The constellation Centaurus

The constellation Centaurus

Centaurus is a constellation of the southern hemisphere. Because the constellation is partly circumpolar around the South Pole, some of its stars never set as seen from Sydney. Its brightest star is Alpha Centauri, also called Rigil Kentaurus (foot of the centaur), the third brightest star in the sky. It is actually a system of two Sun-like stars. They are orbited at a great distance by the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, at 4.2 light years the nearest star after the Sun. Centaurus also contains Omega Centauri, the brightest globular cluster in the sky, which was long thought to be a single star. Near it, the four bright stars Acrux, Becrux, Gacrux and Decrux form a cross that is visible to the naked eye: the constellation Crux (Southern Cross). Because sailors already used it in the 16th century to find the direction south, these stars were separated from Centaurus.

Mythology

The Titan Prometheus created humans and animals with the goddess Athena. He taught the humans the arts and sciences. When Zeus refused them fire, Prometheus stole it and secretly brought it down to Earth for them in a hollow fennel stalk. In his anger, Zeus created the beautiful Pandora and sent her to Earth with a box full of evils (Pandora's box), which brought disease and death upon the humans for all eternity. He had Prometheus chained to a rock forever, where every day the eagle Aethon ate from his liver, which always grew back. Only many centuries later did Hercules find him and kill the eagle with a poisoned arrow. However, Prometheus was only allowed to go free once an immortal was willing to die for him. Before Hercules found Prometheus, he stopped at the cave of the centaur Pholus (centaurs are hybrid creatures with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse). There, a quarrel broke out over a jug of wine, in which Hercules had to defend himself and killed several centaurs. The others fled to Chiron, the wisest and most just of the centaurs. He was a friend of many gods and kings, had raised many of their children and had exceptional knowledge of medicine. During the chase, Hercules is said to have accidentally hit Chiron with a poisoned arrow. Because Chiron was immortal, he did not die, but from then on he suffered endless pain. He gave up his immortality, and this set Prometheus free. Zeus then placed the eagle, the arrow with which Hercules had killed the eagle, and Chiron himself in the sky as constellations.