Connor OConnell

Keith Oliver
Astronomy
18 Apr 2016
The Constellation Cancer Explanation at Star Party
How this constellation of 5 stars got its name was from a Greek folklore. Apparently
when Hercules was fighting the three-headed hydra, Hera(the wife of Zues), she sent this crab by
the name of Karkinos to distract Hercules while he was fighting. Fortunately Hercules was
frustrated by the crab and kicked it up into the sky today while it remains. The following stars
make up the constellation of cancer: Iota Canci, Asellus Borealis, Asellus Australias, Acubens,
and Altarf. You may ask then why is the constellation of 5 stars called cancer. To answer that
question you may want to check your Latin dictionary. Cancer is the word used for crab in Latin.
In the figure Im about to show you on the SkyView App you can see that there looks to be a
main body with 2 claws branching off. An interesting thought to note is why we call the
mutations of genes in our body cancer. I researched this and its because how this rapid cell
division spreads through the body. They branch off just like crab legs do from a crabs body.