degree of celestial longitude. In astrology, Leo is considered to be a "masculine", positive (extrovert) sign. It is also considered a fire sign and is one of four fixed signs[1] ruled by the Sun.
In the Tropical zodiac, the sun transits this area of the zodiac between July 22 to August 22 each year.
In Sidereal astrology, the sun
currently transits the constellation of Leo from August 16th to September 15th (approximately).
--
Leo (♌) is the fifth astrological sign of the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Leo. It spans the Zodiac between the 120th and 149th degree of celestial longitude. In astrology, Leo is considered to be a "masculine", positive (extrovert) sign. It is also considered a fire sign and is one of four fixed signs ruled by the Sun.
In the Tropical zodiac, the sun transits this area of the zodiac between July 22 to August 22 each year.
In Sidereal astrology, the sun currently transits the constellation of Leo from August 16th to September 15th (approximately).
Leo is commonly represented as if the sickle-shaped asterism of stars is the back of the Lion's head.
H.A. Rey has suggested an alternative way to connect the stars, which graphically shows a lion walking. The stars delta Leonis, gamma Leonis, eta Leonis, and theta Leonis form the body of the lion, with gamma Leonis being of the second magnitude and delta Leonis and theta Leonis being of the third magnitude. The stars gamma Leonis, zeta Leonis, mu Leonis, epsilon Leonis, and eta Leonis form the lion's neck, with epsilon Leonis being of the third magnitude. The stars mu Leonis, kappa Leonis, lambda Leonis, and epsilon Leonis form the head of the lion. Delta Leonis and beta Leonis form the lion's tail: beta Leonis, also known as Denebola, is the bright tip of the tail with a magnitude of two. The stars theta Leonis, iota Leonis, and sigma Leonis form the left hind leg of the lion, with sigma Leonis being the foot. The stars theta Leonis and rho Leonis form the right hind leg, with rho Leonis being the foot. The stars eta Leonis and alpha Leonis mark the lion's heart, with alpha Leonis, also known as Regulus, being the bright star of magnitude one. The stars eta Leonis and omicron Leonis form the right front foot of the Lion.
Taurus (♉) is the second astrological sign in the Zodiac, which spans the zodiac between the 30th and 59th degree of celestial longitude. In the Tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area of the zodiac between April 21 to May 20 each year.
In Sidereal astrology, the sun currently transits the constellation of Taurus from May 16th to June 15th (approximately). Individuals born during these dates, depending on which system of astrology they subscribe to, may be called Taureans.
In Greek mythology, Taurus was identified with the bull whose form Zeus took to rape Europa, a legendary Phoenician princess. In illustrations, only the front portion of this constellation are depicted; in Greek mythology this was sometimes explained as Taurus being partly submerged as he carried Europa out to sea.
Greek mythographer Acusilaus marks the bull Taurus as the same that formed the myth of the Cretan Bull, one of The Twelve Labors of Hercules. Liz Greene associates the Taurus myth with that of King Theseus and the Minotaur, saying "within each Taurean is this basic conflict between the human, heroic side and the bestial side with its rampant appetites."
Aquarius (♒) (Greek: Ύδροχόος, "Hudrokhoös", Latin: "Aquārius") is the eleventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation Aquarius. It spans the Zodiac between the 300th and 329th degree of celestial longitude.
In astrology, Aquarius is considered a masculine, positive (extrovert) sign. It is also considered an air sign and is one of four fixed signs. Aquarius has been traditionally ruled by the planet Saturn, and, since its discovery, Uranus has been considered a modern co-ruler of this sign. "Exalting" planets are either Mars and/or Neptune, while the "fall" planets are Mercury and/or Venus.
In Western conceptions of astrology an individual born under this Sun sign is known as an Aquarian. Although the astrological sign of Aquarius may begin as early as January 19 in some years, the Sun typically leaves Capricorn and enters Aquarius on the cusp day January 21st. The Sun is in Aquarius under the tropical zodiac from approximately then to February 19.
Under the Sidereal Zodiac, the Sun is in the astrological sign of Aquarius from February 12th to 14th and leaves between March 8th and 10th, depending on leap year.
