first daguerreotype of a star
- Campeche (Wikipedia)
Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the southwest, Yucatán to the northeast, Quintana Roo to the east, by the Petén department of Guatemala to the south, and by the Orange Walk District of Belize to the southeast. It has a coastline to the west with the Gulf of Mexico. The state capital, also called Campeche, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. The formation of the state began with the city, which was founded in 1540 as the Spanish began the conquest of the Yucatán Peninsula. The city was a rich and important port during the colonial period, but declined after Mexico’s independence. Campeche was part of the province of Yucatán, but split off in the mid-19th century, mostly due to political friction with the city of Mérida. Much of the state’s recent economic revival is due to the discovery of petroleum offshore in the 1970s, which has made the coastal cities of Campeche and Ciudad del Carmen important economic centers. The state has important Mayan and colonial sites; however, these are not as well-known or visited as much as others in the Yucatán.
- Star Tales - Lyra (ianridpath.com)
A compact but prominent constellation, marked by the fifth-brightest star in the sky, Vega. Mythologically, Lyra (Λύρα in Greek) was the lyre of the great musician Orpheus, whose venture into the Underworld is one of the most famous of Greek stories. It was the first lyre ever made, having been invented by Hermes, the son of Zeus and Maia (one of the Pleiades). Hermes fashioned the lyre from the shell of a tortoise that he found browsing outside his cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Hermes cleaned out the shell, pierced its rim and tied across it seven strings of cow gut, the same as the number of the Pleiades. He also invented the plectrum with which to play the instrument.
- Lyra (Wikipedia)
Lyra (Latin for ’lyre’, from Ancient Greek: λύρα; pronounced: /ˈlaɪrə/ LY-rə) is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was often represented on star maps as a vulture or an eagle carrying a lyre, and hence is sometimes referred to as Vultur Cadens or Aquila Cadens (“Falling Vulture” or “Falling Eagle”), respectively. Beginning at the north, Lyra is bordered by Draco, Hercules, Vulpecula, and Cygnus. Lyra is nearly overhead in temperate northern latitudes shortly after midnight at the start of summer. From the equator to about the 40th parallel south it is visible low in the northern sky during the same (thus winter) months.
