Mizar and Alcor together are sometimes called the "Horse and Rider", and the ability to resolve the two stars with the naked eye is often quoted as a test of eyesight, although even people with quite poor eyesight can see the two stars. Arabic literature says that only those with the sharpest eyesight can see the companion of Mizar. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has suggested that this in fact refers to another star which lies visually between Mizar and Alcor. The name the Arabs used for Alcor was سها (suha), meaning either the ‘forgotten’ or ‘neglected’ one.
The mythological motif of the Cosmic Hunt is peculiar to Northern and Central Eurasia and for the Americas but seems to be absent in other parts of
the globe. Two distinct Eurasian versions demonstrate North-American parallels at the level of minor details which could be explained only by particular
historical links between corresponding traditions. The first version (three
stars of the handle of the Big Dipper are hunters and the dipper itself is an
animal; Alcor is a dog or a cooking pot) connects Siberian (especially Western
Siberian) traditions with the North-American West (Salish, Chinook) and
East (especially with the Iroquois). The second version (the Orion’s Belt represents three deer, antelopes, mountain sheep or buffaloes; the hunter is
Rigel or other star below the Orion's Belt; his arrow has pierced the game and
is seen either as Betelgeuze or as the stars of Orion's Head) connects the
South-Siberian – Central-Eurasian mythologies with traditions of NorthAmerican West – Southwest. Both variants unknown in Northeast Asia and
in Alaska probably date to the time of initial settling of the New World. The
circum-Arctic variant(s) (hunter or game are associated with Orion or the
Pleiades) are represented by neighbouring traditions which form an almost
continuous chain from the Lapps to the Polar Inuit. This version could be
brought across the American Arctic with the spread of Tule Eskimo.
Keywords: comparative, Siberian, Central Asian, American Indian, Eskimo
mythology; star names in folk tradition; settling of America
Yuri Berezkin
theastrogeek.com
