Star Points for November, 2002; by Curtis Roelle Signs of Death Among the Stars Let me begin this month with a plug for the Westminster Astronomical Society's "Telescope Buyer's Workshop" (TBW) scheduled for Wednesday, November 13. If you are considering purchasing a telescope or binoculars for anyone (including yourself) for any reason (such as a holiday gift), then don't. At least not until you attend the TBW and find out what actual telescope owners have to say about these things. The annual workshop begins at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Bear Branch Nature Center, north of Westminster. Please be sure not to miss the event which is free and open to the public. Big news for November is that this year's Leonid meteor shower is anticipated to be the last chance to witness "storm levels" in the current 33 year cycle. When the best time to look is depends on which expert you ask. According to the November issue of Sky & Telescope magazine one peak may come around 11 p.m. EST on the evening of Monday, November 18. At that time the earth passes through the debris stream left by Comet Tempel-Tuttle when it passed through the inner solar system in 1767. If such a peak occurs it will favor Europe. Another expert, Washington astronomer Tom Van Flandern, expects the peak to occur later in the early morning twlight of Tuesday, November 19 around 05:40 a.m. EST. Between the peaks the hourly rate is expected to be rather flat. One thing all astronomers agree on is that the moon will interfere greatly. It will be a waxing nearly full moon washing out all but the brightest meteors so prospects don't look great. Last week I was saddened to learn that a former colleague had passed away unexpectedly. For me it was a reminder that death is an inseparable part of life as you can't have one without the other. I was also reminded of some of the symbols of the night sky that have at one time or another in human history been associated with death. In his book "Comet" astronomy popularizer Carl Sagan discussed the beliefs of "prescientific cultures" with respect to the phenomenon of meteor showers. According to Sagan, certain traditions held that meteors were the souls of the dead returning to Earth to be reborn. This theme of returning souls occurs elsewhere in the heavenly vault. Giuseppe Maria Sesti discusses myths of the Milky Way in his beautifully illustrated book, "The Glorious Constellations: History and Mythology." A belief existed between 6,000 and 4,000 B.C.E. that the Milky Way was a river into into which a person's soul entered at the end of their lives through a door guarded by Sagittarius. Each soul of the dead existed in a kind of limbo until the time came for it to be reincarnated. At that time the soul would exit by way of another door in the constellation of Gemini. The pole region of our northern sky apears to have rather numerous associations with death. The pole star itself is suspected of murder according to Richard Hinckley Allen in "Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning." An Arab tradition holds that a person by the name Al Na'ash was murdered by Al Jadi, played by the pole star Polaris. The four stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper are the coffin. The three stars from the dipper's tail are the children of Al Na'ash who continuously mourn, following their father's coffin while circling the murderer as they thirst for and plot their revenge. A Christian tradition associates the bowl of the big dipper with the funeral bier of Lazarus. The three mourning stars trailing the bier are his sisters Mary and Martha, and Marcella their maid. There is also a second, smaller funeral bier circling the pole in the north. In an even earlier Arab tradition the bowl of the Little Dipper was the "lesser bier" and the three stars in the handle were the three daughters of the deceased. Note that one of these stars, Polaris, is also the murderer from the myth above. Traditionally the "dipper" asterisms are associated with bears, not biers. Any similarity between the two, big and little bear V. big and little bier is purely coincidental as far as I know. Snaking around between the celestial biers is the ancient constellation Draco the dragon or serpent. One tradition associates the creature with the serpent in the garden of Eden. That serpent crawled down from a region of the night sky teeming with death symbols, told Eve that with regard to God's warning against disobedience, "Ye shall not surely die," and she believed him. For that matter, so did Adam. Less common is Draco's association with another biblical serpent near the Bible's closing cover. In the twelfth chapter of the Revelation to John a serpent or dragon casts down one third of the stars of heaven onto the earth and then confronts a pregnant woman. Some scholars interpret the woman as representing Israel. Could the stars perhaps represent a storm not of harmless meteors but of crashing meteorites? The point is that Draco is definitely a symbol of death. Sesti writes that Draco is the 13th trump of the Tarot cards, better known as the "death card." A constellation in the upcoming winter season with a life and death theme is Gemini, which was mentioned briefly above. the two brightest stars in Gemini are Castor and Pollux - the twins. In a nutshell version of one tradition Castor is killed and Pollux begs Zeus to let him die and join his brother. Instead, Zeus offers to let the brothers exchange places daily between the realms of the living and the dead. Another tradition I have heard of, but for which I cannot cite a reliable reference, is that the twin stars represent life and death. If so this is a fitting balance. The word Gemini is almost synonymous with twins twins or doubles. Gemini needs both Castor and Pollux. You can't have one without the other.