Page 21 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - March 2012

True Stories of the Zodiac True Stories of the Zodiac Continued from Page 20 GEMINI (THE TWINS) Traditional Dates: May 20 - June 20 Actual Dates: June 20 - July 20 The Story Behind the Sign: The twins represented are Castor and Pollux (which are also, not coincidentally, the names of the two brightest stars in the constellation), In Greek Zeus, of course. What a goat. VIRGO (THE VIRGIN) mythology, these were the sons of Zeus and the Astronomical Sights: Not much going on in Queen of Sparta (Zeus got around), and while Cancer, whose stars are rather dim and Pollux was immortal, Castor was not. Well, one uninteresting. But there is M44, which is a nice day Castor got himself killed as mortals do, but open cluster of stars; it’s also known as the Pollux pleaded with Zeus to share his mortality Beehive Cluster, which is a rather nicer name with his sibling. Zeus agreed, and set them both than the one given to it by ancient Chinese in the sky. Which is kind of a sweet tale, except astronomers: “Exhalation of Piled-up Corpses.” for the whole “somebody had to die” part. Astronomical Sights: Those twin stars, Castor LEO (THE LION) and Pollux, of which Pollux is slightly brighter (Pollux was originally the immortal twin, after all). Castor is actually a system of six stars, divided into three binary star systems. There are also several star clusters, M35 being the most prominent, and the Eskimo Nebula, which can Traditional Dates: August 23 - September 22 be viewed through a telescope, just off the Actual Dates: September 16 - October 30 constellation’s midsection. The Story Behind the Sign: It’s supposed to CANCER (THE CRAB) represent Astraea, the goddess of justice, who was also, you know, a virgin. Astraea, incidentally, the daughter of Themis and (wait for it) Zeus. Legend has it that when the Greek gods abandoned humanity, which was Traditional Dates: July 23 - August 22 becoming increasingly wicked, Astraea was the Actual Dates: August 10 - September 15 very last of the gods to go. Astronomical Sights: The constellation Virgo is The Story Behind the Sign: Another animal utterly packed with galaxies - indeed, the Virgo fatality related to Hercules. This was the Cluster has more than 2,000 of them, including Nemean Lion, which Herc was required to kill several prominent enough to be picked up by as one of his famous 12 labors (offing the Hydra amateur telescopes. The most famous is was one of them, too). The catch here was the probably M104, a flattened spiral galaxy whose lion’s skin was impervious to arrows, so distinctive shape earns it the nickname “the Hercules had to wrestle the thing to the ground Sombrero Galaxy.” Real astronomy buffs will Traditional Dates: June 20 - July 22 after which he choked off the lions air supply also groove to M87, a massive elliptical galaxy Actual Dates: July 21 - August 9 until it died. Herc later famously wore the lion that is famous for shooting jets of gas and skin as armor, and one has to wonder how he holding an intense radio source known as Virgo The Story Behind the Sign: This is supposed managed to skin the thing if te hide was totally A. to be the giant crab that the goddess Hera sent to puncture proof. It’s probably best to gloss over harass the mighty Hercules while that warrior that little bit of plot inconsistency and just move Continued on Page 24 was battling the Hydra monster - yes, this is on. illegal tag-teaming, and it just isn’t cool. However, Hercules dealt with the crab by The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show crushing it with his feet, after which everyone with Rob McConnell Check Out probably had crab cakes for a week (he also NOW Available All Our Videos on killed the Hydra by crushing its many heads). The ‘X’ Zone YouTube Channel What was Hera’s problem with Hercules? Well, 7/24/365 at it turns out that ‘ol Herc was the son of Hera’s at www.youtube.com/xzoneradiotv husband, but not of Hera. Hera’s husband? www.xzbn.net/live.htm