The Night Sky: We are the stars who sing, we sing with our light; We are the birds of fire, we fly over the sky. Our light is a voice. We make a road for the spirits, for the spirits to pass over. ...Lakota Sioux Song... The Night Sky The NIGHT SkyThe Entire Year: The NIGHT Sky The Entire Year Hey!What’s Your Sign?: Let’s briefly tour the Zodiacal Constellations. The Zodiac comes by its *astronomical* importance because during the course of the year the Sun passes through these areas of the sky. Hey! What’s Your Sign? TheZodIac: T h e Z o d I a c Slide5: The Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Persians all agreed on this constellation's name of the Ram. Slide6: The Greeks saw Taurus as Zeus in disguise. The story went that Zeus fell in love with Europa, the daughter of Agenor who was King of Phoenica. Slide7: Castor and Pollux, the 'twins' of Gemini, were Greek heroes. They were among the men Jason led on his voyages on the Argo. Slide8: Cancer, the Crab, plays a minor role in the Twelve Labors of Hercules. While Hercules was busy fighting the multi-headed monster, Hydra, the goddess Hera, who did not like Hercules, sent the Crab to distract him. Slide9: Leo is the Lion which was killed by Hercules on one of his great quests. Legend says that the lion had a hide that could not punctured by iron, bronze or stone. Since he couldn't reason with the ferocious beast, Hercules strangled it to death and the local people were very grateful. Slide10: In Roman times, the constellation Virgo was known as Ceres. Ceres was the goddess of harvests, particularly corn. Her festival was the second week of April, the same time that the constellation appears in the Spring skies. Slide11: Libra was commonly thought of as the scales of balance but eventually became known as Hades' golden chariot. Hades used his chariot every time he wished to emerge in the upper world in search of women. The Chariot is pulled by four jet-black horses. Slide12: Scorpius is an ancient constellation and is one of the original six constellations of the zodiac. Slide13: Sagittarius's origin is unknown. Some believe that is a centaur with a bow, while others believe that it is an archer. Others claim that the constellation was invented by the Sumerians Slide14: Capricornus has been recognized as a goat since Babylonian and Chaldean times. Usually, it is depicted as a goat with a fish tail. Slide15: Aquarius is a rather faint constellation which would not be famous if it weren't part of the Zodiac. Aquarius, as its name suggests is universally associated with water. In most cultures, it is drawn as a man pouring water from a bucket. This may arise from the fact that the Sun enters Aquarius in early winter when the rainy season begins in many parts of the world. Slide16: Pisces was named after Aphrodite and Eros. The story of Pisces originated from the destructive monster, Typhon. Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus.