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Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Lyra
Origin:
Lyra is a very old constellation, known for
centuries before the ancient Greeks. Even though the constellation
is small, it is very conspicuous and is graced by the 5th brightest star
in the sky, Vega. History suggests that the constellation was
originally associated with a vulture and later with a harp or
lyre.
Information:
Lyra is a spring constellation which is very easy to find: first by the
brilliant magnitude zero Vega and, then, by the almost perfect
parallelogram (longer in the southerly direction than wide) of magnitude
3.5 to 4 stars. The Lyre culminates at 9 pm late in August.
For northern observers, the constellation is nearly overhead at
culmination. Vega is a blue-white star similar in most respects to
Sirius in Canis Major. Due to
precession of the Earth's axis, Vega was the pole star 12,000 years ago
and will be again in 14,000 years. Vega is one of the three stars
that makes up the "Summer Triangle". The other two are
Deneb (Cygnus) and Altair (Aquila).
The showpiece deep sky object in Lyra
is the "Ring Nebula" (M57, NGC 6720). The object is a
planetary nebula (a ring of gas ejected from a dead stellar core) which
looks like a smoke-ring against a dark sky backdrop. A second
showcase item is the famous "Double-Double" multiple star
system, Epsilon-Lyrae. Through a small telescope e-Lyr is easily resolved into 2
stars. With larger telescopes, each component in the binary is
resolved into its own binary. All four stars in the multiple system
are nearly the same color and magnitude. Lyra is constellation not
to be overlooked.
Mythology:
Hermes, Messenger of the Gods, using cow-gut for the strings fashioned a
lyre (small harp) out of an empty tortoise shell he found on the
beach. The instrument produced the most beautiful music ever heard
in heaven or on Earth. Hermes gave the lyre to his half brother,
Apollo the Sun-god (both were sons of Zeus) in trade for the caduceus -- a
wand or rod which had the power of healing and immortality. Apollo,
in turn, gave it to his son Orpheus. Orpheus mastered the instrument
and, it is said, that neither the mortals nor the gods themselves resist
listening when he played. After returning from the quest for the
Golden Fleece with Jason aboard the
Argo Navis, Orpheus took as his wife a young woman of incredible beauty,
Eurydice. Soon after the marriage she was bitten by a viper and
died, where upon she went to the Underworld, where all mortals souls
went. In an attempt to recover Eurydice, Orpheus entered Hades,
playing his lyre all the while during his journey. The gods of the
Underworld were so enchanted by the music of the lyre that they agreed to
restore Eurydice to life and Orpheus, but under one condition: that as
Orpheus left Hades he would not look back to see if Eurydice were
following him. On the journey out of Hades he did not hear the
footsteps of his wife behind him. Wondering if Eurydice were
actually with him, he broke his vow and looked back. He saw Eurydice
but she immediately fell back into the dark mists of Hades to be lost
forever.
Devastated, despondent, and desperately
lonely, Orpheus spent the rest of his life roaming across the Earth
playing inexpressibly sweet but indescribably sad music to himself in
memory of Eurydice. Even in his sadness and loneliness, the music
produced by the lyre was so beautiful that followers of Dionysus (the
Maenads) from far and wide came to give him solace and implore that he
forget his sorrows and marry one of them.
He turned down every offer of comfort
and marriage. Their pride crushed and their love for Orpheus left
unrequited, the young women tore Orpheus apart limb by limb and threw his
battered remains and the beautiful lyre into the river Hebrus.
Zeus having also been enchanted by the
sweet, beautiful music of Orpheus' lyre, rewarded the musician by making
his music immortal by recovering the instrument from the river (now
playing without benefit of a harpist) and placing the lyre into the heavens. The instrument is adorned with the bright star Vega, also known
as the Harp Star.
The Sumerians and Babylonians
visualized a vulture in this constellation. Early drawings of the
constellation show a vulture carrying a lyre in its talons.
The ancient peoples of Britain called
Lyra "the Harp of King Arthur" but this appellation never caught
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