THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

207-780-4249   www.usm.maine.edu/planet

70 Falmouth Street   Portland, Maine 04103

        

                                                         
Altitude:  10 feet below sea level

Founded January 1970

                       

2019-2020:  XLII

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Celestial Monster Gallery

Halloween or Samhain, the most famous of the four cross-quarter days, is tomorrow.    In honor of this holiday we're devoting today's DA to two of the night sky's most celebrated autumnal "monsters,"   Medusa the mortal gorgon and Cetus the sea monster.    These two celestial monstrosities do have some commonalities.   First, they are both prominent in the autumn evening sky.    One will find Perseus holding Medusa's head high in the northeastern sky.   At the same time, one will find Cetus the sea monster swimming about in the darkest regions of the southeastern sky.     Secondly, the ocean god Poseidon figures into the legends of each one.  Finally, Perseus killed them both, 

MEDUSA

Of all the monstrous creatures loitering in our night sky, Medusa is arguably the most sympathetic. Unlike her loathsome sisters Stentho and Euralye, Medusa was not born a gorgon.  Instead, she was a beautiful maiden who fell madly -and most unfortunately- in love with Poseidon, the god of the sea.     Falling in love is always fraught with peril, particularly if the subject of your affection is an ageless god who looks on mortals as ephemeral in duration and countless in number as dying leaves gathering around a tree base.     The besotted Medusa, loved Poseidon passionately and persuaded herself to believe the love was requited.  She would soon learn that her ardor was Poseidon's amusement.

One night, Medusa and Poseidon scheduled a liaison in the temple of Athena, goddess of war and wisdom.     This tryst, which Poseidon arranged merely to taunt his sister goddess, so enraged Athena that she transformed Medusa into a hideous gorgon as a punishment for this desecration.   Suddenly disfigured by tusks, scales and hair strands changed into the form of hissing serpents, Medusa hastened to the barren rock island her sisters inhabited.   She was there consigned to a life of abject misery, repulsed by her altered appearance and distraught that her lover abandoned her to such a detestable fate.  

Athena, notorious for her malicious nature, assigned the young hero Perseus the task of bringing her Medusa's head.   Slaying a gorgon is not a chore for the faint hearted, as each gorgon possesses petrifying powers.    Anyone who makes eye contact with a gorgon is immediately turned into stone.   Athena accounted for this challenge by providing Perseus with a highly polished shield that served well as a reflexive surface.   When Perseus arrived at the island far out in the wine-dark sea, he followed Medusa's reflection.  When she approached within arm's length,  Perseus lopped off her head with his broad sword and promptly concealed the head in his satchel.     He evaded the vengeful attacks of the other gorgons by flying away on Hermes' winged sandals.    

CETUS

As Perseus flew swiftly along the Ethiopian coast, he happened upon the remarkable sight of Andromeda, a beautiful princess who had been chained to rocks along the shore.   Perseus also noticed a ferocious leviathan close by who had laid waste to what had once been a thriving village.  This monster had just started to move toward Andromeda when Perseus arrived.  Along a nearby cliff stood the Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus, both of whom appeared understandably mournful, for Andromeda was their daughter.      You see, the boastful Cassiopeia often bragged about her beauty and that of her daughter.    Cassiopeia made the grave error of once openly proclaiming that Andromeda's beauty even surpassed that of the Nereids, Posideon's daughters.    Poseidon's rage, or so it was said, was terrible to behold   The sea, itself, was heaved up in a tumult that shook the world, itself.  Out of these crashing waves arose Cetus the Seamonster, an enormous creature said to have been spawned in the world's earliest days.   After its monstrous birth, Cetus lurked in the deepest reaches of the sea, the desolate realm populated only by the most fearsome sea creatures.    There it would have always remained had the wrathful Poseidon not summoned it to land to destroy Cassiopeia's village.

Suspecting that the queen's indiscreet remark resulted in Cetus' rampage through her village, Cepheus and Cassiopeia consulted the Delphic Oracle for advice.   Apollo, speaking through the Pythia, explained that Cassiopeia had to offer her daughter to Cetus in order to mollify Poseidon.    Once the monster devoured Andromeda, the subject of Cassiopeia's blasphemous boast, it would be satiated and depart, leaving what little remained of the village intact.   With nothing else for it, Cassiopeia and Cepheus chained their daughter to the rocks as an offering to Cetus.      

After seeing Andromeda, Perseus promptly flew over to her parents, who explained the situation.   Perseus, a nuanced hero if there ever were one, offered to rescue her in exchange for Andromeda's hand in marriage.  The desperate parents agreed at once and neglected to mention that she was already betrothed to her uncle.     Perseus immediately flew back down to Cetus and, like a furious gnat, slew the monster with a countless series of sword cuts.     It was said that the sea shone as red as sunset with the leviathan's blood as it crashed dead into the water.

Perseus released Andromeda and took her to a wedding party.  (We recognize that nobody asked Andromeda what she wanted.)   During the party, the uncle/fiancee, who had been curiously absent when Andromeda was in such peril,  arrived with a troop of friends, determined to reclaim Andromeda.  (Again, we recognize that nobody asked Andromeda what she wanted.)

Although Perseus and his friends were strong, bold and determined, they were woefully outnumbered and would have lost the fight had Perseus not shouted "Everybody who is my friend shield your eyes!" before withdrawing the Medusa head.    At that moment, all of the uncle's friends turned to stone: some were petrified while fighting, making them appear like rather dynamic statues.     

Perseus and Andromeda lived happily ever after and remain to this day as constellations.

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