Did you ever wonder why the symbol for the British pound looks like a cursive capital L? Or why the abbreviation for the weight pound is lb.? You can blame Libra. Libra, the name of today’s block, is the Latin word for “scales” or “balance.” Libra was the basic unit of weight in ancient Rome. When the pound became the basic British monetary unit, it referred to the value of one pound of pure silver. The constellation Libra is rather dim. On most cloudless nights I can pick out Orion, Cassiopeia and the Big and Little Dippers. But even here in rural Yorkshire I have trouble finding Libra. I read somewhere that there are three stars in Libra with orbiting planets. It’s an intriguing concept. Do any of those planets have an atmosphere? Water? Life? Do people live there and try to pick out our sun in some dim constellation in their night sky?
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