Sunday, January 18, 2009

Hi/Hey Diddle Diddle Connection to the Stars

Mapping the poem to the springtime skies

It's also possible to connect this story to the springtime skies of the northern hemisphere:

Hey diddle diddle, the Cat (Leo – the Lion) and the Fiddle (Lyra – the Lyre), the Cow (Taurus – the Bull) jumped over the Moon (the Moon); the Little Dog (Canis Minor – the Lesser Dog) laughed to see such sport, and the Dish (Crater – a dish shaped constellation) ran after the Spoon (Ursa Major – the Big Dipper).

Because Taurus sets soon after Lyra rises, the named constellations do not appear in the sky together for very long on any given night. Crater and Canis Minor are faint constellations so you will need a clear night and a star chart to find them. The Hey Diddle Diddle pattern of constellations is seen around midnight in mid-February, then appears earlier each night until it is lost in the light of dusk sometime in June. Of course the moon does not have a fixed location in the sky so it is not properly a part of the pattern.

Source from:For more variation and meaning of this song

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