According to Hindu Astrology, which uses the Sidereal Zodiac, one can be an Aquarius at any time of year, as the defining factor of personality is interpreted from the Zodiac sign rising on the Eastern Horizon at the specific time of birth, rather than the astronomical transit of the Sun.
Aquarius is sometimes identified with Ganymede, a beautiful youth in Greek mythology with whom Zeus fell in love and, in the disguise of an eagle (represented by the constellation Aquila), carried off to Olympus to be "cup-bearer" to the gods. Aquarius has also been identified as the pourer of the waters that flooded the Earth in the ancient Greek version of the Great Flood myth. As such, the constellation Eridanus the river is sometimes identified as a river being poured by Aquarius.
The Neo-Megas Astrum-Archon
Ophiuchus has sometimes been used in sidereal astrology as a thirteenth sign in addition to the twelve signs of the tropical Zodiac, because the eponymous constellation Ophiuchus (Greek Ὀφιοῦχος "Serpent-bearer") as defined by the 1930 IAU constellation boundaries is situated behind the sun between November 29 and December 17.
The idea appears to have originated in 1970 with Stephen Schmidt's suggestion of a 14-sign zodiac (also including Cetus as a sign).
A 13-sign zodiac has been suggested by Walter Berg and by Mark Yazaki in 1995, a suggestion that achieved some popularity in Japan, where Ophiuchus is known as Hebitsukai-Za (へびつかい座?, "The Serpent Bearer").
Mainstream sidereal astrology, notably Hindu astrology, and tropical astrology (including the popular sun sign astrology) use the traditional 12-sign zodiac based on dividing the ecliptic into 12 equal parts rather than the IAU constellation boundaries, and do not regard Ophiuchus as a sign.
There is considerable confusion between the notion of a sign, which is an equal division of the sky into 12 in both the Vedic and the Western systems of astrology, and a constellation, which is a grouping of stars that touches the ecliptic.
While Vedic uses a sidereal system based on the stars, that sidereal horoscope is divided evenly into 12 signs which are symbolic of the varying-size constellations they make contact with.
Ophiuchus and some of the fixed stars in it were sometimes used by some astrologers in antiquity as extra-zodiacal indicators (i.e. astrologically significant celestial phenomena lying outside of the 12-sign zodiac proper).
The constellation is described in the astrological poem of Manilius: the Astronomica, which is dated to around 10 AD. The poem describes how:
"
Ophiuchus holds apart the serpent which with its mighty spirals and twisted body encircles his own, so that he may untie its knots and back that winds in loops. But, bending its supple neck, the serpent looks back and returns: and the other's hands slide over the loosened coils. The struggle will last forever, since they wage it on level terms with equal powers".
Later in his poem, Manilius describes the astrological influence of Ophiuchus, when the constellation is in its rising phase, as one which offers affinity with snakes and protection from poisons, saying:
"he renders the forms of snakes innocuous to those born under him. They will receive snakes into the folds of their flowing robes, and will exchange kisses with these poisonous monsters and suffer no harm".
A later 4th century astrologer, known as Anonymous of 379, associated "the bright star of Ophiuchus", Ras Alhague (α Ophiuchi), with doctors, healers or physicians (ἰατρῶν), which may have been because of the association between poisons and medicines.
Based on the 1930 IAU constellation boundaries, suggestions that "there are really 13 astrological signs" because "the Sun is in the sign of Ophiuchus" between November 29 and December 17 have been published since at least the 1970s.
In 1970, Stephen Schmidt in his Astrology 14 advocated a 14-sign zodiac, introducing Ophiuchus (December 6 to December 31) and Cetus (May 12 to June 6) as new signs.
Within 20th-century sidereal astrology, the idea was taken up by Walter Berg in his The 13 Signs of the Zodiac (1995). Berg's The 13 Signs of the Zodiac was published in Japan in 1996 and became a bestseller, and Berg's system has since been comparatively widespread in Japanese pop culture, appearing for example in the Final Fantasy video game series.
In January 2011, a statement by Parke Kunkle of the Minnesota Planetarium Society repeating the idea of "the 13th zodiac sign Ophiuchus" made some headlines in the popular press.
Schmidt introduced his own symbol for his Ophiuchus sign in 1974. It was a stylized representation of a man carrying a snake.
