THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM 207-780-4249   www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street   Portland, Maine 04103 43.6667° N                   70.2667° W  Altitude:  10 feet below sea level Founded January 1970 Julian Date:  2459402.18 

• NEW MOON -  rises at sunrise; sets at sunset (i.e. isn't visible.)
• FIRST QUARTER - rises around noon; sets around midnight
• FULL MOON - rises around sunset; sets around sunrise
• LAST QUARTER - rises around midnight; sets around noon

SUNDAY, JULY 18:  DEPARTING LION

One must always take the atmosphere into account when viewing the night sky.    Constellations are more difficult to observe near the horizon than at higher points simply because the amount of atmospheric gases separating an observer from the horizon is forty times greater that separating an observer from the point directly overhead.    Altough Leo the Lion remains low in the western early evening sky this month, it is becoming more difficult to see owing to its low orientation.  So, we take this opportunity to bid it farewell.

We recall that Heracles was forced to perform a series of labors for King Eurystheus in order to atone for having slain his family under the influence of Hera's insanity spell.  (That Heracles had been acting under such influence was not deemed to have mitigated the crime.) During his second labor, Heracles was sent to the land of Nemea, where it was said that an invincible lion was terrorizing the populace.    The King heard that the Lion was covered by an impenetrable hyde that he wanted for himself.   After searching for more than a month, Heracles came upon the Lion and he was astonished to behold him, for the Lion was as large as a young dragon and as equally fierce.   Heracles rapidly fired a barrage of arrows at the monster, only to see them all bounce harmlessly off the Lion.  He then charged the lion with his club, only to see his club rebound off the hyde without inflicting the slightest injury.    In desperation, Heracles wrestled the Lion to the ground and pushed his hands under the lion's chin.  He then strangled the beast and as it lay dead, Heracles snapped off one of its claws and used it to cut away the hyde.    He then ran back to Eurystheus  to deliver the prize. The King then grew deeply frightened of Heracles, for his victory over the Nemean Lion was indicative of Heracles' immense power.    He then commanded Heracles to never approach him again, but would instead convey all future commands through emissaries.

The goddess Hera, Heracles' arch-nemesis, hoisted Leo in the sky as a tribute to it for its formidable strength.  The lion adorns the firmament today.   By month's end, the lion will vanish into the dusk and will return to the early morning sky in early October.