Sunday, January 4, 2015

Move It On Over, 'Cause Canis Major's Moving In (Day Four)

As someone passionate about space and future space exploration, today's featured article on Wikipedia strikes me as quaint, yet ultimately banal.

Canis Major /ˌkeɪnɨs ˈmeɪdʒər/ "is a constellation in the southern hemisphere's summer (or northern hemisphere's winter) sky." Canis Major is "bordered by Monoceros (which lies between it and Canis Minor) to the north, Puppis to the east and southeast, Columba to the southwest, and Lepus to the west." As well, "[t]he three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'CMa'."

Besides the long (dating back to ancient Mesopotamia) and mixed (morphing to the beliefs, desires, and religions dominate in a given society) history, as well as traditions (be it, Western or non-Western) of constellations, my main take away leaves with this factoid:
In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations.  Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog"; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the hunter through the sky. 
And in conjunction, with only "covering 380 square degrees or 0.921% of the sky, [Canis Major] ranks 43rd of the 88 currently-recognized constellations in size."

In the end, though, constellations, like the Canis Major, are less about gaining a scientific understanding of space, as it is about the human imagination and our enduring fascination with heavenly bodies, in general.

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