Monday, February 4, 2013

Orion Myth Part II...

We left off our myth as the Pleiades, now doves, flew into the sky to escape Orion and turned into stars. Orion's love was scorned but he was not humbled. Orion was a great boaster which angered some of the gods. They thought it would be ironic for a tiny creature to slay the great hunter so they sent a scorpion, Scorpius, which dealt Orion a fatal bite on his heel.

For his greatness, Orion was allowed a place in the sky. He asked the gods to placed as far away as possible from the Scorpion that killed him. So the Scorpion is best seen in the summer while Orion reigns over the winter near the Pleiades. This way, Orion never sees Scorpius and at the same time he can try more pick-up lines on the Sisters.

The Sisters hated this so much that the gods placed a protector in between the two. That's where you can find Taurus the Bull. Now the Seven Sisters are riding safely on the bull's back while Taurus tramples poor Orion every night. That's what you get for asking seven sisters to marry you!

To find these stars, use Orion's belt stars.  Connect the dots and continue the line to the right.  When you do, you'll pass through a "V" shape of stars (that's Taurus' face).  If you keep going you'll run into the Seven Sisters.

But wait, there's more!  Not only is there a giant hunter being trampled by a bull with 7 women on its back... Orion asked the gods if he could have some help with the Bull.  The gods agreed and allowed him to bring his two best hunting dogs up to become stars. 

Next week, I'll show you where to find the dogs AND the Unicorn, AND the bunny rabbit, AND the river.
-