Advertise on podcast: Star Stories with Ian Lauer

Tonight, we're looking at the constellation Perseus. In that constellation, he's said to be holding the head of Medusa, and the eye of Medusa is a star that blinks - a star called Algol, also known as the Demon Star. It's changing brightness was first discovered in the 1700s. But a team of researchers believe the ancient Egyptians were aware of, and tracked, the variability of Algol's brightness. In this episode, we retell the story of how Perseus obtained the head of Medusa. And we'll explore why this star has such negativity associated with it...because who knows, maybe there's a reason why the ancient Egyptians were tracking it.

Tonight, we’re looking at a particularly strange constellation. It's about…hair. The constellation I’m talking about is Coma Berenices. A small, faint star pattern just above Virgo. It reaches its highest point at midnight at the beginning of Springtime. Tonight’s story comes to us from ancient Greece, and it’s a unique one…because it’s about someone who was a real person. It was written about 2270 years ago, during the time when this person was alive. There’s some interesting things to uncover there, but the big thing I want to dive into is this idea that the story might be a lot older than when we first see it written down. Because in different parts of the world, there’s some similarities between each tale that, the more you look into, the harder it becomes to ignore. But first, let’s make sure we understand the story about this hair. So let’s dive into the story…about the hair of Berenices.

Tonight, we’re looking at the Summer Triangle, and we'll be hearing a story that comes to us from ancient China. The earliest known reference to this tale is from 2,600 years ago. And the fascinating part about this story is that, as the ages progressed, we can see the story evolve over time to a full narrative. Parts were being changed and updated as time went on. But tonight’s version is going to be based on a version written about 1500 years ago. And afterwards, we’ll talk about how this story shifted from the original version, to one that turned into the Qixi festival that’s still celebrated today. We’ll also go into how this story might have ancient roots that connect it with a culture across the pacific ocean, which could mean this story is more than 20,000 years old. But first, let’s return to the woman, tirelessly weaving in heaven.

Tonight, we're looking at the constellation Aruiga, the Charioteer. And we'll be telling a tale from Greek mythology, about the famous fall of Phaethon. While many know this story as a lesson of the consequences of ego and hubris, the famous ancient philosopher Plato say this tale is actually transmitting ancient knowledge about the precession of the equinoxes. So let's dive into the story, and see why some people think Plato could be right.

Tonight we're going to the Philippines. More specifically, to the southern island of the Bukidnon people, a story which was written down in the early twentieth century. It's about a hunter named Magbangal. But what makes it fascinating isn't just what happens to Magbangal. It's what happens afterward. Because when the story is finished, almost everything inside it ends up in the sky. And together, those stars form something that was incredibly important to the people watching them.

Tonight we're looking at the Sun and the Moon. This story comes from the Hausa people of northern Nigeria. And it's a very simple story. But it answers a very strange question. Why does the Sun chase the Moon? And the incredible part about this story? There's fantastic observational astronomy encoded within such a short tale. So let's go back to a time when they weren't enemies. Because once you hear what happened... you might understand why the Sun has never stopped chasing him.

Tonight we're looking at the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown. And for more than a century, books, astronomy websites and planetarium stories have connected that circle with a Native American tale called The Celestial Sisters. It's usually described as a Shawnee story about Corona Borealis. Except I went back and found the oldest published version I could verify. And Corona Borealis isn't mentioned at all. And that sent me down one of those rabbit holes where every answer creates another problem. So join me as we retell this tale, and dive into what I found about it.

Tonight we're looking at the Big Dipper. It's a story about the Cosmic Hunt, and it comes from the Haudenosaunee, who resided in what's now New York and southern Ontario. This story contains a tiny, very specific detail that, when you first hear it, you wouldn’t even notice. But this tiny detail shows up in stories told on the other side of the world, by people who could not possibly have met. A researcher spent decades cataloguing tens of thousands of these stories specifically to find things like it. And when he wrote up what he found, he said there could only be one explanation or it. So when you listen to this story, keep a look out for that small detail.

