Star Gazing

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 154025

> Geoff:
> You left out Bellatrix and the "boys".
> 
> The star references are:
> Sirius...       alpha Canis Major (Great Dog)
> Regulus...   alpha Leo (Lion)
> Bellatrix...  gamma Orion
> 
> Andromeda seems to be the name if a constellation and not a star.
> 


Ken:

Here is the list of astronomical references I see in the Black family 
tapestry, plus one:

STARS
 
Sirius, the dog star in Canis Major
Arcturus, brightest star in Bootes, the oxherd
Regulus, brightest star in Leo, the lion
Pollux, one of the Gemini twins, Castor being the other
Bellatrix, a bright star in Orion
Alphard, brightest star in Hydra, the water serpent (how Slytherinesque!)
Merope, in Taurus, the bull, is one of the Pleiades, the seven sisters, 
              in Japan they are  known as Subaru!  

CONSTELLATIONS

Orion, the hunter and one of the most visually stunning of the constellations
Cassiopeia, the wife of Cephus, the W shaped northern constellation
Draco, the dragon
Andromeda, the daughter of Cassiopeia
Cygnus, the swan who flies along the Milky Way, aka the northern cross

Comments

It is interesting that Alphard who is named after a star in the water serpent
would manage to get himself blasted off the tapestry. Does the presence of
the name Merope in the Gaunt family indicate a tie to the Black family? Orion
is a lovely constellation to the naked eye and contains some of the great 
telescopic objects too. I'd hazzard a guess that it is Rowling's favorite and
that is why Harry had to plot its stars during his astronomy OWL. Unfortunately
it would have been below the horizon at that time and date. I guess this is
an example of author as god, even the heavens must obey Her!

If you drive a Subaru your hood ornament is a blue oval with six stars in
it. If, as someone else has said here, Merope is the dimmest of the Pleiades
it would be the missing seventh star from the Subaru ornament. Somehow
it seems typical that poor Merope would be left out.

Ken