The origin of Lyra?

Lyra

One of the northern constellations. Center position: right ascension 18: 50, declination 36. The area is about 286 square degrees. Between Draco, Hercules and Cygnus. There are 53 stars in the constellation with visual magnitude greater than 6, and 8 of them have visual magnitude greater than 4.

On a summer night, there is a very bright star on the west bank of the Milky Way. Together with some small stars around, Lyra is formed.

This is a map of Lyra. Although this constellation is not big, it is very important in astronomy, and some touching legends are still circulating in many countries! In ancient Greece, people imagined it as a seven-stringed harp, which was a golden harp given to orpheus by Apollo, the sun god, and fascinated countless people. To this day, whenever people look up to it, it seems that there are still several Yue Xian songs falling from the sky. In ancient China, the brightest alpha star in Lyra was called Vega. This allusion comes from the well-known fairy tale of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" in China (for the Cowherd, see the constellation introduction of "Eagle"). Next to Vega, a small diamond consisting of four dark stars is the shuttle that Vega used to weave.

Vega's apparent magnitude is 0.05m, which is the fifth brightest star in the whole day. It is 26 light years away, and it is the first star whose distance has been accurately measured by astronomers. Remember we said that Polaris always on duty by turns due to precession. 12000, Vega will be the North Star at that time. At that time, Lila would definitely be more important than now.

The brightest star in Lyra is Lyra A-"vega", also known as Vega, whose English name comes from Arabic "swooping vulture". Its brightness is 0.03, blue and white, 25 light-years away from the Earth, and it is the fifth brightest star in the whole day, ranking second in the northern celestial sphere, second only to the arcturus of the Capricorn, and its brightness is 25 times that of the sun. There are also some dark stars around Vega, among which a small diamond in the southeast is obvious, which is composed of four stars below the second class. It is said that it is a shuttle used by the weaver girl to weave cloth. Among them, the Qin Tian B (sheliak) located in the southwest corner is a binary star, and its main star is also an eclipse star, with a brightness of 3.3-4.4 and a period of 12 days and 22 hours. It consists of two stars in close proximity, rotating each other and spewing gas. The two stars are squeezed by gravity and constantly change light. It is not clear when the food starts and ends. There are other similar variables in the universe, called "Lyra B variable". Compared with Lyra G (brightness 3.24) and Lyra K (brightness 4.33), its distant companion star 7.2 can be seen with a small telescope.

The map of Lyra is one of four rhombic stars, and the D star "Yitaiyi" in the northeast corner of Lyra is a distant binary star. The two stars are not related, they are both optical binaries, one is a red giant with brightness of 4.3, and the other is a blue and white star with brightness of 5.6, which can be distinguished by binoculars. When the weather is fine, they can be vaguely distinguished by the naked eye. In addition, not far from the northeast of Vega, there is a Qin Tian E-star "Weaver Girl II", which is a twin star, also known as a four-star. People with good eyesight can see a pair of magnitude 5 stars with binoculars. If you use a 6-to 7.5-caliber telescope, you can see that these two stars are close binaries at high magnification, and the wider pair is 5.0 and 6. 1 respectively, with a period of 65438. The other pair is 5.2 and 5.5, the orbital period is 600 years, and the four stars are about 130 light-years away from the earth.

[Edit this paragraph] Lila's characteristics

The following are the main stars of Lyra:

Lyra map α (Weaver Girl I): Apparent magnitude is 0.03, which is the second brightest star in the northern sky (after arcturus) and the fifth brightest star in the whole day. Its spectral type is A0 V, which is only 25.3 light years away from the solar system. In fact, it is a five-pointed star system. It is the first star in the photo.

β (second year of graduation): 3.45, etc. , spectral B8 II, the name of the eclipse variable is used to name the same variable-Graded II variable.

γ (Fade III): The apparent magnitude of the main star of this multi-star system is 3.24, and the spectral type is B9 III.

δ: A binary star system consisting of a six-order blue and white star and a semi-regular red giant star with luminosity of 4 or 5.

ε: The famous quadruple star, also known as "binary star", consists of two pairs of binary stars.

ζ: It is also a binary star that binoculars can distinguish.

RR star in Lyra: The RR variable star in Lyra got its name.

Vega in Lyra, Altair in Aquila and Tianjin in Cygnus are arranged in a right triangle in the summer sky, which is called the Summer Triangle. The vertex at the right angle is Vega, the Altair on the longer side of the triangle, and the other four stars in Tianjin.

