When we look at the sky on a clear night, each of the spectacular constellations that we see has ancient stories connected with it, from Greek or Roman mythology or traditions from other parts of the world. Here you can read examples which also outline a few of the amazing astronomical discoveries that cosmology and physics has recently discovered, thanks to some star or other detail hiding in each constellation.
    For example, the third story tells us how Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods, was a violent character and had a habit of hurling destructive thunderbolts. Remarkably, in the constellation described there was a supergiant star which exploded in a few seconds more violently that even the ancient Greeks could have imagined. Even more interestingly, without such explosions occurring in the history of the universe, we wouldn't have our familiar metals and our lives would be very different. 

      Now choose either "Story 1", or any or the other stories, by clicking on the relevant link below. (Depending on what device you are using, you may then have to click on Blog, top right of screen).
      You can double-click on an image to blow it up. This hides the text of the story, so to continue reading, shrink the image back by clicking the x.
      To return to this starting page, go again to giantsandsupergiants.com