It looks like there’s a crab as the next constellation along the ecliptic
line but I can’t find anything vaguely like it in the night sky, in fact I can
hardly see a thing east of Castor and Pollux, except for a bright star which I
think is in Leo.
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| Align top to east |
Cancer doesn’t have any brilliant stars; there is Asellus Australis then Asellus
Borealis, with the Praesepe
cluster or ‘Beehive’ between them. Mars will cross the Beehive on September 9.
Did you say Cancer?....the big
‘C’?...does that mean crab?
Yes, these are Latin names. Arabic has been used to name
the quadruple star Acubens -‘the
claws’ from az-zubanah - on the left claw
and Tegmine, another quadruple star
near the tail, is supposed to mean ‘shell of the crab’.
Is this where the Tropic of Cancer gets its name?
On the northern summer solstice of June 22 the
sun is exactly overhead the Tropic of Cancer at latitude 23 degrees 27 minutes,
with Cancer
once behind it but the precession of Earth’s rotation now delays that about a
month.
So what is the significance of Cancer
in the Redemption story or to Israel?
Sorry - I don’t know!
Well, where do we go from here? Perhaps the meanings of those Latin star names might shed some light.
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| Jack n Jill |
‘Southern donkey’ and ‘northern donkey’
respectively, while Praesepe means
‘manger’.
Ahh!...do you know what I’m thinking? The astrologers might have confused
the story for us but I can see a possible connection. If there’s one thing a crab
can do it’s hold on to your finger securely and you hold your donkeys safely
home in their stable by feeding them from a manger. A beehive is also a home
as well.
Maybe you’re right – maybe not. I guess Jacob’s son Issacher could have
identified with this: ‘the strong donkey glad to be home’.
More than that - I’m sure all Israel as a nation would be glad to be safe
and secure in their own homeland.
Just like all true Christians want to go home to
their Saviour and Lord.
Stellarium
Photo credit: blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot
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