The Hunting Dogs

by Fern

 

The name Canes Venatici immediately caught my attention. Here we go I thought, another dog constellation. Where I wonder are the Feline Major or Minor Constellations, but I digress from the topic at hand. What exactly is a constellation? Well, this answer is just too easy: a constellation is a group of stars which from Earth seem to form a pattern. There are even families of constellations. Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs or the greyhounds, is a constellation of the Northern Hemisphere, one of those families I mentioned earlier. Many of the names of the constellations originated from mythology. The hunting dogs, first depicted in 1690 by Johann Hevelius, represent Boötes' hunting dogs, Astarion (Starry) and Chara (Dear).  Boötes with his hounds on a leash eternally circles and hunts the Bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, around the North Pole. Boötes depending upon whom you talk to is either a bear driver, an ox driver, a ploughman or even a depiction of Icarius. The Icarius myth is my favorite but he belongs to another story. Where do I look for these dogs you ask? Considering we are cats, and dogs are not all that interesting to us in any form, maybe you didn’t ask, but I feel bound to tell you anyway. The dogs are found in an isolated region of the skies just south of the Big Dipper. (I’m thinking the more isolated the better but I sense I’m not being objective here.) The constellation actually contains only the two stars with a simple line between them and it takes a little imagination to see them as dogs. Well, now that you know all about Canes Venatici and where you can find it, the next time you’re out prowling this month, take a peek above and catch a glimpse. When you do, you are officially an astronomer, an astrologus feles.