Tonight we're looking at the Pleiades. The one I want to tell you tonight is from the Kokatha people, who live in the Great Victoria Desert in South Australia. The tale I’m going to tell is just going to be my way of telling it in a modern format. But just remember that those communities are still there and the story is still theirs. And to anyone who speaks these languages, my apologies in advance for how I handle the names. Now hidden inside it is something that a team of astronomers found that absolutely blew my mind when I learned about it. It is one of the single most impressive observations I have ever come across in any culture, anywhere. So stay with me through the story. Because the decode on this one is worth it.

Tonight we're looking at a constellation called Andromeda. When most people in the astro world hear that word, they immediately think of the Andromeda galaxy, not the constellation. But this story’s focus is on the tale behind Andromeda, which comes to us from Greek mythology. This story, which is just a small piece in a greater story, contains six constellations, all relatively close to each other in the night sky. When viewed together, tell a story from long ago. But this story goes back much further than most people think. So with that, let's find out how she ended up with the name, "The Chained Beauty".

Tonight's story comes to us from the Mexica, the people most of us call the Aztecs, a myth written down in the fifteen hundreds, based on a much older tradition. Many say there's a face on the Moon. But to the Aztecs, they saw a rabbit. And don't let the fact that it's a rabbit fool you, because this story is filled with drama, fire, sacrifice, and punishment. So let's go back to the beginning. And when I say the beginning, I mean the beginning of this world. The one we’re in today. Because this world where you and I live in…isn’t the first.

Tonight's story comes from the Nordic people. A story written down on the small island of Iceland. Almost everything we know about Norse mythology comes to us through two books that were written down in medieval Iceland. And inside those books is a story about what happens when, for a brief moment in time, the Sun goes dark. A total solar eclipse. So let's go back to the time of the people we call Vikings. Places of deep cold and freezing water. Let's go back to learn what they thought was happening when the Sun goes missing.

Tonight we’ll be telling a story about the stars and the Milky Way. A story about a Coyote, and how the stars in the sky came to be. We are looking at it through the eyes of the people most of us know as the Navajo, whose homeland stretches across much of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. To put yourself in this tale, I need you to do something first. Take everything you know about the world and set it down for a minute. Because where we are going, none of it exists. At least...not yet.

Tonight, we’re sitting under the band of light that we call the Milky Way, where we’ll be telling the tale of the legendary demigod Maui. He’s typically associated with the constellation Scorpius. But instead of a scorpion, the tail and stinger are Maui’s bloody fish hook. And, unlike many stories we’re used to, Maui doesn’t actually belong to one constellation. Instead, he moves through the sky, from one constellation to another. The story of Maui appears across Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and dozens of islands scattered across the Pacific, each version with its own specific details and local flavor. It's a living tradition, so we must respect that. For tonight, I’ll be telling a blend of these myths as one story. And much like the life of other great characters, your Orions, your Thors, Maui’s story is rich and full of adventure. Maui’s full name, Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, translates to Maui-topknot-of-Taranga. It’s the perfect description for him when we talk about the astronomy of this myth, which, as always, we’ll reveal at the end of the story. But in terms of the myth, it’s a description of how this demigod came to be, from the hair of Taranga, his mother. However, Taranga isn’t excited about her baby. Instead, she’s going to do something that, for those of us today, is unthinkable. She’s about to abandon her baby in the ocean.

Tonight we're looking at the skies of the southern hemisphere. And I'm going to tell you a story that is so remarkable, it proves this tale is not just a myth…but a memory. The focus of tonight’s story is in the southern sky, where the stars wheel around an empty point. But it wasn't always empty. It's a tale about a great south star that once ruled over the southern sky. A southern pole star. And what happened when it lost its place in the sky. This tale comes from the Palawa people, aboriginals from the island of Tasmania, which is just south of mainland Australia. The Palawa people paid an unimaginable price for contact with the British, and that history matters when we share their stories. So let's go back. To the very beginning. When the world was young and the ice was thick and a powerful being made something so terrible and broken that his own brother had to do intervene. And that intervention would leave one of them dead.