In 1995 Berg also proposed a symbol for Ophiuchus, and it has come into comparatively widespread use in Japan. In 2009, it was suggested for inclusion in the Unicode standard as part of an emoji extension. The symbol looks like a letter U with a superimposed tilde (U̴). It has been added to the Unicode Miscellaneous Symbols codepage (U+26CE ⛎) as of version 6.0 (October 2010).
In his 2011 book, Kanatas suggested the Greek letter phi (Φ) as the symbol for the sign of Ophiuchus, from the Greek word for Ophiuchus, "ΟΦΙΟΥΧΟΣ".
Hercules is a constellation named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek hero Heracles.
Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today.
It is the fifth largest of the modern constellations.
According to Gavin White, the Greek constellation of Hercules is a distorted version of the Babylonian constellation known as the "Standing Gods" (MUL.DINGIR.GUB.BA.MESH).
White argues that this figure was, like the similarly named "Sitting Gods", depicted as a man with a serpent's body instead of legs (the serpent element now being represented on the Greek star map by the figure of Draco that Hercules crushes beneath his feet). He further argues that the original name of Hercules - the 'Kneeler' (see below) - is a conflation of the two Babylonian constellations of the Sitting and Standing Gods.
The earliest Greek references to the constellation do not refer to it as Hercules. Aratus describes it as follows:
Right there in its [Draco's] orbit wheels a Phantom form, like to a man that strives at a task. That sign no man knows how to read clearly, nor what task he is bent, but men simply call him On His Knees [Ἐγγόνασιν "the Kneeler"].
Now that Phantom, that toils on his knees, seems to sit on bended knee, and from both his shoulders his hands are upraised and stretch, one this way, one that, a fathom's length. Over the middle of the head of the crooked Dragon, he has the tip of his right foot. Here too that Crown [Corona], which glorious Dionysus set to be memorial of the dead Ariadne, wheels beneath the back of the toil-spent Phantom.
To the Phantom’s back the Crown is near, but by his head mark near at hand the head of Ophiuchus
Yonder, too, is the tiny Tortoise, which, while still beside his cradle, Hermes pierced for stings and bade it be called the Lyre [Lyra]: and he brought it into heaven and set it in front of the unknown Phantom.
That Croucher on his Knees comes near the Lyre with his left knee, but the top of the Bird’s head wheels on the other side, and between the Bird’s head and the Phantom’s knee is enstarred the Lyre.
The story connecting Hercules with the constellation is recounted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus:
On his way back to Mycenae from Iberia having obtained the Cattle of Geryon as his tenth labour Heracles came to Liguria in North-Western Italy where he engaged in battle with two giants, Albion and Bergion or Dercynus. The opponents were strong; Hercules was in a difficult position so he prayed to his father Zeus for help. With the aegis of Zeus, Heracles won the battle.
It was this kneeling position of Heracles when prayed to his father Zeus that gave the name "the Kneeler", and Hyginus
In Chinese astronomy, the stars that correspond to Hercules are located in two areas: the Purple Forbidden enclosure (紫微垣, Zǐ Wēi Yuán) and the Heavenly Market enclosure (天市垣, Tiān Shì Yuán).
In Greek mythology,
Chiron (/ˈkaɪrən/; also Cheiron or Kheiron) (Greek: Χείρων; "hand") was held to be the superlative centaur among his brethren.
Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind, but he was not related directly to the other centaurs. He was known for his knowledge and skill with medicine.
According to an archaic myth he was sired by Cronus when he had taken the form of a horse and impregnated the nymph Philyra, Chiron's lineage was different from other centaurs, who were born of sun and raincloud, rendered by Greeks of the Classic period as from the union of the king Ixion, consigned to a fiery wheel, and Nephele ("cloud"), which in the Olympian telling Zeus invented to look like Hera.
Myths in the Olympian tradition attributed Chiron's uniquely peaceful character and intelligence to teaching by Apollo and Artemis in his younger days.
Chiron's haunts were on Mount Pelion; there he married the nymph Chariclo who bore him three daughters, Hippe (with a daughter Melanippe, the "Black Mare" or Euippe, "truly a mare"), Endeis, and Ocyrhoe, and one son Carystus.
A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, Chiron was said to be the first among centaurs and highly revered as a teacher and tutor.
