Apollo's son's tragic fate led to swan in sky
Among the 88 constellations seen from Earth, there are heroes, hunters, musical instruments, royalty and all kinds of critters, including eight birds. The biggest and brightest bird constellation is high-flying Cygnus the Swan.
The brightest star at the tail of the high-flying swan is Deneb, one of the stars of the "Summer Triangle" which is high in the east as darkness sets in. The other Summer Triangle stars are Vega and Altair, the brightest stars of their respective constellations, Lyra the Harp and Aquila the Eagle. Just look for the three brightest stars you can see in the east and that's it.
If you face east as you gaze up at the Summer Triangle, the star on the left corner of the triangle is Deneb. It's also the dimmest of the triangle but by no means is it a puny star. Quite the contrary it's a fantastically huge star some 3,000 light years away with one light year equaling almost 6 trillion miles.
Traveling to Deneb is not a weekend jaunt. It's so far away that the light we see from it tonight left that star around 1000 BC. Theoretically it could explode tonight and our great-great-great-great-grandkids would see the explosion in 5000AD!
Cygnus the Swan contains within it a pattern of stars called the Northern Cross. In fact, it's much easier to see the Northern Cross before looking for the Swan. Deneb sits at the head of the cross and if you're facing south the cross will be overhead leaning to the left. At the foot of the cross is the not- so-impressive star Albireo, at least to the naked eye. However, with a small telescope you'll see Albireo is not just one star but a beautiful pair of stars, one gold and the other blue. It's one of the best double stars of the sky.
To expand on the Northern Cross and find the entire swan is easy —- just look for the stars at either end of the arms of the cross and turn them into the wings of Cygnus the Swan. Deneb becomes the tail of the giant swan and Albireo becomes the swan's head.
The Greek mythology story of how Cygnus got in the sky is a sad one, although it has a somewhat happy ending. According to Greek myths Apollo was one of the most important gods of Mount Olympus. After all, he was the god of the sun with the very important job of guiding the sun chariot across the sky day after day after day. The chariot was pulled gallantly across the sky by a fleet of flying white horses. Inside a giant glass chariot rode the sun.
One of the sun god's children was Phaethon, who at 10 years old idolized his dad and very much wanted to eventually take over the reins of the sun chariot when Apollo retired. Phaethon begged and begged his dad to let him take the sun chariot for a ride but Apollo said no. Phaethon, though, was convinced he could handle it. One morning temptation set in, and disaster followed.
Apollo overslept that morning and Phaethon realized that this was his chance! He turned the hanger with the golden chariot, climbed in, backed it out and bellowed out a giddy up! to the flying horses. Before he knew it he was airborne!
He would have been just fine but he started to hotdog it with the sun, zigzagging and pulling celestial wheelies with the chariot. He soon lost control and the sun chariot was on its way to a horrible crash. From Mount Olympus Zeus saw what was happening and took immediate action. He thought some scoundrel had stolen the chariot, not knowing it was Apollo's son. He shouted down to Apollo, and then shot a lightning bolt at Phaethon, spearing him out of the driver's seat and on the way to a fatal plunge.
Phaethon swan dived into the river Po and drowned. Other gods recognized the body when it surfaced and took great pity on him. At that instant they magically transformed his body into the beautiful constellation we see today as Cygnus the Swan.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.
