Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Today we are exploring the constellation which is most seen at the Southern hemisphere. Today I hope to inspire you through Corona Australis (Southern Crown). Corona Australis is the Southern counterpart of Corona Borealis (Northern Crown) on the Northern hemisphere. Corona Australis can be easily found at the night sky, because it looks similar with a horseshoe.
About this constellation you can find a lot of stories. I have chosen to tell you a few of those stories.
Corona Australis
has been associated with the myth of Bacchus and Stimula. Jupiter had
impregnated Stimula, causing Juno to become jealous. Juno convinced Stimula to
ask Jupiter to appear in his full splendor, which the mortal woman could not
handle, causing her to burn. After Bacchus, Stimula's unborn child, became an
adult and the god of wine, he honored his deceased mother by placing a wreath
in the sky.
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| Credits: Corona Australis (Southern Crown) |
The indigenous Boorong people of northwestern Victoria saw it as Won, a boomerang thrown by Totyarguil (Altair). The Aranda people of Central Australia saw Corona Australis as a coolamon carrying a baby, which was accidentally dropped to earth by a group of sky-women dancing in the Milky Way. The impact of the coolamon created Gosses Bluff crater, 175 km west of Alice Springs. The Torres Strait Islanders saw Corona Australis as part of a larger constellation encompassing part of Sagittarius and the tip of Scorpius's tail; the Pleiades and Orion were also associated. This constellation was Tagai's canoe, crewed by the Pleiades, called the Usiam, and Orion, called the Seg. The myth of Tagai says that he was in charge of this canoe, but his crewmen consumed all of the supplies onboard without asking permission. Enraged, Tagai bound the Usiam with a rope and tied them to the side of the boat, then threw them overboard. Scorpius's tail represents a suckerfish, while Eta Sagittarii and Theta Coronae Australis mark the bottom of the canoe. On the island of Futuna, the figure of Corona Australis was called Tanuma and in the Tuamotus, it was called Na Kaua-ki-Tonga.
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| Credits: Gosses Bluff crater |
a horseshoe
the crown of the Southern sky -
witches dance
© Chèvrefeuille
Not as strong as I had hoped, but my goal was to fit several stories into the haiku. I think I have succeeded, but that's not up to me.
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 10th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, a new Tokubetsudesu episode, later on.
The most distinct and well known constellations down here are the southern cross, the saucepan,
ReplyDeletethe pointers and the milky way...Thanks for this post KP...an Ausssie has learned something about her own region from a poet from the Netherlands:).