Prismtect › Constellations › Delphinus
the Dolphin
A tiny, tight group of stars just east of Altair, a little diamond with a tail, like a dolphin leaping. Once seen it is easy to find again.
In Greek myth a dolphin found the sea nymph Amphitrite for Poseidon, and another saved the poet Arion when he was thrown into the sea. Both were said to be honoured with these stars.
Two of its stars are called Sualocin and Rotanev, which read backwards spell Nicolaus Venator, the Latin name of a 19th-century assistant at the Palermo Observatory.
Greek sailors often saw dolphins, so it is no surprise to find one in the sky.
In English the little group was once popularly called Job's Coffin, perhaps because of its box-like shape.
Chinese astronomers saw two gourds of the calabash vine, grown for food and dried for containers.
People of the Murray River tell of Totyerguil the hunter (the star Altair), who speared Otjout, a giant Murray cod.
Two Polynesian peoples are known to have named it: on Pukapuka in the Cook Islands it was Te Toloa, and in the Tuamotus Te Uru-o-tiki.
In Indian astronomy the stars of Delphinus belong to Dhanishta, one of the nakshatras, or lunar mansions.
Greek sailors often saw dolphins, so it is no surprise to find one in the sky. In the Amphitrite story, the dolphin calmed the shy sea nymph and brought her back to Poseidon's underwater palace off the island of Euboea. In the Arion story, the poet reached land on the dolphin's back and later had the sailors who tried to rob him brought to justice. Some say Apollo, god of music, set the dolphin in the sky beside Arion's lyre, Lyra.
In English the little group was once popularly called Job's Coffin, perhaps because of its box-like shape. Sometimes the name means only the diamond of four stars. Nobody knows who first used it, or when.
Chinese astronomers saw two gourds of the calabash vine, grown for food and dried for containers. The diamond plus one more star was Hugua, a hard, dried gourd ready to use as a scoop or vessel. The fainter stars of the tail were Baigua, a gourd that had gone over-ripe and rotten.
People of the Murray River tell of Totyerguil the hunter (the star Altair), who speared Otjout, a giant Murray cod. The wounded fish thrashed a channel across southern Australia, and that channel became the Murray River. Then the cod rose into the sky as the stars of Delphinus.
Two Polynesian peoples are known to have named it: on Pukapuka in the Cook Islands it was Te Toloa, and in the Tuamotus Te Uru-o-tiki.
In Indian astronomy the stars of Delphinus belong to Dhanishta, one of the nakshatras, or lunar mansions.
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