Among his pupils were many culture heroes: Asclepius, Aristaeus, Ajax, Aeneas, Actaeon, Caeneus, Theseus, Achilles, Jason, Peleus, Telamon, Perseus, sometimes Heracles, Oileus, Phoenix, and in one Byzantine tradition, even Dionysus: according to Ptolemaeus Chennus of Alexandria, "Dionysius was loved by Chiron, from whom he learned chants and dances, the bacchic rites and initiations."
His nobility is further reflected in the story of his death, as Prometheus sacrificed his life, allowing mankind to obtain the use of fire.
Being the son of Cronus, a Titan, he was immortal and so could not die. So it was left to Heracles to arrange a bargain with Zeus to exchange Chiron's immortality for the life of Prometheus, who had been chained to a rock and left to die for his transgressions.
Chiron had been poisoned with an arrow belonging to Heracles that had been treated with the blood of the Hydra, or, in other versions, poison that Chiron had given to the hero when he had been under the honorable centaur’s tutelage.
According to a Scholium on Theocritus, this had taken place during the visit of Heracles to the cave of Pholus on Mount Pelion in Thessaly when he visited his friend during his fourth labour in defeating the Erymanthian Boar. While they were at supper, Heracles asked for some wine to accompany his meal. Pholus, who ate his food raw, was taken aback. He had been given a vessel of sacred wine by Dionysus sometime earlier, to be kept in trust for the rest of the centaurs until the right time for its opening.
At Heracles' prompting, Pholus was forced to produce the vessel of sacred wine. The hero, gasping for wine, grabbed it from him and forced it open. Thereupon the vapours of the sacred wine wafted out of the cave and intoxicated the wild centaurs, led by Nessus, who had gathered outside. They attacked the cave with stones and fir trees. Heracles was forced to shoot many arrows (poisoned with the blood of the Hydra) to drive them back. During this assault, Chiron was hit in the thigh by one of the poisoned arrows. After the centaurs had fled, Pholus emerged from the cave to observe the destruction. Being of a philosophical frame of mind, he pulled one of the arrows from the body of a dead centaur and wondered how such a little thing as an arrow could have caused so much death and destruction. In that instant, he let slip the arrow from his hand and it dropped and hit him in the hoof, killing him instantly. This, however, is open to controversy, because Pholus shared the "civilized centaur" form with Chiron in some art images, and thus would have been immortal.
Ironically, Chiron, the master of the healing arts, could not heal himself, so he willingly gave up his immortality. He was honoured with a place in the sky, for the Greeks as the constellation Centaurus.
Chiron saved the life of Peleus when Acastus tried to kill him by taking his sword and leaving him out in the woods to be slaughtered by the centaurs. Chiron retrieved the sword for Peleus. Some sources speculate that Chiron was originally a Thessalian god, later subsumed into the Greek pantheon as a centaur.
Ovid tells us another version of Chiron's death. In this version both Chiron and his student (see below) Achilles are in the cave on Mt. Pelion with Hercules. When Chiron admires the weapons of the mighty hero, Achilles is temped to touch them making one of the arrows fall and strike the left foot of the Centaur. Achilles cried, as he would for his father, as Chiron left for the skies.
Among the students of Chiron are:
Achilles - When Achilles' mother Thetis left home and returned to the Nereids, Peleus brought his son Achilles to Chiron, who received him as a disciple, and fed him on the innards of lions and wild swine, and the marrow of she-wolves.
Actaeon - Actaeon, who was bred by Chiron to be a hunter, is famous for his terrible death for he in the shape of a deer was devoured by his own dogs. The dogs, ignorant of what they had done, came to the cave of Chiron seeking their master, and the Centaur fashioned an image of Actaeon in order to soothe their grief.
Aristaeus - The Muses were, according to some, those who taught Aristaeus the arts of healing and of prophecy.
Aristaeus discovered honey and the olive. After the death of his son Actaeon he migrated to Sardinia.
Asclepius - The great healing power of Asclepius is based on Chiron's teaching. Artemis killed Asclepius' mother Coronis, on Apollo's orders, while still pregnant but snatched the child from the pyre, bringing him to Chiron who reared him and taught him the arts of healing and hunting.
