Sep 23, 2015 00:07
8 yrs ago
English term
Gienah
English
Other
Astronomy & Space
“At 20° North [the latitude of Hawai'i], GIENAH rises as the tail of Canis Major reaches the meridian.”
Source: http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/index/founder_and_teachers/nainoa_...
May someone help to tell whether GIENAH here refer to γ Corvi in Corvus or ε Cygni in Cygnus? Thanks!
Source: http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/index/founder_and_teachers/nainoa_...
May someone help to tell whether GIENAH here refer to γ Corvi in Corvus or ε Cygni in Cygnus? Thanks!
Responses
| 2 +1 | Cygnus (maybe, take with many grains of salt) |
DLyons
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Responses
+1
1 hr
Selected
Cygnus (maybe, take with many grains of salt)
Both Cygnus and Corvus should be visible from the latitude of Hawaii - so that doesn't decide ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declination#Stars )
But I read the text as saying the declination of Gienah and Canis Major are separated by about 90 deg
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(astronomy) ). That can't be true for Corvus which is only about 13 deg away, whereas Cygnus is about 75 deg = (42 - (-33)) away.
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Note added at 1 hr (2015-09-23 01:47:07 GMT)
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You might also look at "Galactic Coordinates & Reference Frames" on
http://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/galaxy.html
But I read the text as saying the declination of Gienah and Canis Major are separated by about 90 deg
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(astronomy) ). That can't be true for Corvus which is only about 13 deg away, whereas Cygnus is about 75 deg = (42 - (-33)) away.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-09-23 01:47:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
You might also look at "Galactic Coordinates & Reference Frames" on
http://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/galaxy.html
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Charles Davis
: This is a more solid argument than I had; I thought it was probably ε Cygni because (a) Gienah alone usually means that by default, and (b) ε Cygni and Pira‘etea (Deneb; α Cygni) are an important pair of "meridian pointers to north" in Hawaiian navigation
55 mins
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Thanks Charles. I didn't know about the navigation - that's an important point.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks! Great answer!"
Discussion
Would I bet my grass skirt and lei on Cygnus? Probably not.
http://aohawaii.org/resources-2/meridian-pointers-to-north/ (see no. 8)
And also this:
http://learningcenter.hokulea.com/education-at-sea/polynesia...
The second of these similarly says "Gienah and Pira‘atea are meridian pointers to the north", with a diagram showing the "Navigator's Triangle", aka "Summer Triangle", one point of which is Deneb. It also mentions Gienah Corvi, as part of Me'e, which is what the Hawaiians call Corvus, but it does call it Gienah Corvi, not just Gienah (which is what it calls the other one, in Cygnus), so this supports the point about the name applying by default to Cygnus.