A Circle Of Mushrooms Called A Fairy Ring In Old World Europe: In Astronomy Known As The Cygnus Fairy Ring

The following pencil sketch of an asterism known as the Cygnus Fairy Ring. I was using a 10-inch Newtonian @ 57x with a 1.1º true field of view, a blank 5 x 8 note card with the colors inverted using a scanner.  Only a No. 2 pencil and an eraser were used.           

Scanned Image 160890002

While riding my bicycle on an August 2016 day: I came across an area beside the road with a true 360º Fairy Ring, and just had to stop and take a photo. I’ve seen partial rings many times, even in my backyard, but this one made a perfect circle, and with more mushrooms than I could count.

There’s much folklore and legends from ancient Europe, concerning those that venture into a Fairy Ring; with some being transported to another world…or worse!

Stories from hundreds of years ago of those walking in the deep-woods of Transylvania, in the southwest region of Romania in the Carpathian Mountains, and encountered a fairy ring. This is where the stories of the real Vlad Dracula originated! However, these stories could be just that…folklore.

Yes, Count Dracula was based on a real historical person, Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula, who ruled as the Prince of Wallachia (in modern-day Romania) during the 15th. Source AI

Back to my bicycle ride on that day in August 2016:

"Plucked from the Fairy Circle" A man saves his friend from the grip of a fairy ring.

“Plucked from the Fairy Circle” A man saves his friend from the grip of a fairy ring.  Public Domain

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