[Edit this paragraph] Deep space objects

Lyra's deep space objects are:

M56: A rather loose globular cluster, about 32,900 light-years away from the solar system and about 85 light-years in diameter. Its apparent magnitude is 8.3.

M57: Also called "Ring Nebula", one of the most famous planetary nebulae (8.8, etc. Ranging in age from 6000 to 8000).

[Edit this paragraph] Lyra main star.

α (Weaver Girl 1): The apparent magnitude is 0.03, which is the second brightest star in the northern sky (after Dajiao) and the fifth brightest star in the whole day. Its spectral type is A0 V, which is only 25.3 light years away from the solar system. In fact, it is a five-pointed star system. It is the first star in the photo.

β (second year of graduation): 3.45, etc. , spectral B8 II, the name of the eclipse variable is used to name the same variable-Graded II variable.

γ (Fade III): The apparent magnitude of the main star of this multi-star system is 3.24, and the spectral type is B9 III.

δ: A binary star system consisting of a six-order blue and white star and a semi-regular red giant star with luminosity of 4 or 5.

ε: The famous quadruple star, also known as "binary star", consists of two pairs of binary stars.

ζ: It is also a binary star that binoculars can distinguish.

RR star in Lyra: The RR variable star in Lyra got its name.

Like Leo, Lyra has a famous meteor shower. It appears from April 19 to 23rd every year, especially on 22nd. The earliest record of it in the world appeared in China's ancient book Spring and Autumn Annals, which vividly recorded the eruption of Lyra meteor shower in 687 BC: "At night, the stars fall like rain." In late April, at four or five o'clock in the morning, Laila rose to the zenith. If you want to see the meteor shower more clearly, you have to get up early again.

Lyra meteor shower Lyra myth story

According to legend, Orpheus, the son of Apollo, the sun god, was a piano master. As long as he plays the piano, the river will stop flowing and even the barking lion will become docile and lovely. He has a beautiful and kind wife, and they live a carefree life. But it didn't last long. One day, when she was playing with a fairy in the countryside, she was killed by a poisonous snake. When the husband learned about it, he was very painful. He missed his dead wife so much that he finally went to the underworld to find his wife. He implored Hades, the guardian of the underworld, hoping that Hades would bring his wife back to earth. Of course, Hades wouldn't agree to this, so Orpheus had to take out the tree harp and play the sad song of missing his dead wife, and finally touched Hades. Hades agreed to his request, but on one condition, that is, never look back at his wife before returning to earth.

Orvers happily accepted the agreement and immediately took his wife back. On the way, when I was only one step away from returning to the ground, my husband looked back anxiously because he could not hear his wife's voice behind him. Just then, I heard my wife scream and went back to hades. Afterwards, Orpheus went crazy with grief and finally died in the river. Later, Zeus, the great god, found the piano and sent it to heaven to commemorate the two. This is Lila.

[Edit this paragraph] Lyra meteor shower

Xinhuanet Nanjing, April 22 (Reporter Cai, Zhou Runjian) Astronomical societies in Jiangsu and Tianjin reported that the Lyra meteor shower will reach its peak at 6: 30 on the 23rd. In the past few hours, dozens of meteors have crossed the sky every hour.

On the beautiful west bank of the Milky Way, there is a famous bright star Vega, which forms Lyra with some small stars around it. Every year in the middle and late April, the meteor shower of this constellation will appear in black and pink.

Lyra meteor shower usually appears from April 19 to 23rd every year, and 22nd is usually the maximum day. This meteor shower is the earliest recorded meteor shower in China, and its outbreak in 687 BC is vividly recorded in the ancient book Spring and Autumn Annals. The orbital debris of comet 186 1 I formed the Lyra meteor shower, which, as one of the three periodic meteor showers in the whole year, also occupies an extremely important position in astronomy.

Yan Jiarong, deputy secretary general of Jiangsu Astronomical Society, said that this year's Lyra meteor shower will reach its peak at 6: 30 on the 23rd. If the weather had been fine,

Astronomy lovers can observe the East from midnight on the 22nd to dawn on the 23rd.

Wang Sichao, a researcher at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also reminded that since the current forecast of meteor showers is not as accurate as the solar eclipse, the public must be psychologically prepared before observation, and there may be no meteors observed at that time.

Scientists pointed out that April 22, 2008 happened to be almost full moon, so we could only see faint meteors. What you can see in the picture above is the meteor shower described by scientists.

Scientists believe that the Lyra meteor shower appeared 2,600 years ago, and the history of China also recorded that the Lyra meteor shower appeared in 687 BC.