Jason - In an early tradition, Aeson gave his son Jason to the Centaur Chiron to rear at the time when he was deposed by King Pelias. Jason is the captain of the Argonauts.
Medus - Medus, who some call Polyxenus and others Medeus, is the man after whom the country Media was called. He was the son of Medea by Aegeus.] Med[e]us died in a military campaign against the Indians.
Patroclus - Patroclus' father left him in Chiron's cave, to study, side by side with Achilles, the chords of the harp, and learn to hurl spears and mount and ride upon the back of genial Chiron.
Peleus - Peleus, father of Achilles, was once rescued by Chiron: Acastus, son of Pelias, purified Peleus for having killed (undesignedly) his father-in-law Eurytion. However, Acastus' wife, Astydameia, fell in love with Peleus, and as he refused her she intrigued against him, telling Acastus that Peleus had attempted to rape her. Acastus would not kill the man he had purified, but took him to hunt on Mount Pelion. When Peleus had fallen asleep, Acastus deserted him, hiding his sword. On arising and looking for his sword, Peleus was caught by the centaurs and would have perished, if he had not been saved by Chiron, who also restored him his sword after having sought and found it. Chiron arranged the marriage of Peleus with Thetis, bringing Achilles up for her. He also told Peleus how to conquer the Nereid Thetis who, changing her form, could prevent him from catching her. In other legends, it was Proteus who helped Peleus. When Peleus married Thetis, he received from Chiron an ashen spear, which Achilles took to the war at Troy. This spear is the same with which Achilles healed Telephus by scraping off the rust.
A didactic poem, Precepts of Chiron, part of the traditional education of Achilles, was considered to be among Hesiod's works by some of the later Greeks, for example, the Romanized Greek traveller of the 2nd century CE, Pausanias, who noted a list of Hesiod's works that were shown to him, engraved on an ancient and worn leaden tablet, by the tenders of the shrine at Helicon in Boeotia. But another, quite different tradition was upheld of Hesiod's works, Pausanias notes, which included the Precepts of Chiron.
Apparently it was among works from Acharnae written in heroic hexameters and attached to the famous name of Hesiod, for Pausanias adds "Those who hold this view also say that Hesiod was taught soothsaying by the Acharnians." Though it has been lost, fragments in heroic hexameters that survive in quotations are considered to belong to it. The common thread in the fragments, which may reflect in some degree the Acharnian image of Chiron and his teaching, is that it is expository rather than narrative, and suggests that, rather than recounting the inspiring events of archaic times as men like Nestor or Glaucus might do, Chiron taught the primeval ways of mankind, the gods and nature, beginning with the caution "First, whenever you come to your house, offer good sacrifices to the eternal gods".
Chiron in the Precepts considered that no child should have a literary education until he had reached the age of seven. A fragment associated with the Precepts concerns the span of life of the nymphs, in the form of an ancient number puzzle:
A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag's life is four times a crow's, and a raven's life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich-haired Nymphs, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes."
In human terms, Chiron advises, "Decide no suit, until you have heard both sides speak".
The Alexandrian critic Aristophanes of Byzantium (late 3rd-early 2nd century BCE) was the first to deny that the Precepts of Chiron was the work of Hesiod.
Chiron
Chiron is considered the most significant of the "centaur" asteroids. Known as "the wounded healer", it has associations to traumas and wounds or inadequacies which are incurable, but may be worked with, on their own terms, and transformed into one's greatest strengths. Some astrologers believe it should be recognized as the ruler of the sign Virgo.
Sagitta is a constellation. Its name is Latin for "arrow", and it should not be confused with the larger constellation Sagittarius, the archer. Although Sagitta is an ancient constellation, it has no star brighter than 3rd magnitude and has the third-smallest area of all constellations (only Equuleus and Crux are smaller).
It was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union.
Located to the north of the equator, Sagitta can be seen from every location on Earth except within the Antarctic circle.
Sagitta lies within the Milky Way and is bordered by the following constellations (beginning at the north and then continuing clockwise): the little fox Vulpecula, the mythological hero Hercules, the eagle Aquila and the dolphin Delphinus.
The Greeks who may have originally identified this constellation called it Oistos. The Romans named it Sagitta.
