09/08/2020 – Ephemeris – The Anishinaabe folk saw a moose where we see Pegasus

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 8:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:15. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:14 this evening.

Yesterday I talked a bit about the constellation of Pegasus the flying horse ascendant in the east these September evenings. The Anishinaabe peoples of our area had no horses until after the Europeans arrived, but they did imagine a large four legged mammal here, the Mooz or Moose, spelled M-o-o-z and pronounced something like Moonz*. The Moose is upright, or will be when he is in the south. In the evening now he is in the east, his body is a large square of stars we call the Great Square of Pegasus standing on one corner. From the top star extend his neck and head. His great antlers cover the official constellation of Lacerta the lizard made of a zigzag of unremarkable faint stars. Unlike Pegasus the whole moose made it into the sky.

The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Mooz finder animation displaying both Western Pegasus and Lacerta constellations and Anishinaabe Mooz constellation for 10 pm in early September. Credit Stellarium (both star lore images are embedded in Stellarium). The Anishinaabe image is from Ojibwe Giizhig Anung Masinaaigan – Ojibiwe Sky Star Map created by A. Lee, W. Wilson, and C. Gawboy.

*Information on Mooz and its pronunciation can be found in the Ojibwe Peoples Dictionary at https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/mooz-na. The language of the Ojibwe, Ojibwemowin is another name for Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Anishinaabe peoples.