The Star of Joy
The Star of Joy is the most common name of the star Arcturus, the third brightest star in the night sky after Sirius and Canopus.
Appearing in the constellation of Boötes, the Star of Joy is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere and is the zenith star of the Hawaiian Islands. It was in fact a group of Polynesian navigators who named Arcturus Hōkūlea, which means Star of Joy.
The Star of Joy was important for prehistoric Polynesian navigators, who would use the Star of Joy to navigate between Tahiti and Hawaii.
They would begin their journey, at the height of summer, and travel north and east until the Star of Joy was directly overhead. They understood that this meant they had reached the exact latitude of the island chain of Hawaii. They would then sail towards the setting sun, and ride trade winds until they found landfall.
Since 1976, the Polynesian Voyaging Society have crossed the pacific many times, navigating in the traditional fashion, and using the Star of Joy to find their way.
Light from the Star of Joy takes roughly 36 years to reach us, so should you ever see it in the sky, you’re actually looking at light that was born in the year when Empire Strikes Back was released and Bruce Willis made his film debut – 1980.
No-one knows how may stars there are in the universe, but there is only one Star of Joy…
Spin the Star of Joy
Why spin the Star of Joy? Well, the answer’s simple: these days, everything’s about spin – and if it’s good enough for politics, it’s good enough for stars!
There’s a case for saying that a star doesn’t need spin, or any kind of PR in fact. The Star of Joy – which is also known as Arcturus – is 25 times bigger than our sun, it burns at 4,300k and billions of years old. But the problem is that, the Star of Joy is also 37 light years away from us, which is a really, really long way.
Offering to spin the Star of Joy and give it a bit of positive PR is really a way of making sure that we don’t forget what’s important in life – if we can’t spend our days spinning the Star of Joy, what can we do? There’s a big universe out there, and we’re just a part of it, and it’s worth remembering that as we get bogged down by the worrisome things in life.
So all stars are great, and what could be better than spinning The Star of Joy? Of all the stars, with the possible exception of the sun (for obvious reasons) the Star of Joy is definitely my favourite.
Not only did it guide Polynesian sailors to Hawaii thousands of years before Sat Nav was even dreamt of, it’s also, according to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, home to an entire range of HUGE and often deadly animals including the Arcturan Megadonkey, the Arcturan Megaleech and the Arcturian Megapuppy – which is for a mega-life and not just for a mega-Christmas.
So maybe there’s no need to spin the Star of Joy, but we love the Star of Joy so much that when we sat down and really thought about it, there was nothing we wanted more than the opportunity of spinning the Star of Joy.
