Most of the people are instinct with the faith in astrology and believe that that is what the Gods actually want to happen. Every day horoscope defines the daily routines of the people. Somewhere amidst the belief lies in the concept of the ‘constellations’. Representing the antiquity believes, the constellations are a group of stars formed in the sky, that is said to represent some mythological figure and related to people of akin nature. Though myriad people abandon this concept owing a lot of efforts involved in becoming cognizant of the pattern and being able to recognize it; the concept still prevails, occupying a prodigious population and the intellectual minds.
What are the relevant constellations?
As per the belief and the astronomers’ discovery, there are a total of 15 major constellations that form a star map in the sky. They can be enlisted in a chronology as follows:
- Aquarius
- Aquila
- Aries
- Canis Major
- Cassiopeia
- Cygnus
- Gemini
- Leo
- Lyra
- Orion
- Pisces
- Scorpius
- Taurus
- Ursa Major and
- Ursa Minor
One of the cardinal constellations is Lyra that represents the zodiacal sign names ‘libra’.
More about this constellation
Lyra is a Greek word for ‘lyre’ – a musical instrument that has vertical strings attached to it, that are stimulated to produce music. Belonging to the Hercules family along with the other 14 constellations, it is a doddle to locate in the night sky, as this constellation forms an asymmetrical square, with 2 tails from a singular vertex, where one of the tails joins the brightest start in the sky named – Vega. Its connecting with Vega makes it a duck soup to locate this star in the sky.
The myth behind this constellation
Lyra finds its origin in a myth of one of the greatest and famed antiquity – Orpheus. Orpheus received the harp from Apollo. It is widely said that his music was mesmerizing and people even claim that his music was beyond comparison with any mortal man’s music. His music brought phlegmily and soothed rage and brought relish to the heart. Roaming around in depression and agony of his dead wife, he was murdered with his harp tossed into a river. Later, Lord Zeus sent an eagle to retrieve Orpheus’s lyre which he put in the night sky.
How to locate a constellation in the night sky?
Formed by a cluster of stars, these constellations are just not easy to locate amongst the other stars. Hence, with the passage of time and amelioration in the technology, scientists have come up with better instruments to make constellation location easier for the mankind. Star maps can be the best possible aid to spot any constellation. Others assistance include Google sky – that helps to identify the shape and size of any constellation, Astro Viewer, Starmap – which also comes as an iOS app and can be downloaded as a PDF and the star arrangements or constellation shapes can be printed out and carried along.
The constellation and the associated myths form a different world in itself; a world that has the backing of some of the common men while not of the others.