Re: VMs: Pleiades

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- elvogt@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Zitat von Jon Grove <JGrove@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> 
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > It seems to be generally accepted as fact that the
> > 'doaro' cluster of stars
> > on f68r3 represents the Pleides, but I wonder why
> > this assumption is made.
> 
> From what I recall from astronomy: Since two stars
> in the Pleiades have almost
> the same intensity, you usually can see 6 or 8
> stars, depending on atmospheric
> conditions, but never really 7.
> 
> Nevertheless "7" is usually attributed to the
> Pleiades, and in Germany they even
> go by the name of "Siebengestirn", the
> "constellation of seven."

All this is fully correct.
The really interesting part is that the 
number 7 is also associated with it in other 
cultures. 

There's also an ancient legend that the
7th sister left the cluster and became
Alcor, close to Mizar in the great bear.

While we cannot really be sure that the drawing
does represent the Pleiades, it is an excellent
assumption. The fact that it is not really similar
in shape is not very important, since that is
characteristic of MS illustrations of that time.
Of course, it will be possible to point to individual
illustrations in individual MSS which are 
remarkably accurate, but this is the general
idea.

Cheers, Rene



	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - Buy advance tickets for 'Shrek 2'
http://movies.yahoo.com/showtimes/movie?mid=1808405861 
______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list