Johann Bayer chose to name the stars in Sagitta in a non-brightness order, in this case giving the brightest star a designation of γ. Another example of such a deviation from the usual brightness order is the constellation Sagittarius.
Sagitta's shape is reminiscent of an arrow, and many cultures have interpreted it thus, among them the Persians, Hebrews Greeks and Romans. The Arabs called it as-Sahm, a name that was transferred Sham and now refers to α Sge only.
Ancient Greece
In ancient Greece, Sagitta was regarded as the weapon that Hercules used to kill the eagle (Aquila) of Jove that perpetually gnawed Prometheus' liver] The Arrow is located beyond the north border of Aquila, the Eagle.
Others believe the Arrow to be the one shot by Hercules towards the adjacent Stymphalian birds (6th labor) who had claws, beaks and wings of iron, and who lived on human flesh in the marshes of Arcadia - Aquila the Eagle and Cygnus the Swan, and the Vulture - and still lying between them, whence the title Herculea. Eratosthenes claimed it as the arrow with which Apollo exterminated the Cyclopes.
Oistos (Οιστος) is the Greek word for arrow, and the ancients' name for the constellation known today as Sagitta, the Arrow. This small constellation, clearly the shape of an arrow pointing away from Hercules beside Aquila, the Eagle, and flying more or less towards Cygnus, the Swan, can be seen in late summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
The ancient Persians, Hebrews, Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, and Romans all saw this group of stars as an arrow. The constellation is in the top margin of this page. Move your mouse cursor over the word "Οιστος " Other myths claim that Sagittarius, the Archer, shot the arrow - apparently without a known target. Or is it the poison-tipped arrow shot by Hercules, which in a terrible accident wounded his wise and courageous tutor, Chiron (a.k.a. Sagittarius the Centaur).
According to Eratostenes it is the arrow Apollo used to kill the Cyclops that manufactured the thunderbolt of Zeus that struck his son Aesculapius to death. Perhaps, as Hyginus claimed, it is the arrow shot by Hercules to kill the eagle (or vulture) that perpetually tormented Prometheus.
Caesar Germanicus thought it to be the arrow used by Eros to ignite the passion of Zeus for Ganymede; i.e., Cupid's Arrow, also the emblem of Diane and Apollo.
Vulpecula is a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "little fox", although it is commonly known simply as the fox. It was identified in the seventeenth century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle (an asterism consisting of the bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair).
There are no stars brighter than 4th magnitude in this constellation. The brightest star in Vulpecula is α Vulpeculae, a magnitude 4.44m red giant at a distance of 297 light-years.
The star is an optical binary (separation of 413.7") that can be split using binoculars. The star also carries the traditional name Anser, which refers to the goose the little fox holds in its jaws.
In 1967, the first pulsar, PSR B1919+21, was discovered in Vulpecula by Antony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell, in Cambridge. While they were searching for scintillation of radio signals of quasars, they observed pulses which repeated with a period of 1.3373 seconds.
Terrestrial origin of the signal was ruled out because the time it took the object to reappear was a sidereal day instead of a solar day. This anomaly was finally identified as the signal of a rapidly rotating neutron star.
Fifteen years after the first pulsar was discovered, the first millisecond pulsar, PSR B1937+21, was also discovered in Vulpecula, only a few degrees in the sky away from PSR B1919+21.
Vulpecula is also home to HD 189733 b, the closest extrasolar planet currently being studied by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
On 12 July 2007 the Financial Times (London) reported that the chemical signature of water vapour was detected in the atmosphere of this planet. Although HD 189733b with atmospheric temperatures rising above 1,000 °C is far from being habitable, this finding increases the likelihood that water, an essential component of life, would be found on a more Earth-like planet in the future.
Two well-known deep-sky objects can be found in Vulpecula. The Dumbbell Nebula (M27), is a large, bright planetary nebula which was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1764 as the very first object of its kind.
It can be seen with good binoculars in a dark sky location, appearing as a dimly glowing disk approximately 6 arcminutes in diameter. A telescope reveals its double-lobed shape, similar to that of an hourglass. Brocchi's Cluster (Collinder 399) is an asterism formerly thought to be an open cluster. It is also called "the Coathanger" because of its distinctive star pattern when viewed with binoculars or a low power telescope.
