Monday, July 25, 2011

Creating Constellations

There is no rule in astronomy that's says you can't create your own constellations. Perseus, Pegasus, Cassiopia, long dead heros of another time. The big dipper is cool, I totally spot my curry ladle twisting round in the north. But the little dipper? Forget it, even I have never seen it clearly. I love spotting Orion in his manly stance, but Sagitarius the archer only looks like a little teapot. No, I much rather enjoy connecting-the-stars in more familiar shapes like the VW beetle, lollipops, and the "mind blowing star made of stars."
With this personal affinity for creating constellations you can imagine my grotesque excitement when I stumbled upon this t-shirt. While I wanted it more than anything, it simply was not meant for me. Instead I gifted it to my best astrogeek friend Maxwell. (Though I did wear it to bed one night, shhh don't tell him.) Afterall, if there was ever a star gaze to find "pterodactyl with machine gun" it would be Death Bear.

1 comment:

  1. I have been teaching kids about constellations by using Orion as Sponge Bob Squarepants for so long that's all I see now, sorry Mr. Orion.

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