Description
It happened a long time ago. Soon after the titan Prometheus gave people fire, the daughter of Latona and Zeus, the goddess of hunting Artemis, gave brave hunters a spear and a bow with arrows, and the goddess of fertility Demeter taught people agriculture. Centaurs roamed the wild forests, and the rivers and lakes were inhabited by Nereids. Each river and each mountain had its own god, and harmony reigned in nature. Sometimes, nymphs and Nereids, centaurs, gods of forests and rivers gathered in a forest clearing, and then the arrow-throwing god Apollo himself came down to them to please his friends with his playing on the cithara. And Apollo's playing was so beautiful that even the forest god Pan put down his flute. The gods admired Apollo's playing, and he had no equal in this art.
One day, Apollo's friend, the river god Oeagrus, and the muse Callione had a son. The boy was named Orpheus. The baby was unusually musical, and one day, noticing this, Apollo gave him his golden cithara. Apollo's hopes came true. Orpheus became a great singer, and in playing the cithara he surpassed even the god of arrows. But the soul of the young man was looking for more than just music. He was drawn to long journeys and great feats. Therefore, together with the brave Jason and fifty other brave Argonauts, he sets off for Colchis for the Golden Fleece on the ship Argo. Many trials befell him on this expedition. And after a few years, the stronger and more mature Orpheus returned to his native Thrace as a hero and a winner.
That's when he met his one and only beloved Eurydice. The divinely beautiful nymph was as delicate and graceful in soul as the most touching songs of Orpheus. Orpheus loved her dearly, dedicated his new songs to her, and they were a beautiful, seemingly inseparable couple. But every happiness sooner or later comes to an end.
Orpheus's happiness did not last long. One day in the forest, Eurydice accidentally stepped on a sleeping Emea and died from her bite. Orpheus' grief knew no bounds. He could not come to terms with the loss of his beloved. He decided to ask the great god of the underworld, Hades, to return Eurydice to him and set off on a long journey. Orpheus descended through the gloomy cave of Tenar to the banks of the sacred river Styx. Only the stern Charon could take Orpheus across the river into the kingdom of shadows, but he flatly refused. The living cannot enter the land of the dead and the dead cannot leave the kingdom of Hades. But the great singer struck the strings of the cithara and sang of his love for Eurydice, of loneliness and sadness. And old Charon let Orpheus into his boat and took him to the other side of the River Styx. Great Hades also heeded Orpheus's request. He released Eurydice's soul from his kingdom, but demanded that Orpheus fulfill one condition: returning from the kingdom of the dead to the world of the living following the god Hermes through the cave of Tenar, Orpheus must look only forward. To look back at Eurydice following behind him means to lose her forever. And they set off. But the road back is hard. A narrow path rises steeply upward. Swift Hermes rushes forward quickly. Orpheus can barely keep up with him. And somewhere behind is Eurydice. Has she fallen behind? Has she gotten lost in the darkness of the cave? And when the exit from the dungeon was already visible, Orpheus could not stand it, he looked back...
Sometimes, remembering that small part of my life, I feel like Orpheus. No, I did not sail on the ship Argo to distant lands, did not descend into the kingdom of the dead, but I, too, had to look back in my time and I, like Orpheus, cannot return time, cannot return what was lost... And only one thing sometimes makes me continue the flight - the opportunity to look forward, to watch how the future is born.
Yours Andrey Klimkovsky
The constellation Lyra occupies a very small area on the celestial sphere and it would be completely inconspicuous if it were not for the blue pearl - one of the brightest stars in the earth's sky - Vega. Until recently, Vega was considered the brightest star in the northern hemisphere, but in recent years, after changes in the photometric standard, it has given way to the orange Arcturus. Nevertheless, it is still the first to flare up in the earth's skies immediately after sunset. (Do not confuse it with Venus - not a star, but a planet. In favorable periods of evening visibility, Venus can be seen even before sunset.)
On summer nights, Vega with its small but very beautiful constellation rises almost to the zenith and is perfectly visible all night. To find the constellation Lyra, you do not need a star map at all. Just look up. It is noteworthy that in our latitudes, Lyra never sets. Within this constellation, you can find a number of interesting astronomical objects that can be observed both with a small telescope and with the naked eye. The star ε Lyrae appears to be double to sharp-sighted people, not single. Check your vision. But even with a small telescope, you can see that each star in this pair also consists of two twin stars. The double stars η and ζ of this constellation are also beautiful. The star β Lyrae is an eclipsing binary, that is, one star in this pair periodically covers the other, brighter one, and it may seem to an observer on Earth that the star is winking. This happens approximately once every two weeks.
The most mysterious object in the constellation Lyra is the planetary nebula "Ring" (M 57), which is the remnant of a dying star. However, this star is still "alive", but is visible only in powerful telescopes.