NGC 7052 is a edge-on spiral galaxy in Vulpecula at a distance of 214 million light-years from Earth.
It has a central dusty disk with a diameter of 3700 light-years; there is a supermassive black hole with a mass of 300 million solar masses in its nucleus. Astronomers surmise that the disk is the remnants of a smaller galaxy that merged with NGC 7052.
Because the black hole is currently accreting matter, polar jets can be seen emanating from the galaxy, and it has very strong radio emissions. This means that it is also classified as a radio galaxy.
In the late 17th century, the astronomer Johannes Hevelius created Vulpecula. It was originally known as Vulpecula cum ansere ("the little fox with the goose" or Vulpecula et Anser ("the little fox and the goose"), and was illustrated with a goose in the jaws of a fox. Hevelius did not regard the fox and the goose to be two separate constellations, but later the stars were divided into a separate Anser and Vulpecula.
Today, they have been merged again under the name of the fox, but the goose is remembered by the name of the star α Vulpeculae: Anser.
Aquila is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it represents the bird who carried Zeus's/Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greco-Roman mythology.
Aquila lies just a few degrees North of the celestial equator. The alpha star, Altair, is a vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism. The constellation is best seen in the summer as it is located along the Milky Way. Because of this location along the line of our galaxy, many clusters and nebulae are found within its borders, but they are dim and there are few galaxies.
Aquila was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. It had been earlier mentioned by Eudoxus in the 4th century BC and Aratus in the 3rd century BC. It is now one of the 88 constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union.
The constellation was also known as Vultur volans (the flying vulture) to the Romans, not to be confused with Vultur cadens which was their name for Lyra. It is often held to represent the eagle who held Zeus's/Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greco-Roman mythology. Aquila is also associated with the eagle who kidnapped Ganymede (associated with Aquarius) to serve as cup-bearer to the gods.
Ptolemy catalogued nineteen stars jointly in this constellation and in the now obsolete constellation of Antinous, which was named in the reign of the emperor Hadrian (AD 117–138), but sometimes erroneously attributed to Tycho Brahe, who catalogued twelve stars in Aquila and seven in Antinous. Hevelius determined twenty-three stars in the first and nineteen in the second.
The Greek Aquila is probably based on the Babylonian constellation of the Eagle (MUL.A.MUSHEN), which is located in the same area as the Greek constellation
Delphinus is a constellation in the northern sky, close to the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for dolphin.
Delphinus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains among the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. It is one of the smaller constellations, ranked 69th in size.
Delphinus's brightest stars form a distinctive asterism that can easily be recognized.
It is bordered (clockwise from north) by Vulpecula the fox, Sagitta the arrow, Aquila the eagle, Aquarius the water-carrier, Equuleus the foal and Pegasus the flying horse.
The two brightest stars of this constellation, Sualocin (Alpha Delphini) and Rotanev (Beta Delphini), are not, as one might expect, names dating from antiquity, but instead date from a star catalogue of 1814 that was published at the Palermo Observatory in Italy.
When read backwards they form the name Nicolaus Venator which is the Latinized version of the name of the assistant director of that observatory at that time, Niccolò Cacciatore (both Cacciatore and Venator mean hunter).
Delphinus is associated with two stories from Greek mythology.
According to the first one, the Greek god Poseidon wanted to marry Amphitrite, a beautiful nereid. She, however, wanting to protect her virginity, fled to the Atlas mountains. Her suitor then sent out several searchers, among them a certain Delphinus. Delphinus accidentally stumbled upon her and was able to persuade Amphitrite to accept Poseidon's wooing. Out of gratitude the god placed the image of a dolphin among the stars.
The second story tells of the Greek poet Arion of Lesbos (7th century BC), a court musician at the palace of Periander, ruler of Corinth. Arion had amassed a fortune during his travels to Sicily and Italy. On his way home from Tarentum his wealth caused the crew of his ship to conspire against him. Threatened with death, Arion asked to be granted a last wish which the crew granted: he wanted to sing a dirge. This he did, and while doing so, flung himself into the sea. There, he was rescued by a dolphin which had been charmed by Arion's music. The dolphin carried Arion to the coast of Greece and left.