Lyra meteor is very fast. Meteors hit the earth's atmosphere at the speed of 10.9 million miles per hour, giving off very bright light.

[Edit this paragraph] The origin of Lyra

In the old star map, the modern Lyra was depicted as Lyra. Together with Cygnus and Aquila, it represents the bird of hades killed by Hercules, a hero in ancient Greek mythology, in the sixth mission.

But Lyra itself represents an instrument created by the Greek god Hermes. Hermes gave the harp to Apollo, who passed it on to orpheus. This piano is beautifully made, and it is even more attractive in orpheus's hands. It is said that orpheus's piano music can make gods and people intoxicated, and even fierce and evil beasts will become gentle and obedient in an instant.

With his musical genius, orpheus has made outstanding achievements among heroes. When Jason took golden fleece, it was orpheus's piano that subdued the dragon guarding the wool. But on the way home, they met something more thrilling. The most dangerous time is to cross the territory of the siren. The siren The siren is a banshee with three heads and a bird. They live on an isolated island and sing "charming" songs all day. Passers-by are all ecstatic and willing to leave their wives and children and sing on the island. As a result, they were all killed by banshees, and the island was full of bones. Banshees sat in the bushes, showing only the girl's face. They sang euphemistically, and beautiful melodies and flowers floated to the boat. At that time, the breeze Xu Lai, water ripples, even the white clouds and Sha Ou seems to be listening. Heroes have also been infected, the oars are shaking more and more slowly, Argo is drifting in the wind, their ambitions are gone, their ambitions are gone, what hometown, relatives, motherland, goodbye, just want to spend the rest of my life here. Everyone was puzzled by the siren. It's too dangerous to go on like this So orpheus sat tight, the piano sounded steep, and a heroic hymn pierced the sky. Soon, the debauchery of banshees was suppressed. The heroes recovered their old spirits, and everyone stretched out their arms and paddled hard. Argo left Alcatraz like an arrow.

His miserable love life is the most touching chapter in his life. Legend has it that there was a congenial wife named Eurydice in orpheus. She is lively by nature and likes to play with fairies in Shan Ye. One day, she was running on the Yuan Ye. Unexpectedly, she stepped on a poisonous snake. The poisonous snake gave her an unexpected and violent bite. She just sighed and fell on the grass. When her companion came to the rescue, she was killed by poison gas.

After hearing the bad news, orpheus took out his golden harp, played a song, and even the stubborn stone cried. In order to see his wife again, he risked his life and went to hell Hell is a miserable and terrible state, where it is dark and cold, sad and painful. Orpheus doesn't care much, he is bent on getting his wife back! His piano music touched the ferryman on the Styx, tamed three evil dogs guarding the gate of Ming soil, and even touched the revenge of Devines. Finally, he came to Hades and the Queen and asked Hades to return his wife to him, saying that otherwise he would rather die here than go back alone! Seeing this scene in the afterlife, Hades felt pity and agreed to his request, but on one condition: he must never look back at her before he leads his wife out of the underworld, otherwise his wife will never return to the world.

Orpheus thanked Hades with joy, and then led his beloved wife on the road to return to the world. Eurydice's snake bite wound hasn't healed yet. He groaned painfully at every step, but orpheus didn't even look at her. They walked silently in tandem, out of the dead mountain pass, across the valley and across the dead river, all the way gloomy. Finally, they saw the light of the world, and they are about to leave the dark hell and return to the bright heaven! At this time, Eurydice couldn't stand her husband's cold reception any longer, and his mouth began to mumble unhappily. Poor orpheus heard his wife's complaint and forgot what the caretaker said. He turned to hug his wife. Suddenly, everything disappeared like a dream, and the long arm of death once again pulled his wife back to the country, leaving him only two strings of crystal tears. Orpheus went through hardships but failed. He wanted to go to hell with his wife, but the boatman on the stagnant water river refused to cross the river for him, so he had to return to the world alone.

From then on, orpheus lost interest in everything and lived alone in a cave in Thrace. Later, because he didn't respect Dionysus, he was killed by a crazy girl in Dionysus, and his body was torn to pieces and thrown into the wilderness. His head floated with the sea to Lesbos Island, which later became the hometown of lyric poetry. Orpheus's mother took great pains to collect her son's body and buried it at the foot of Olympus, so the nightingale there sang better than any other bird. Apollo also missed his son very much, so he asked Zeus, the biggest god in the sky. Zeus pitied orpheus's tragic death, so he hung the lyre given to him by his father Apollo high in the air and dotted the vast sky. This is the origin of Lyra.