Welcome to Hungry Mother State Park Hungry Mother State Park Attention all stargazers, the night sky is calling. Here at the park we have some prime viewing areas located at the Stargazing spillway, the beach front and the ballfield behind Ferrell Hall. Year-round in the Park the sky is filled with stars, planets and constellations with stories to tell. Here Please watch for additional in the Northern Hemisphere we have monthly Stargazing guides to circumpolar constellations that can be learn more about stargazing in viewed all year long. What are you our park. waiting for? Let’s go stargazing.
For more information about March Constellations Virginia State Parks, please visit: Cancer Canis Minor www.virginiastateparks.gov
April Constellations Discovery Center Hydra Hours of Operation: Leo 10 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. daily May Constellations Corvus March/April/May Virgo
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Star Tracker Interpretation Office: Sky Map Phone: 276-781-7413 [email protected]
March Constellations April Constellations the god Zeus placed the figure of a gigantic lion in the sky with the rest of the stars. Cancer (The Crab) Hydra (The Serpent) The people of Nemea were terrorized by the
According to an ancient Greek legend, the Hydra is the longest constellation in the sky. lion. Several times they tried to destroy the figure of a gigantic crab was placed in the It is so long that it takes more than six hours beast. Heracles was ordered by the king, nighttime sky by the goddess Hera to form to rise completely. In the myth, the people Euryshtheus, to kill the Nemean lion. When the constellation Cancer. Hera swore to of Lerna were terrorized by this serpent; a Heracles reached the cave where the beast kill Heracles, the most famous Greek hero. horrifying beast with many snake-like heads, was living, he realized all his weapons were Hera attempted to kill Heracles many times, one of which was immortal. The heads of useless against the lion, thus Heracles killed but each time his incredible physical the Hydra could grow back even if they were the lion by strangling it with his bare hands. strength allowed him to survive. Hera then cut off. Anyone approaching the Hydra was When the beast was dead, Heracles used its decided to cast a spell of madness on killed by its venomous breath. The pelt as a coat and the head as a helmet. Heracles, causing him to commit a great destruction of the Hydra was one of the crime. In order to be forgiven, he had to many difficult tasks that Heracles had to May Constellations perform twelve difficult tasks. One of these perform to show that he was sorry for a tasks was destroying the terrible nine- terrible crime he committed. Heracles was Corvus (The Raven) so brave and strong that he succeeded in headed water-serpent, Hydra. During the The raven was Apollo’s sacred bird in Greek killing the Hydra, with the help of his battle between Heracles and Hydra, the mythology. According to the myth, the nephew Iolaus. Every time Heracles would goddess Hera sent a giant crab to aid the raven originally had white feathers. Apollo cut off one head of the beast, Iolaus would serpent. But Heracles, being so strong, killed told the bird to watch over Coronis, one of sear its injured neck, preventing new heads the crab by smashing its shell with his foot. his lovers, who was pregnant at the time. from growing back. During their fight, an As a reward for its service, Hera placed the Coronis gradually lost interest in Apollo and enormous crab emerged from the swamp to crab in the night sky. fell in love with a mortal man, Ischys. When aid the Hydra. Heracles killed the crab by the raven reported the affair to Apollo, the crushing its shell with his foot. Heracles Canis Minor (The Little Dog) god was so enraged that the bird did buried the Hydra's head under a heavy In the Greek myth, it is said that this nothing to stop it, that he flung a curse on it, rock. constellation, along with Canis Major, scorching the raven’s feathers. That, the Leo (The Lion) are Orion's hunting dogs. legend goes, is why all ravens are black. During the dry season in ancient Egypt, the lions of the desert came close to the valley Virgo (The Maiden)
of the Nile when the river flooded, which The constellation represents almost every used to happen when the sun was in Leo. famous and powerful female in mythology, Some have interpreted this as the origin of including Athena, Artemis, Persephone and the name of the constellation. The ancient Demeter. She is usually carrying a grain of Sumerians, Babylonians, Persians, Syrians, wheat and a staff. Greeks and Romans all recognized this
constellation as a lion. The Greeks believed