Scorpius in Myth

In Greek Mythology, Scorpius was a giant scorpion sent by Gaia to kill Orion. Gaia, or Mother Earth, was angered when Orion, the hunter, threatened to kill all the beasts of the earth.

Scorpius & Orion are at opposite sides of the sky. The scorpion can never catch the hunter because one sets as the other rises. At the same time, the scorpion is being chased by the archer Sagittarius whose arrow is pointed straight at its heart. Scorpius dominates the southern summer sky while Orion dominates the winter sky.

References:

Orion and Scorpius Constellations
Skorpios
Scorpius

The Archer: Sagittarius in Myth

The name Sagittarius comes from sagitta, Latin for arrow. In Greek mythology, Sagittarius represents a centaur holding a bow and arrow. A centaur is a creature with the body of a horse and the torso of a man. Sagittarius is sometimes identified with Chiron, a kind and gentle centaur who was taught archery by Apollo.

The archer's arrow is pointed at the heart of the adjacent constellation Scorpius, the scorpion.

References:
Sagittarius in Myth
Sagittarius, the Archer
The Constellation Sagittarius

Callisto and Arcas

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph of Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills. Zeus wanted her and took on the shape of Artemis in order to lure her and rape her. When Zeus's wife Hera found out that Callisto was pregnant, it enraged her, and she turned her into a bear.

Callisto bore a son named Arcas. Years later when Arcas was hunting, he came upon a bear. Not knowing that it was his mother, he was about to kill her when Zeus took pity on her. He placed Callisto in the sky as Ursa Major (Great Bear in Latin) and Arcas nearby as Ursa Minor (Little Bear).

Callisto is also the name of one of Jupiter's moons.

References:

Wikipedia on Callisto
Ursa Major
Ursa Minor
Jupiter and Callisto engraving by Jacopo Amigoni

Name That Moon

Photo courtesy of NASA and the NSSDC

Jupiter has 63 moons. The NASA web site has a list of the names.

The moons were named after the Roman god Jupiter's lovers, children and godchildren. Click on a name to see the lover or descendant's relationship to Jupiter, or go directly to the USGS Astrogeology site.

Notice that from the 50th moon on, the moons have catalog numbers. Those moons will eventually have proper names. Apparently Jupiter had no shortage of lovers.

References:

Naming convention explained

The Nemean Lion

The constellation Leo is thought to have been named after the Nemean lion. Slaying the Nemean lion was the first of the twelve labors of Hercules (or Heracles) in Greek mythology.

A lion had been terrorizing the town of Nemea in Greece. Its hide was impenetrable by arrows. Hercules eventually cornered it in a cave and strangled it to death. To remove the hide as his trophy, he had to use the lion's own enormous claws to pierce its tough skin. With the hide being so impenetrable, he threw it over himself to use as an armor.

Zeus, the father of Hercules, put the slain Nemean lion into the sky as the constellation Leo.

References:
Wikipedia on the Nemean Lion
Encyclopedia Mythica on the Nemean Lion