• Question: what is your favourite contellation

    Asked by gouledmohamed to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 26 Jun 2012:


      Hi gouledmohamed,

      My favourite constellation is Orion, as it was the first one my dad taught me to see in the sky.

      What is yours?

    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 26 Jun 2012:


      Probably the Plough/Big Dipper. Probably because it’s one of the few that I can recognise, because I don’t know many. However, I also like the fact that it points to the pole star, which has been used by thousands of sailors and navigators through the years to find out which way is north. It gives me a kind of spooky feeling to think of all the sailors from ages past, adrift on the high seas, looking up at the exact same star that I’m looking at.

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 26 Jun 2012:


      Hey gouledmohamed,

      I would have to say that my favorite is Orion, for the simple reason as it is the only one i can pick out!

    • Photo: Gemma Purser

      Gemma Purser answered on 26 Jun 2012:


      My favourite is probably Orion too because its one I was taught when I was young. However……..I just thought i would dig out my book on constellations and I have just found a really cool one!!!! Its the constellation called Gemini, its name means twins and the pattern in the sky looks like two stick people holding hands! It can only be seen during the winter (January to March) if you look towards the south.
      Im going to keep an eye out for it next year now!! 🙂

    • Photo: Davie Galloway

      Davie Galloway answered on 4 Jul 2012:


      Hi gouledmohamed,

      Have to say my favourite is Taurus (probably due to my birthday being in May) … i found some interesting information about it as well (well, intersting for me as it’s my favourite) … what’s your favourite constellation?

      “The Greeks saw Taurus as Zeus in disguise. The story went that Zeus fell in love with Europa, the daughter of Agenor who was King of Phoenica. On one day while she was playing by the waters edge, she caught sight of a majestic white bull grazing amongst her fathers herd. When she approached the bull, it knelt down and let her get on it’s back. Once she was on, it sprang to it’s feet and took off to the sea in Crete where Zeus made her his mistress.

      It also represents the white bull that sired the famous Minotaur with the wife of King Minos of Crete. This bull was sent to Minos as a sign that he was the rightful heir to the throne. However, Minos did not sacrifice the bull to Poseidon like he was supposed to, so the ever-vengeful sea god caused his queen, Pasiphaë, to fall in love with it. Later, in another myth, Theseus of Athens goes to Crete and slays the dreadful Minotaur, which was reported to be a man with a bull’s head that could breathe fire.

      The Egyptians saw the constellation instead as their god Osiris while the Chinese caled it alternatively the “White Tiger” or the “Great Bridge.”

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