Updated Star Calendar Stars

by John P. Pratt
5 Feb 2020, 7 Temple (SR), Dolphin (S)

©2019 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

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An updated table of which stars are in the Star Calendar is presented.

Last year the Star Calendar developed in my work was considered virtually finished with only very minor tweaks expected to improve it slightly. It was based on a 7x7 table of 49 constellations which had been proposed in 2006, which was basically a map of the sky. That table has remained virtually unchanged since its publication.[1]

Recently some new developments indicated that a few constellations in that 7x7 table were in the wrong columns. When those were corrected (see Figure 1), it changed a few stars which needed to be included in the Star Calendar. These changes resulted in a much improved, more accurate version.

As an example, ten rules were given in earlier articles about how to know which stars are in the Star Calendar and how to order them.[2] One rule was that a constellation should entirely fit into its "zodiac season", that is, into the number weeks allotted to each zodiac constellation. For example, the star days for the Hero (Perseus), the Hunter (Orion), and the Charioteer (Auriga) should all fit into the days assigned to the Bull (Taurus). There are two exceptions to this rule: (1) the constellations that are so far north that their stars necessarily must extend into more than one zodiac month, and (2) the zodiac seasons which overlap each other. Those six far north constellations are the Dragon, the Big and Little Bears, King, Swan, Sky Horse. Before now, it was not possible to fulfill the rule for all other constellations, so in my work it was treated as only a guideline, not as a requirement. With the slight adjustments to the columns, that rule is now fulfilled, as shown in the table of Constellation Groupings. That table is of the new update to show how the rule is fulfilled; there was no such table before because many of the constellations fell into two zodiac seasons. That is compelling that the Star Calendar is now much closer to being entirely correct.

Fig. 1. The 7x7 Table of Constellations.
(Click for the astronomical constellation names and original version.)

Fig. 2. Total stars in each constellation in the Star Calendar.
(Click to compare to former version.)

It should be emphasized that the ten rules impose very strict requirements on exactly which stars may be included in the Star Calendar and even on what order they appear. For example, Figure 2 shows the number of stars in each constellation, and the total stars in each column should be one seventh of the total of 364 stars, or 52 stars per column. Note that the number 52 is not divisible by 7, even though most of constellations contain 7 stars. On the other hand, the table of Constellation Groupings above indicates that the number of stars in each individual or pair of overlapping constellations must be divisible by seven! That is, each must equal an exact number of weeks so that each zodiac constellation can commence on a Saturday at noon. It was difficult to find even one solution to meet all of the criteria.

Fig. 3. The 371 stars in the Star Calendar.
(Click to compare to former version.)

Figure 3 shows my best proposal to meet all of the criteria required. Each Greek letter (or in some cases a number) is the official astronomical designation of an included star in that constellation. Thus, it appears that the Star Calendar was provided in the form of puzzle for us to solve, given to us by the Creator!

Notes

1. The current table is remarkably similar to my original version published 13 years ago at "Constellations Testify of Seven Angels" Meridian Magazine (28 Sep 2006), Section 3.2 "Mapping the Heavens", Figure 4. Because the constellations are not perfectly aligned a grid, there was usually a choice between two columns in which to put each constellation. It was recently discovered that a few were out of place, so that was corrected in Figure 1.
2. For the first seven rules, see my "Star Calendar: A House of Order" (25 Jun 2017) which discusses each in detail. Those seven treated which stars were candidates to be included, but did not prescribe the exact order of the stars associated with each day. Later three more rules were discovered which determine the order of the selected stars, as discussed in my "The Star Calendars' Stellar Ordering" (27 Nov 2018), Section 1: "Three Ordering Criteria". That latter article also reviews the first seven rules, so it may not necessary to consult the first reference in this note unless details are desired.