Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996
From: "Anthony L. Cermak" (CERLAW@vom.com)
Thanks to all of you with ideas concerning Vela! It led me to find further info in "The Telescope Handbook and Star Atlas", by Neale E. Howard (Up. Ed., Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1975), pp. 43-44. There, "Vela" or "The Sails" is shown to be a constellation generally thought of as of the Southern Hemisphere, named relatively recently (by the astronomer Lacaille in the 1750's who decided to name a set of constellations for the Argus). It lies in the Milky Way between the Crux and Canis Major (the Great Dog). For those interested in seeing it from the Northern Hemisphere, that book says it should be visible from and South of 40 degrees N. (about the line from Eureka, California, through Denver, Colorado, through Topeka, Kansas, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for those in the USA) on or about April 15th each year at 8:30 p.m. on or near the meridian. I don't guarantee this, as I've never seen it and this is my viewing area. If anything, it should be low on the Southern horizon, not at meridiem, I would think!
In the illustrations, it looks roughly like a sail, or more like (to my eye) a shark's dorsal fin. The following may come through (or may not...) to show a rough outline (small x's are dimmer stars):
X
xX
X {Well, I'm no artist...}
X
X
xX
x
The very bright star, Canopus, is "above" the top of the mast, and the Dog Star, Sirius (blue white glowing jewel of the skies!) is to the "left" of the above. Crux and Centaurius are to the "right".
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996
From: jbaxter@hellfire.dusers.drexel.edu (John Baxter)
Last weekend, I returned to Pulpit Rock, site of the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society's "Astronomical Park", for an event called Mega-Meet. This is a starparty, a gathering of amateur astronomers to share our craft of telescope making, observing
When I arrived after the long climb up the winding road to Pulpit Rock, I was greeted by "The Memory of Trees". Kindred spirits... I was reminded that this was one of the places where I had first heard Enya a few years ago - and had made a mental note to
Early in the evening, the night was indeed clouded over. No Vela, no Orion.
I thanked the guy who was doing sound for the wonderful selection of music. He was playing Debussy, Gustav Holst, Mozart, Enya. It struck me that here in a futuristic setting, we were hearing Enya in her proper place, as a great classical composer of the
There was heavy cloud cover. I checked NOAA weather on my amateur radio, and they predicted clearing, but it seemed unlikely.
They played "Watermark".
Then we had an experience that I can only compare to that mountaintop scene in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Words are not really going to describe it.
"Storms in Africa" starts playing, and the clouds start to break. One by one, stars appear - vivid, brilliant stars. Vega overhead, the planet Jupiter a brilliant beacon.
"Storms in Africa" now fully throttled up and lifting off...
Now not just stars, but constellations: familiar Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Lyra, Cygnus.
"Storms in Africa" climbing to cruise altitude...
Now Hercules, Pegasus, and the entire sky filled with brilliant stars.
..."Storms in Africa" joyfully concluding, the opening theme to a wonderful night of astronomy.
There really *are* places only Enya can take you.
Thanks yet again, Eithne, Nicky, and Roma.
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997
From: "Anton Jordaan" (S9381694@cosine.up.ac.za)
I have a few questions about Aldebaran:
- - Does 'Aldebaran' mean 'The Follower'?
- - Is Aldebaran a Celtic name? If not, what is the Irish name for Aldebaran?
- - Which syllables of the name are emphasized?
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997
From: Simon Fleming Ong (ongsf@dnet.net.id)
- - You can say that, yes.
- - No, it isn't. Don't know the Irish name for Aldebaran.
- - Aldebaran is Arabic..., al-dabaran, al is the, dabaran is following,
dubara means to follow. Aldebaran is following the Pleiades. Aldebaran
is an orange giant binary star, the brightest star in the constellation
Taurus, with a magnitude of 0.86. Don't mix Aldebaran with Alcyone,
which is the brightest star in the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus
with a magnitude of 2.96.
