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Writer's pictureDane Stewart

Constellations

On this wildlife tour alongside learning about wildlife you will also learn about the constellations, here are just a few examples.


Bootes is located near the big dipper. Bootes was a wandering ranger who passed through a town while it was having a gathering in the town centre arguing what they should do about the bear and her cub coming into the town, some people wanted to kill it others wanted to scare it away.

Bootes said he will keep the bear and her cub away from the town in exchange for room and board, the town people agreed to this and you can see Bootes in the sky's still shepherding the bears through the night sky.


corona borealis is next to Bootes the shape of the constellations represents the wraith worn by Princess Ariadne, Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos, Minos ordered the building of the labyrinth where the Minotaur lived. The Minotaur was said to be the half brother of Ariadne and was locked away in the labyrinth to hide the family secret, the labyrinth was made in such away not even the Minotaur could find his way out. Minos would make slaves enter the labyrinth so the Minotaur could feed on them, one slave Theseus caught the eye of Ariadne and she helped him with the Minotaur by giving him a magic ball of thread that would help him find his way through the labyrinth and a sword to kill the Minotaur.

After killing the Minotaur and escaping Theseus and Ariadne stole a boat and sailed away to escape her father Minos, They arrived on the island of Naxos, the night they arrived Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island. The God of wine Dionysus saw the the Princess and fell in love with her, Dionysus rescued and married Ariadne.


Gemini or also known as Castor and Pollux. Where twins but had different fathers, Castors father was Tyndareus the king of Sparta and Polluxs father was Zeus and a demigod, they were brothers of Helen of Troy.

Castor was said to be able to train any horse and Pollux was a great boxer, during a battle Pollux found his brother dead, he begged his father Zeus to take away his immortality and give half of it to his brother to bring him back to life. Zeus was moved by this and made them into the constellation Gemini so they could be with each other forever.


The seven Sisters where the daughters of Atlas they were great hunters but Orion became infatuated with them and would chase after them every time he would see them and ruin the hunt. Artemis the goddess of hunting, wildlife, chastity and childbirth and was the daughter of Zeus. She became angry about this and asked Zeus to do something about it, the next time Orion chased the sisters Zeus turned them into pigeons they then flew into the sky and turned into the seven sister constellation. Artemis was furious at Zeus for doing this rather than dealing with Orion but Zeus reminded her that she will be able to watch over and look after the seven sisters. Although Zeus did place Odin in the Sky so he is still pursuing the Seven sisters in the night sky.


Vega and Altair has a variety of different stories.

Vega was the daughter of a lord who fell in love with Altair who was the son of a shepherd, there love was forbidden due to there social standing so they had to sneak away together at night, one night a guard caught Vega trying to leave with Altair in the night and he brought them both to the lord.

The lord was so angry at this he asked the gods to separate them for eternity, the gods separated them by putting them in the sky separated by the celestial stream, but every year on the 7th day of the 7th month all the magpies defy the gods and fly into the sky creating a bridge so the 2 lovers can spend a night together.


Thanks for reading





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