Corvus, the Crow

Corvus (KOR-vuss) looks more like an imperfect square (FCPS Starfinder, No. 6, Southern Sky) rather than a crow.

Associated Mythology - Apollo sent a crow to fetch water using his cup. The crow was slow to return with the water, and when questioned by Apollo, the crow lied to Apollo. Angered, Apollo placed the crow in the sky as the constellation Corvus. Apollo placed the cup next to Corvus as the constellation, Crater (KRAY-ter), from which Corvus is forever forbidden to drink.

Leo, the Lion

Leo (LEE-oh) is the fifth sign of the Zodiac for birthdates from 23 July to 22 August. Remember that signs of the Zodiac are "Sun signs," meaning that they appear in the day sky on your birthdate (the Sun is "in" Leo), therefore Leo is not visible in the late-July through late-August night skies. Beginning in February (six months after August), Leo is visible at night for a six-month period ending in July.

Leo looks like a backwards question mark followed by a smaller triangle (FCPS Starfinder, No. 5, Southern Sky). Find Leo in the real sky by following the "Pointer Stars" (Merak and Dubhe) of the Big Dipper in the opposite direction from Polaris, the Pole Star.

The brightest star in Leo is Regulus (REG-yoo-luss), the Latin word for "prince." Regulus (Letter "M") is often thought of as the heart of the lion. For more information, read the transcript of Big Cats, the 23 JAN 1998 StarDate, the daily astronomy-related radio program produced by the McDonald Observatory, University of Texas.

When Leo was first named, the stars of this constellation were rising and setting with the Sun (the Sun was "in" Leo) at the time of year when the Sun was at its maximum altitude (the Summer Solstice). At this point, the Sun reaches its maximum power to give life to the Earth; since the lion was traditionally considered to be the king of beasts on Earth, the name Leo the Lion was used for this constellation.

Associated Mythology - According to Greek mythology, Hercules slayed Leo as the first of his 12 labors. The Egyptians worshipped Leo because the Nile River floods when the Sun enters Leo (the Egyptian Sphinx is Virgo's head and Leo's body).

Credits: CoM entries excerpted from Your Guide to the Constellations, by Lowell L. Koontz, former Planetarium Teacher at Edison High School, Fairfax County Public Schools.

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