On the edge and off the avenue

[sovay]

I had not thought there were any meteor showers of consequence this month, but it seems that the swift pale streak between the telephone wires southwest of Cassiopeia belonged to the September Epsilon Perseids, so named despite their radiant in β Persei, the demon-star of Algol. I can hope it was not wildfire drift that accounted for the candle-tint of the half-moon, which was doing its autumnal trick of hanging like a lantern in the not yet leafless trees. The last of this summer's monarchs flew just before sunset, the twenty-second of her name.

Comments

[asakiyume]

The demon-star of Algol?

[sovay]

The demon-star of Algol?

Its name is an Anglicization of part of its Arabic name, raʾs al-ghūl—the ghoul's head, translated for a long time in English as the demon's head, often just (al-ghūl) the demon. Classically, it was part of the head of Medusa. It is actually a three-star system constantly eclipsing itself.

[asakiyume]

This is marvelous--thank you.