Of all the poets whose works I admire, Dante Alighieri is foremost in my personal pantheon. And of all his works, “Inferno” is my unquestioned favorite. The beauty of Virgil’s explanation in Canto 2 of Beatrice’s charge to him to aid Dante in his journey, concluding in “Why do you delay, when three such blessed ladies care for you in the court of Heaven?” always brings tears to my eyes. However something has long puzzled me about the poem – the astronomical references in it.