What is a constellation, really? The stars that form a constellation can be weighed and measured, their magnitudes and distances determined. These are all real qualities. But, when you get right down to it, our constellations are just figments of our imaginations, dot-to-dot drawings in the sky formed from unrelated stars.
Take the constellation of Capricornus the Goat Fish, for example. What is a goat fish anyway? Nobody has ever seen one in real life, but there he is, immortalized in our autumn skies. The legend of the Goat Fish is 2000 years old, passed down to us from our Greek ancestors.
There was once a goat-footed satyr named Pan who was playing his pipes along the banks of the river one day, when he was suddenly attacked by a fire-monster named Typhon. True to his name, Pan panicked and, when he tried to transform himself into a fish so that he could dive into the river and swim to safety, his transformation got all messed up. His goat hindquarters did turn into a fish’s tail, but his front half turned from human form into a goat. Thus, the goat-fish was born. Looking down on the comical scene from above, Zeus and the other gods of Olympus were hysterical with laughter at Pan’s folly. Zeus then placed the image of the Goat Fish in the stars for the amusement of all.
Now, imagine that somewhere out in space, there is another race of beings who watch the stars – we’ll call them the Klongs. Are the Klongs going to look up and see our Capricornus the Goat Fish? Of course not! They will have their own legends about their own star patterns and we would, no doubt, consider them very strange. What might the Klongs picture in the stars of our Capricornus? Here – I’ll let Zorgoff the Klong tell you himself:
“Well, your Goat Fish is nice, but Klongs see Catapus, the Space Cat, in these stars. Catapus is a hero all over our planet. Long ago, Klongs were faced with extinction when our home star, Flarmoose, was about to explode. From far off in space, a race called the Nohas were watching and realized our plight. They sent to our planet a giant rescue ship, capable of holding every living creature, and we were saved. The space-ark brought us to this planet, Quandose 5, where we made our new home. While the Klongs were loading the space-ark, the royal family of our planet was waiting to board last. This included our King Xanderthal, his queen Marthus, and their small Klong son, Prince Notnee. The space-ark was blasting off just as the royal family ran onto the ship. Little Prince Notnee lost his balance, fell off of the loading ramp, and plummeted to the ground. King Xanderthal and Queen Marthus looked on in helpless horror as the space-ark left Prince Notnee behind and our sun began to explode. Suddenly, in a feat of bravery never before seen and never seen since, Catapus sprang out of the space-ark and snatched up the young heir to the Klong throne. With one mighty leap, the space cat caught up with the receding ark and safely returned the Prince to his grateful parents. That was three million Klong years ago. Now, Klongs everywhere see Catapus in these stars.”
So, what’s it going to be? Capricornus the Goat Fish or Catapus the Space Cat? The choice is yours. ***
Professor Jimmy Westlake teaches astronomy and physics at Colorado Mountain College’s Alpine Campus. He is an avid astronomer whose photographs and articles have been published all around the world. His “Celestial News” column appears weekly in the Steamboat Today newspaper and his “Cosmic Moment” radio spots can be heard on local radio station KFMU. Also, check out Jimmy’s astrophotography website at www.jwestlake.com.