Cats and Cosmos

Cats have always held a special fascination for humanity. Free-spirited and independent yet affectionate friends, these animals with regal and elegant movements and a proud and mysterious gaze have won the hearts of royals and poets, artists and scientists over the centuries.

Astronomers, in particular, have a special relationship with these beautiful felines. While it’s true that the first animal to fly into space was a dog, the famous Laika, it was a black and white cat, Felicette, who in 1963 showed the world how to travel in space with calmness and apparent fearlessness.

Yes, among the constellations dedicated to animals, there is no Cat constellation (although for about twenty years there was talk of including the “Felis the Cat” constellation among the officially recognized ones, identified between Hydra and Antlia and named almost as a joke in 1799 by astronomer Joseph Jerome de Lalande). However, there is a wonderful nebula called the Cat’s Paw (NGC 6334), a star-forming region located in the constellation of Scorpius.

If you ask around, you’ll find that many astrophysicists happily live with feline friends, appreciating their charm, independence, and intelligence. A famous case of a cat-loving astronomer was undoubtedly our Margherita Hack, so in love with cats that she often mentioned them in interviews and seminars and even dedicated some books to them.

In this section, we present a series of comics titled Cats and Cosmos, humorous strips conceived and created by Sabrina Milia, an astrophysicist at INAF in Cagliari and an unabashed cat lover. Basically, a cat physicist.

Each strip introduces an astronomical topic – which can be further explored on the Eduinaf website – to continue the day with a smile, celebrating the love for the sky and our feline friends.

View the gallery