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Dark Sky Park: Friday the 13th and Ophiucus

The constellation Ophiucus
The constellation Ophiucus

http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/2013-09-13%20Friday%20the%2013th%20-%20WEB.mp3

IPR: Here we are on Friday the 13th, which is still a pretty notorious date when it comes to the superstitious. Is this related in any way to the night sky?

MARY: In my perspective, the answer is yes, though the answer is a little complicated. First there's the name for this fear of the number 13, which is Triskaidekaphobia (from Greek tris meaning "3", kai meaning "and", deka meaning "10" and phobos meaning "fear" or "morbid fear"), then there are the associations of 13 from different cultures and traditions: It takes 13 witches to have a 'coven'; in the Norse tradition of the Vikings, the 13th god was Loki, the trickster; the Christians regarded Judas as the 13th to sit at the Last Supper Table; and the Ancient Persians are said to have believed the 12 constellations of the zodiac ruled the months of the year, each for a thousand years ~  at the end of this rulership, the Earth and Sky would collapse in chaos. 

This also seems pretty dismal, but 13 also points to some very interesting 'hidden' elements in our cultural history. The Knights of King Arthur's Round Table were 12 in number, but they also kept a 13th, unoccupied chair for the hidden guest.

And if you follow the course of the Moon and planets, as well as the Sun as they seem to move about the Earth, then you will notice that they move through 13 constellations, not twelve. But the 13th constellation is hidden. It bears the name Ophiucus, which is almost as hard to say as triskaidephobia!

IPR: Why is this constellation 'hidden'?

MARY: The word 'zodiac' derives from a Greek term that means "circle of animals'. Early astronomers recognized that the planets, Sun and Moon appear to only move along a path that is in front of only certain groups of stars, or constellations. They divided these into 12 groupings, which we know as the constellations of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc. 

But in the region of the Scorpion, which is where the Moon has recently appeared, there is a constellation not included in the zodiac, and that's Ophiucus. His story from the Greek has to do with healing and bringing the dead back to life. He was the first doctor, known as the human being Aesculapius. The story is that he was visiting a friend when a snake slithered into the room. He killed the snake, and then another slithered in, with an herb in its mouth. The second snake placed the herb on the dead snake and brought it back to life, then they slithered out of the room. Aesculapius followed them into the wild and learned the healing arts. He became so great he could bring the dead back to life.

Well, this angered the god of the underworld, which is the region of Scorpio, and he complained to Zeus, who threw his mighty thunderbolt at Aesculapius. But to honor him, he placed him in the night sky, where he treads on the back of the Scorpion.

Each year the Sun moves through the region of Ophiucus from late November into early December, for more time than it appears to move through Scorpio, even.

IPR: What can we make of this?

MARY: I like to think there's a great mystery in it, a mystery that is held by nearly all religions regarding eternal life. But even though we can 'see' this story in the sky, the reality of it still remains hidden from us ....