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997
From: Klaas van Buiten (K.van.Buiten@net.hcc.nl)
Aldeb'Aran does indeed mean Follower in Arabic. Irish could be: lean'unai
- - Which syllables of the name are emphasized?
My feeling tells me the second from the end, but I have no written source.
To be exactly it's a star (follower of the Pleiades)
Alpha Tauri (alpha = 4h15m delta = 19degrees).
There fit 60 suns in it and is 57 lightyears away.
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997
From: Jean Debord (JDebord@compuserve.com)
Some time ago I found a file on the Internet which explains the names of the stars. Unfortunately I did not store the URL :(
However, I extract this from the file :
TAURUS (Tau, TAURI): the bull
ALPHA Tau Aldebaran "follower" (of the Pleiades)
BETA Tau El Nath "the butting" (horn)
EPSILON Tau Ain (second) "eye of the bull"
(after Aldebaran)
In the liner notes of "The Celts" it is said that the name comes from the Arabic, Al Dabaran, which means "the follower".
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997
From: Jean Debord (JDebord@compuserve.com)
A recent discussion on alt.music.enya considered the possibility of giving Enya's name to a comet or asteroid. It appeared, however, that these celestial bodies are named by their discoverers, so we have to expect that an Enya fan makes such a discovery (perhaps one of these engineers or astronomers round there?)
In the meanwhile, you may be interested by the following informations that I have found in a book:
1. The asteroids were first given goddess names (Ceres, Hera...)
2. At the end of the past century, the use of non-mythologic feminine names ending in "a" or "ia" was authorized. Besides the obvious Eva, Norma or Aida, this led to some oddities such as Pittsburghia, Newtonia or Carnegia.
3. After World War II, the use of masculine names was authorized.
4. To avoid "politically incorrect" names, it was decided that the name of a person known mainly for military or political activities cannot be attributed unless a century has passed since the person's death.
5. Only 2% of the asteroids are named from musicians.
Obviously, "Enya" satisfies all the conditions: it's a feminine name, ending in "a", coming from celtic mythology, and the person is probably not involved in political or military activities...
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997
From: "Bob Tackett" (TACKETT@FPL.MSSTATE.EDU)
I inquired of an astronomer at Harvard who forwarded my mail to Dr. Williams, who answered the question regarding stars, and more to boot. I've included his response below.
All the Best, Bob
==========================
Dear Mr Tackett,
There are only three types of astronomical "object" that receive names of people.
1) Comets are named after the discoverer(s).
2) Features on planetary bodies, such as craters, can be named after deceased people, at least three years after death. (One exception to this rule was the small lunar craters named for the Apollo 11 astronauts.)
3) Minor planets have names proposed by the discoverers. The discoverer has fairly wide latitude in proposing names, but the names are judged by the nine-person Small Bodies Names Committee. The minor planets named for Vangelis and Zappa were named by sympathetic discoverers.
Other celestial bodies (stars, galaxies, etc.) do not receive names. Planetary satellites receive names from mythology or literature.
I am a big fan of Enya's music and would like to see a minor planet Enya in the future. But we may just have to be patient...
Gareth Williams
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997
From: Edward Francy (edf@connix.com)
Crater on Europa named for Pwyll in Celtic Mythos
Seeing as we were on about astronomical names...
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970417.html
Et itur ad astra...
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997
From: "David Smith" (davgers@hotmail.com)
You may recall previous discussions on this list (and on alt.music.enya) about the possibility of having a planet or some other celestial object named after Enya; well apparently it's happened.
Check out this web site: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/special/Enya.html
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997
From: Jean Debord (JDebord@compuserve.com)
Many thanks to Dr Gareth Williams (Associate Director of the IAU Minor Planet Center, and big Enya fan), who has given the name, and to Bob Tackett, who had contacted Mr Williams at the time of our debate.
The minor planet (6433) Enya is one of the asteroids which orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Our singer is in good company here since there are already the 4 Beatles, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia (of Grateful Dead), Carlos Santana and the French composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Enya, however, appears to be the only woman, the only Irish (as far as I know), and the youngest of the lot.