“Alpha Centauri” is the nearest solar system to our own, and is also host to an atmospheric, terrestrial, earthlike planet with probable conditions for liquid water on the surface. It is one of the brightest stars in the sky, and is part of the “Centaurus” constellation which honors the Greek titan “Chiron.” Centaurus has endured thousands of years in the pantheon of major constellations for its relevance to the human condition.

Centaurs were notoriously ignoble hooligans who smoke and drink, and Chiron was a centaur. But he was different; he was civilized, and widely renowned for his wisdom, healing powers, and altruism.

One day, while Chiron was out on a smoke break, suddenly battle erupted nearby – as was commonplace in Greek mythology. Chiron got nicked in the leg by a stray arrow that was poisoned with Hydra venom, literally a mortal wound. But as an immortal Titan, this manifested as a permanent injury that he, the healer, could not heal himself.

Chiron’s legacy persists today as the trope of “Wounded Healer.”

Most my life I’ve been fascinated by this story, which I first learned in my early teens through science fiction. I identified personally with Chiron, somehow able to bring joy to others while suffering demons in private. Once attune to the story, it’s ubiquitous in all of life and popular culture (Dr. House, therapists, my father – a vietnam vet and veteran’s counselor).

Enter: Prometheus

Prometheus was also a Titan, and brother of Chiron. Titans were essentially Gods, except for being at odds with the actual Gods. And so Prometheus undertook the greatest heist in “Human” history – he snuck into Olympus, stole Fire, and brought it to the world; thereby usurping the Gods’ status as savior of mankind.

Prometheus set the world on fire.

Zeus was fuckin pissed, and so he punished Prometheus by chaining him to a cliff where an eagle would come every sunset and eat out his liver, which would regenerate by sunrise; on repeat, daily, for all of eternity.

Enter: Chiron with Prometheus

Chiron grieved for his brother, he grieved for the world’s loss of a champion. Quietly, he grieved for himself. He would do anything to end the pain.

As the Ultimate Solution, therefore, Chiron bargained with Zeus: to bequeath his immortality and take the place of Prometheus, freeing Prometheus, and also freeing himself from this world as the eagle came by dusk.

For all their differences, Zeus was like, that’s fuckin metal. And so he created the Centaurus constellation in the sky in memorium.

And Prometheus was free to champion the mortals and venge the Gods’ misdeeds.