The constellation Cygnus the Swan is the centerpiece for
October's celestial story telling. In Roman mythology Zeus (Jupiter)
used the disguise of a swan to lure the beautiful Leda, and he fathered
Pollux and Helen of Troy, the most beautiful women in the world. Leda,
the queen of Sparta, also had two children, Castor and Clytemnestra, by
her husband. The brothers, Castor and Pollux, are the names of the twin
stars that make up the constellation Gemini, seen in the late spring and
summer. It was Castor and Pollux who rescued Helen and went with Jason
to fetch the golden fleece.
Andromeda, the Chained Lady, was the daughter of Cassiopeia
and Cepheus. Cassiopeia boasted of Andromeda's beauty, which angered the
sea nymphs. They asked the sea god, Poseidon, to discharge a sea monster
(Cetus the Whale) to the Ethiopian coast. Cepheus, to appease the whale,
chained Andromeda to a rock so she would then be eaten by the monster.
Perseus, our hero riding on his horse Pegasus, passed by and liberated
Andromeda, and later married her.
Pegasus, the winged horse, was formed from the blood of the
Medusa when Perseus cut off her head and it mixed with the foam of the
sea. When Cassiopeia is high up in the sky during late fall and early
winter, the constellations Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus, Pegasus, and the
Whale (Cetus) accompany her.
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