Aurora Sinistra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alt_sinistra) wrote2013-02-24 08:30 am
alt_sinistra) wrote2013-02-24 08:30 am
Morning constellations
I've been thinking a great deal the past few weeks about the parts of the sky I rarely see: the constellations that come up not long before dawn.
There's Venus, of course, the morning and evening star, but she is very obscure this month in the mornings, as she's currently near where the sun rises. But the past few days, I've been contemplating Ophiuchus, long a family favorite. (If you've forgotten why, the star Nu Ophiuchi is often seen as having the name Sinistra, for the left hand of the figure.)
There have been some who've argued it should be considered a sign of the Zodiac, and others who argue it should not be - a fascinating look at where we draw lines about what does and doesn't belong, that's gone one for millennia. (This particular argument dates back to Ptolemy's Almagest and quite possibly before.)
There's Venus, of course, the morning and evening star, but she is very obscure this month in the mornings, as she's currently near where the sun rises. But the past few days, I've been contemplating Ophiuchus, long a family favorite. (If you've forgotten why, the star Nu Ophiuchi is often seen as having the name Sinistra, for the left hand of the figure.)
There have been some who've argued it should be considered a sign of the Zodiac, and others who argue it should not be - a fascinating look at where we draw lines about what does and doesn't belong, that's gone one for millennia. (This particular argument dates back to Ptolemy's Almagest and quite possibly before.)