#64 – Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship
Day #64 – Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship
The Pleiades are also called the Seven Sisters, as Jimmy mentions in his song lyrics, but are known officially in astronomy circles as Messier 45. It can be found just a bit to the north-west of the constellation Taurus, has a bluish glow, and is 444 light years from us. That seems like a long way away, but it’s actually one of the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is quite visible to the naked eye, and is stunning through a telescope, or even something as simple and easy to use as a pair of binoculars. It shows up in myths and legends across our globe and has many more names than the few that I have mentioned. Its prominence in world culture makes it unsurprising that it makes an appearance in Jimmy’s music and plays a starring role in the life of his Desdemona.
The Messier objects are a list of 110 objects catalogued by the French astronomer Charles Messier (although he actually only catalogued 103 himself). Messier was mostly interested in observing comets, but he wanted to list other objects that he seen in the night sky, and that list has become one of the most well-known lists of astronomical objects and most Messier objects are still listed by the numbers he gave them as well as other cultural names, such as the Pleiades.
Messier was operating and observing and produced his first catalogue of objects in 1774 and it contained 45 objects, which would include the Pleiades. The catalogue includes star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Some were known prior to Messier’s time, such as the Pleiades, and some he discovered through his observations of the celestial sky. Messier lived and observed the night skies from Paris France, so his observation list only includes objects mostly seen in the northern hemispheres and just below the equator, and nothing in the farer southern latitudes.
The name that we most commonly refer to this collection of stars by is The Pleiades, which comes to us from ancient Greek myth and stories. They were called the Seven Sisters with each star having its own name, including Sterope (or Asterope), Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno and Alcyone. This collection of stars was quite important in the Mediterranean Sea, as the yearly rising of the star cluster was tied to the beginning of the sailing and sea navigation season. Another object in the night sky that was important in this way was the star Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major, which was tied to the beginning of the agricultural season in ancient Egypt.
This star cluster shows up with different names and stories around the globe, far too many for me to mention, but I recommend a little internet research if you are interested. I love that the Pleiades are now tied to Jimmy’s music in a way that may live on long after all of us have left this planet, becoming another aspect of the myths tied to this beautiful star cluster.
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Original post from 11/4/2023
Day #64 – Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship
Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship was released on 1996’s Banana Wind.
I liked this rather bizarre and certainly quirky song from the first time that I heard it. As a matter a fact, I liked it so much that I told my Mom if I ever had a daughter, I was going to name her Desdemona. Unsure of the name, she told me I probably better get a dog instead.
So, I did… and I named her Jazz, because I have never listened very well.
“Desdemona’s building a rocket ship, Blastin’ off today…”
Desdemona is a character that pops up a couple times in Jimmy’s storytelling. She shows up in two songs, this one and also Fruitcakes, where she stars as a cosmic baker and psychic. She also makes an appearance in Jimmy’s novel Where Is Joe Merchant?
“She’s got a passion for cookies, A crew full of rookies, It’s goin’ to be a helluva blow… “
I like to think of her as an old friend of JB’s who happens to live on her ship The Cosmic Muffin, which she is modifying to reach the Pleiades.
“Pleiades calling her home, Seven Sisters, She hears her distant Sisters, Pleiades calling me home, Seven Sisters, she hears her Seven Sisters.”
This song calls towards visiting a “home” across the universe, in the Pleiades asterism (grouping of stars) in the zodiac sign of Taurus, next to the constellation of Orion. These are areas of our celestial sky that pop up more than once for Jimmy, in song and story.
Jimmy, I hope you found the Pleiades and that Desdemona was there to greet you, and that you cruised by Orion along the way.
Please enjoy Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship. I have included the link in the comments below.
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Another interesting name the Pleiades or the Seven Siters was known by in Japan was Mutsuraboshi, which later became known as Subaru. Yes, like the car company. The Subaru car logo has six stars on it in honor of this star cluster, because per some traditions, one of the stars is hidden. Certainly, to the naked eye, six are more easily visible, although the star cluster actually contains around thirty stars. I don’t know if Jimmy knew this when he was writing about Desdemona and her Cosmic Muffin, or perhaps he would have had her try to reach the stars in a Subaru. They are pretty well-built little cars and have a reputation for being able to handle some tough travel, although 444 light years might have been a bit of a challenge.
Stacy
Please enjoy Desdemona’s Building A Rocket Ship. I have included the link below. Enjoy!
The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.
