The seventh house of the zodiac: Libra

Libra is located in the southeast of Virgo and is also the zodiac sign. There are four brightest stars in the constellation, numbered α, β, γ and σ, which together form a quadrilateral. Among them, the beta star and the spring triangle form a big diamond. If you find the Spring Triangle, you can find this Libra. Its latitude ranges from+65 to? Between 90 degrees.

In fact, the proper name of Libra (chèng) should be Libra, and its composition is a balance, representing fairness and justice. In fact, we are used to calling it Libra. Experts use the word Libra when naming constellations, but at the same time they also use the meaning of the word balance, which leads to mixed reading.

Libra is one of the Ptolemaic constellations. There are more than a dozen galaxies in this constellation that can be seen with an 8-inch (20 cm) or larger telescope. The bright spot numbered NGC 5897 is a loose globular cluster.

Among the four bright stars in Libra, the beta star, whose Chinese name is "zubeneschamali", is the only green star visible to the naked eye all day. Alpha star, whose Chinese name is "zubenelgenubi", is a binary star, which consists of alpha 1 with brightness of 5.2 and alpha 2 with brightness of 2.8, respectively. Its color looks blue and white.

Libra was recognized by the ancients a long time ago, but in Ptolemy constellation, Libra is not an independent constellation, it belongs to the claws of two scorpions, Libra α is the northern claw of Scorpio, Libra β is the southern claw of Scorpio. It was not until Caesar's time in 1 th century that the Romans discovered that the sun had just moved to this constellation around the autumnal equinox, so they drew it independently.

However, due to precession, today's vernal equinox has moved to Virgo in the west.

Constellation myth

In a very distant time, human beings and God lived together on the earth and lived a peaceful and happy life.

Zeus had countless wives, so he also had countless children. Estelle, the goddess of justice, is the daughter of Zeus and themis (it is said that themis is the daughter of Uranus and Gaia). Zeus and all the gods in the temple only regard her as the apple of their eye, but she is independent, firm, enthusiastic and has her own thoughts.

Poseidon is the fifth child of the second generation king and queen Cronus and Rhea. He is the younger brother of Hades and the older brother of Zeus, the king of gods. He is as deep and cold as the sea.

Humans are very clever. They gradually learned to build houses and pave roads, but at the same time they also learned to intrigue and cheat. War and evil began to spread among mankind, and many gods could not bear it and returned to heaven to live in succession. Only themis, the goddess of justice, and Poseidon, the sea god, stayed. The goddess did not despair of mankind. She thought that human beings would wake up one day and return to the good and pure nature of the past. But Poseidon lost confidence in mankind, and he pessimistically advised the goddess to return to heaven. The goddess naturally didn't listen, so they quarreled for the first time in their lives. They argued fiercely and escalated from human problems. The goddess of justice despised Poseidon as just a pool of salty water, while Poseidon shook off the scandal of Zeus and the fact that the goddess was an illegitimate child.

Themis and Poseidon went to see Zeus, the king of God, and Hera, the queen of God, and asked for a trial. Hera suggested that they compete to see who can make mankind feel more peaceful, and whoever loses will apologize to each other. Hera was partial to Poseidon and jealous of themis, the goddess of justice. She knows that water is the source of life, which will definitely make human beings feel peaceful.

The venue is located in Tiantang Square, and Poseidon will start first. With a wave of Poseidon's hand on the wall, beautiful water flows out of the cracks, which makes people feel infinitely cool and comfortable after seeing it. At this time, the goddess of justice became a tree with reddish-brown trunk, green leaves and golden olives. Anyone who looks at it will feel love and peace. Poseidon smiled at the goddess, knowing that her wish had finally come true.

Mankind realized the importance of peace, and the goddess and Poseidon reconciled. In order to commemorate this result, Zeus threw the scales he carried with him into the sky, and today's Libra came into being.

But this story may be related to the story of Athena and Poseidon, because the story is exactly the same.