A little ramble through Lyra the Lyre

A constellation dating back to ancient times Lyra represents a stringed instrument invented by Hermes and given by his half-brother Apollo to Orpheus. Although a small constellation it is a very prominent one. Its brightest star Vega is the 5th brightest star in the sky, and it is one of the summer triangle stars, the others being Altair in Aquila and Deneb in Cygnus. 

The Greek poet and philosopher Aratos called it the Little Tortoise thus going back to the legendary origin of the instrument from the empty covering of the creature cast upon the dried tendon stretched across it.

The constellation had been associated with a bird; this might go back to ancient India where it was seen as an Eagle or Vulture. While in Akkadia it was the great storm bird Urakhga, although this has also been associated with Corvus.

To the early Britons it was Talyn Arthur, that hero’s harp, while to the Anglo Saxons it was Hearpe which Fortunatus of the 6^th century, the poet bishop of Poitiers called the Barbarians Harp.

To the Arab astronomers it was Al Nasr al Waki, the swooping Stone Eagle of the Desert. Al Sufi was the only Arab astronomer to associate it with Al  Iwasz or a Goose.

Alpha or Vega which means the ‘Falling Eagle’ or the Harp Star. In Babylonian astronomy it was regarded as Dilgan the Messenger of Light.

At one time Vega was the pole star and the Akkadians called it Tir-anna or The Life of Heaven, while the Assyrians called it Dayan- Same, The Judge of Heaven, as having the highest seat in heaven. In Egypt when Vega occupied the Pole Star position it was Ma’at the Vulture Star.

 In around the year 14,000 AD Vega will become the North Star due to the precession of the Earth.

Vega is a magnitude 0.0 (zero) star. It is relatively close at only 25 light-years from the Sun; it is an A class star with a surface temperature of 9,200’C.

Beta or Sheliak which means ‘Lyra’ is an ellipsoidal variable discovered in York in September 1784 by the deaf astronomer  John Goodricke, the stars are so close together that they are egg shaped due to the gravity of the two stars pulling at each other. To the naked eye Sheliak appears as one star. The two stars orbit each other every 12.9 days and the magnitude changes from 3.4-4.3. Sheliak is 960 light years away and is a B class giant star.

Gamma or Sulufat which means ‘Turtle’ is the second-brightest star with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.3 it lies 620 light years away and is another B class giant star.

Epsilon is the famous the double double star, epsilon 1 shines with a magnitude of 4.7 while epsilon 2 in 4.7. They are around 162 light years away. Both stars can be seen with the naked eye under good conditions while of course binoculars will easily show both stars. A small telescope or binoculars will reveal that each star itself is a double star. Epsilon 1 and 2 are both A class stars hotter than the Sun.

M57 or The Ring Nebula is probably the most famous planetary nebula lying between beta and gamma. M 57 is magnitude 8.8 and needs either very good binoculars or a telescope to see it and it lies around 2,300 light years away. Messier discovered it in 1779.

There is a meteor shower the Lyrids which appear around April 21-22 with around 15 per hour. It is associated with  Comet Thatcher which was discovered in 1861.

The Lyrid meteor shower has the distinction of being among the oldest of known meteor showers. Records of this shower go back for some 2,700 years. The ancient Chinese are said to have observed the Lyrid meteors falling like rain in the year 687 B.C.

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