Pegasus
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Pegasus, in Greek myth, a winged horse who, with his brother Chrysaor, was sprung from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, pregnant by Poseidon, when she was killed by Perseus. The fountain Hippocrene on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, sacred to the Muses, was said to have been produced by a stamp of his hoof. With divine aid Bellerophon was able to catch this horse when it was drinking at the fountain Peirēnē in Corinth, and bridle it. Mounted on it he succeeded in killing the Chimaera, but was thrown when he attempted to fly to Olympus on its back. Pegasus appears on a handsome series of Corinthian coins, symbolizing the city.
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Pegasus
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Pegasus
Pegasus (pĕg'əsəs), in astronomy, northern constellation lying SW of Andromeda and SE of Cygnus. It is named for the mythological winged horse Pegasus. The constellation is easily recognized by the Great Square formed by the bright stars Markab (Alpha Pegasi) at the southwest corner, Scheat (Beta Pegasi) at the northwest corner, Algenib (Gamma Pegasi) at the southeast corner, and Alpheratz in Andromeda at the northeast corner. The constellation reaches its highest point in the evening sky in October. In 1995 a planet at least half the size of Jupiter was discovered orbiting the star 51 Pegasus, which is about 40 light-years from the earth; this marked the first time a planet was detected orbiting a sunlike star outside the solar system.
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Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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