Sky & Telescope - July 2024 - 45

Stories in the Stars by Stephen James O'Meara
Listen to the Stars
When you look at the night sky, can you perceive the
sound of starlight?
T
he night sky is more than a purely
visual tapestry - the stars can speak
to us. Not that we should expect to
hear them. Yet, in a way, we do. In his
poem " Footsteps of Angels, " American
poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1807-1882) likens the stars to a divine
messenger's eyes - its voiceless prayer
" Uttered not, yet comprehended. "
There are several instances in Longfellow's
1839 debut book of poetry,
Voices of the Night, in which he reveals
how he heard the stars. For example,
the opening verse of his poem " Hymn
to the Night " evocatively begins with:
I heard the trailing garments of the Night
Sweep through her marble halls!
Ever since humankind first pondered
the night sky, we have found meaning
in the stars. They have told us when to
plant or sow, or when to expect the long
nights of winter or the joyous coming
of spring. Some of my most memorable
nights under the stars haven't been
those mired in telescopic research, but
instead those when I simply looked up in
wonder as if for the first time. When you
gaze at the night sky, what do you hear?
The ancients invoked the sound of
starlight in the names of certain stars
and constellations. The most important
constellation to the Phoenicians was
Doube (Ursa Minor, the Little Bear),
which, in his History of the Heavens, the
French astronomy popularizer Camille
Flammarion translated as " the speaking
constellation. " As the Greek poet Aratus
explains in Phaenomena, " By her [Ursa
Minor's] guidance, then, the men of
Sidon [Phoenicians] steer the straightest
course. "
There is another sound that reaches
us from the east. On the Northern
Hemisphere star chart on pages 42 to
43, we see Pegasus, described in the
1849 Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Biography and Mythology as the " thundering
horse of Zeus, " lifting its neck
and forelegs above the eastern horizon.
In ancient China, the star Zeta (ζ)
Pegasi, which is near the base of the
Horse's neck, was known as Luy Tien,
which means " thunder. " Now, try to
imagine Pegasus's hooves clacking like
thunder against what Longfellow called
" the marble halls of night. " This characterization
contrasts with the original
Arabic name for the star: Al Hamma¯m,
meaning " whisperer. " Unlike today's
horse whisperers who communicate
with their equine charges, Al Hamma¯m,
one could say, speaks to us.
Our star chart also shows 1st-magnitude
Antares, the reddish Alpha (α)
star of Scorpius, the Scorpion, cresting
above the southern horizon. Antares is
another " noisy " star. Its rapid-fire twinkling
- a trait that bright stars near the
horizon often exhibit - could almost
be perceived as chattering. In ancient
China, warnings from chattering stars
played an important role in state politics
- an emperor wouldn't make an
important decision before consulting
with a court astrologer.
Hovering high in the west-southwest
on July evenings is the glorious, zeromagnitude
Arcturus, the brightest star
of Boötes, the Herdsman. One may
wonder just what is Boötes herding?
The answer dates to an ancient Babylonian
star list that includes a star (likely
Arcturus) known as Sibzianna, which
translates to " Shepherd of the Life of
Heaven, " referring to its proximity
to the north celestial pole. Certainly,
Boötes is not shepherding the Bears. On
the contrary, as Richard Proctor imagpThis
engraving of an angel of the night in trailing
garment accompanies Longfellow's poem
" Hymn to the Night " in the 1857 edition of The
Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
ines in his 1878 Myths and Marvels of
Astronomy, " He was of old 'a fine figure
of a man,' waving aloft his arms, and,
as his name implies, shouting lustily at
the retreating bear. "
Indeed, the name Boötes may have
derived from a Greek word meaning
" clamorous, " which could describe the
hollers a shepherd makes when ordering
his dogs to scare away any potentially
dangerous animals. In the celestial
case, Boötes holds the leashes of Canes
Venatici, the Hunting Dogs, in one
hand as they help him drive away the
Great Bear. These shouts follow the Bear
around the north celestial pole in an
endless pursuit, which is why sometimes
the constellation was also known
as " Vociferator. "
So, as you look up at the night sky
this month, try to remove all obstacles
from your mind and listen to the stars.
¢ Contributing Editor STEPHEN JAMES
O'MEARA has been studying the stars
and their lore for more than 50 years.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * JULY 2024 45
J. GILBERT AND THE DALZIEL BROTHERS / LIBRARY OF CONGRESS / PUBLIC DOMAIN
http://skyandtelescope.org
Sky & Telescope - July 2024

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