Auriga is one weird constellation! It resembles a lopsided pentagon, but

according to Greek and Roman mythology, Auriga outlines a retired

championship chariot driver carrying a mama goat slung over one of his

shoulders, with little kid goats in the crook of his elbow. Most

constellations just don't look like what they're allegedly supposed to be.

Cultures from all over the world used these dot-to-dot or star-to-star

"pictures" as rough visual aids to share their legends or mythological stories

down through the generations. Imaginations must have been extremely

healthy back then, but Auriga takes that to the limit! There must have been

very strong libations at the party that inspired the creation of some of

these constellations.

Auriga is a hard-working constellation. He toils in our Butler evening

skies every night, although he takes much of the summer off. This time of

year, Auriga is perched high in the south-southeast sky in the early

evenings, nearly overhead. Auriga is a prominent member of the gang of

bright winter constellations I call "Orion and his gang." Look for the

lopsided pentagon just above the mighty constellation Orion the Hunter.

Three equally spaced bright stars in a perfect line denote Orion's belt.

The brightest star in Auriga is in the upper right-hand corner of the

pentagon. That's Capella, the fourth brightest star we can see in our night

sky. It's a little over 42 light-years away, with just one light-year equaling

almost six trillion miles. Capella is actually two stars orbiting each other,

separated by about a hundred million miles. There's no way we can resolve

the individual stars, even with a large telescope. Both of Capella's stars are

super large versions of our home star, the Sun. They're both close to ten

million miles in diameter, and our Sun is not even one million miles in

diameter.

According to one of the Greek legends, King Oenomaus was the ruthless

ruler of a mighty kingdom. He had a beautiful daughter, Hippodameia, who

had many suitors who wished to marry her. King Oenomaus was a classic

helicopter parent who didn't think any young man was worthy of her.

Anybody who even tried to meet her met their death! King Oenomaus

challenged every young man wooing Hippodameia to a chariot race. If the

suitor won the race, he would win the hand of the young princess. But, if

the suitor lost, he would be killed by slow torture. Since Oenomaus had the

fastest horses in the land, he routinely out-raced every young man and

disposed of them afterward.

One day though, Pelops, son of Hermes, the messenger of the gods,

came to race for the hand of Hippodameia, and he got some extra divine

help from the other gods. They were sick of the king's slaughter! Pelops

was provided a chariot that would sprout golden wings to ensure victory.

As added insurance, Pelops also paid off Oenomaus's chariot mechanic

Myrtilus to betray the king. Myrtilus replaced the "lynchpins" of the

Oenomaus's chariot wheels with copies made of wax. In return for his

betrayal, Pelops promised half of the kingdom to Myrtilus once the king

was dead.

Oenomaus started the race neck and neck with Pelops, but about

halfway to the finish line the golden wings popped out of Pelops' chariot.

The king was left in a cloud of dust. Oenomaus cracked his mighty whip,

commanding his horses to go faster and faster. That caused the wheels to

fly off, and Oenomaus was dragged off to his death!

Pelops proceeded to marry Hippodameia and live happily ever after

with the Queen of the kingdom. Myrtilus was happy for the new couple,

but he still wanted his half of the kingdom. Pelops welched on his promise

though. When Myrtilus confronted Pelops, demanding his share, Pelops

stalled him, claiming that his lawyers were drawing up all the papers and

they'd be ready in a few days. Myrtilus was satisfied with this explanation

and started walking off. Just as he did, Pelops, with his inherited godly

powers, kicked Myrtilus so hard in the derriere that he went flying into the

heavens and magically became the constellation we know today as Auriga.

No one knows exactly how the betraying chariot driver got the mama

goat and baby goats on his shoulder, but the leading theory is that

shepherds added them as they watched their flocks by night.

Again, look for Auriga the charioteer turned goat farmer nearly overhead,

above the constellation Orion. By the way, the bright star Capella marks

where the mama goat is. See if you can spot the dim triangle of stars that

make the baby goats next to Capella. Go figure!

CELESTIAL HAPPENING THIS WEEK: On Monday night you can use the

moon to easily find the distant planet Uranus. With a small telescope or

even binoculars, look for the next brightest star-like object you can see to

the right of the moon. It'll have a greenish tinge to it. Uranus is currently

over 1.8 billion miles from Earth

———

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast

meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is

the author of "Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the

Constellations," published by Adventure Publications and

available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net.

Contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.