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Fixed stars

26 entries

• Regulus — The Heart of the Lion — a Royal Star of Persia, watcher of the North and the summer solstice in antiquity.
• Aldebaran — The Eye of the Bull — a Royal Star of Persia, watcher of the East and the spring equinox in the ancient world.
• Antares — The Heart of the Scorpion — a Royal Star of Persia, watcher of the West and the autumn equinox in antiquity.
• Fomalhaut — The Mouth of the Southern Fish — a Royal Star of Persia, watcher of the South and the winter solstice in antiquity.
• Sirius — The Scorching One — the brightest star in the night sky, in Canis Major, the Greater Dog.
• Spica — The Ear of Wheat held by the Virgin — the brightest star in Virgo and one of the most fortunate stars in the whole sky.
• Vega — The Harp Star — the brightest in Lyra, the lyre of Orpheus, and one of the most brilliant stars of the northern sky.
• Algol — The Head of Medusa — the most notorious star in the sky, marking the severed Gorgon's head held by Perseus.
• Arcturus — The Guardian of the Bear — the brightest star in Boötes, the Herdsman, and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere.
• Betelgeuse — The Shoulder of Orion — a vast red supergiant marking the raised arm of the Hunter, one of the most recognizable stars in the sky.
• Polaris — The North Star — the still point around which the entire northern sky appears to turn, the brightest star in Ursa Minor, the Little Bear.
• Capella — The Little She-Goat — the brightest star in Auriga, the Charioteer, who in myth carries the goat Amalthea that nursed the infant Zeus.
• Rigel — The Left Foot of Orion — a blazing blue-white supergiant, the brightest star in the constellation of the Hunter and one of the most luminous in the sky.
• Procyon — The Forerunner of the Dog — the brightest star in Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog, named for rising just before Sirius.
• Achernar — The End of the River — the brightest star in Eridanus, the celestial river, marking the point where its long course finally reaches the sea.
• Canopus — The Rudder of the Ship — the second-brightest star in the sky, in Carina, once the keel of the great ship Argo.
• Deneb — The Tail of the Swan — the brightest star in Cygnus, a distant, intensely luminous supergiant that marks the tail of the great bird flying down the Milky Way.
• Altair — The Eagle in flight — the brightest star in Aquila, the Eagle that bore the thunderbolts of Zeus.
• Castor — The horseman twin — the second head of Gemini, Castor was the mortal son, the tamer of horses and master of the mind, to his brother Pollux's immortal boxer.
• Pollux — The boxer twin — the brighter of the two heads of Gemini, Pollux was the immortal son of Zeus, the pugilist and fighter to his brother Castor's horseman and scholar.
• Vindemiatrix — The Grape-Gatherer — a star in Virgo named for rising at the season of the vintage, the harvest of the grape.
• Alcyone — The brightest of the Pleiades — the central jewel of the Seven Sisters, the famous cluster in Taurus.
• Schedar — The breast of Cassiopeia — the brightest star in the constellation of the seated Queen, the vain and regal mother chained to her throne in the northern sky.
• Mirach — The Girdle of Andromeda — a warm red giant at the waist of the chained princess, often called a "gateway" star for the galaxies that lie near it in the sky.
• Hamal — The Head of the Ram — the brightest star in Aries, marking the forehead of the charging ram.
• Dubhe — The brightest star of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and the upper of the two "Pointer Stars" of the Big Dipper — the pair whose line, drawn out, finds Polaris and so the celestial north.