Without a doubt, one of the strangest constellations in the southwestern Minnesota sky is Auriga, the retired chariot driver schlepping goats on his shoulder. I would have liked to have been at the party when they dreamed up that constellation. Auriga is part of my favorite group of constellations that I call “Orion and his Gang.” Early in the evening Auriga is perched to the upper right of Orion’s head in the western sky. It resembles a giant pentagon with the bright star Capella at one of the corners.

How you make a giant lopsided pentagon into a chariot driver hauling a family of goats takes one heck of an imagination, and perhaps a few libations. Most constellations don’t look like what they are supposed to be, that’s because they were just visual tools to pass on stories and legends from generation to generation. Way back in the day, without endless strip malls, shopping centers, and office towers, people were very much in touch with the night sky. Folks would see a formation or group of stars that approximately matched the character of a particular story and then named that constellation after that character. Different civilizations would have different characters and constellations. The Greeks were responsible for naming Auriga, but I think they went to extremes here!

According to one of the Greek legends, there once was a mighty king named Oenomaus, who ruled a vast kingdom. He had a beautiful daughter, Hippodameia, who had many suitors who wished to marry her. King Oenomaus didn’t wish for his daughter to be married to any of them. He wanted them all killed. Nice guy! The king happened to be an excellent chariot racer and arranged races with all of Hippodameia’s suitors. The first suitor to beat the king in a race would win the hand of his daughter, but if he lost, he would be killed. Since Oenomaus had the fastest horses in the land and the best chariot mechanics, he easily trounced all the challengers and had them meet their death. Pelops, son of Hermes, the messenger of the gods, watched this carnage. He then decided to take a shot at it for the hand of Hippodameia. Being the son of a big-shot Greek god, he got a little divine help from his father’s fellow gods. They crafted up a chariot that would sprout golden wings to ensure victory. Pelops didn’t stop there though; he made a deal with Oenomaus’s chariot driver Myrtilus to betray the king. He wanted Myrtilus to replace the metal lynchpins of the king’s chariot with ones made of wax. Pelops promised half of the kingdom to Myrtilus if the king lost the race and was killed. Myrtilus agreed and the fix was on.

When the race began Oenomaus was able to keep up with Pelops, but as soon as the golden wings popped out of the crooked suitor’s chariot, the king was left in a cloud of dust. Oenomaus demanded that Myrtilus make his horses go faster, but instead of heeding his king’s command Myrtilus leaped from the chariot just before the wax lynchpins gave way and the chariot fell apart. Oenomaus was dragged to his death, cursing the name of Myrtilus.

Pelops proceeded to marry Hippodameia and lived happily ever after with the queen of his stolen kingdom. Myrtilus was happy for the young couple but wanted his half of the kingdom. After all, a deal was a deal! He went after Pelops and demanded his share. Pelops, crook that he was, told him that his lawyers were drawing up the owpapers and they would be ready in a few days. Myrtilus was happy with that and turned away to walk off. Just as he did, Pelops, with his inherited godly pers, kicked Myrtilus so hard that he flew into the sky and magically became the constellation we know as Auriga.

No one knows exactly how the betraying chariot driver got the mama goat and her baby goats on his shoulder, but the leading theory is that shepherds added them as they watched their flocks at night and gazed upon the stars.

Again, look for Auriga in the western sky to the upper right of the constellation Orion. The bright star Capella is where the mama goat is on Myrtilus’s shoulder. See if you can spot the dim triangle of three stars that make up the baby goats a little below Capella.

A comet is coming!

A very special celestial visitor on the way to our part of the solar system. It’s formally known as Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS. Most folks though just call it Comet ATLAS. It wasn’t named after a Greek god, but rather ATLAS is an acronym for Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in Hawaii where astronomers discovered it late last December. Since then the comet has brightened considerably. You should be able to spot Atlas as “fuzzy” star with just a bit of a tail visible with binoculars and small telescopes. In areas away from heavy light pollution you may spot it with the naked eye. Currently it can be found in the early evening northwest sky about halfway from the bright star Capella in Arcturus the pot section of the Big Dipper.

Some astronomers are even predicting it could become visible in the daytime in May as it passes within 73 million miles of Earth. I certainly wouldn’t bet the farm on that though. Predicting the behavior and brightness of comets is extremely difficult. Between now and the end of May Atlas could easily break up as it draws closer to the sun. Stay tuned!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is also the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at adventurepublications.net. Contact Mike Lynch at mikewlynch@comcast.net.

Diagram A: Auriga

Diagram B: Locating Comet Atlas