The Scriptures name specific stars — the Pleiades, Orion, Ursa Major, and the constellations of the south. It is written in Job “He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south” (Job 9:9). Chazal learned about the stars from what is written in the Scriptures. Thus, for example, the sage Samuel asks: Why did the Scriptures change the order of the stars from verse to verse? Once the Scriptures put Orion before the Pleiades (“He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades”) and elsewhere the Scriptures put the Pleiades before Orion: “He who made the Pleiades and Orion” (Amos 5:8). His answer: The Pleiades are responsible for cold on Earth and Orion for heat. In the winter the Pleiades are dominant and so the verse in Amos lists it first. In the summer Orion is dominant, and so it is listed first in Job. The sage added that without a balance between heat and cold, between the two stars, the world would not survive and endure. The scholars also said that they had learned from their teachers that the star is Scorpio, not the Pleiades. The stars in Scorpio’s tail are dipped in the Stream of Fire (the Milky Way), and were this not so, no one stung by a scorpion would live. This is also the meaning of the verse in Job which states that G-d balances the cold and heat of the stars: “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?” (Job 38:31). G-d binds the Pleiades, responsible for the cold, and loosens Orion, responsible for heat — creating a balance between them. The scholars asked: Why is the group of starts responsible for cold, the Pleiades, called kimeyah in Hebrew? Answer: In this group there are approximately 100 stars (k’meyah).
There were scholars who thought that these hundred stars were crowded into a small space, and others who thought that the hundred stars were scattered about. The scholars clarified: What is the star which is called in Job ash? Answer: Some scholars thought it was a group of stars in the tail of Aries and some thought it to be the stars at the head of Taurus. The scholars finally ruled that ash is in the tail of Aries, for it is written “For ash will be comforted for her sons.” The scholars decided that this means the star must be comforted because stars were taken from it, and the group of stars in the tail of Aries looks like stars have been removed. The scholars went on to explain why the group of stars in the tail of Aries follows the stars of the Pleiades; it seeks the return of two stars which were taken from it and given to the Pleiades. Why were they taken? When G-d decided to bring the Great Flood, He had to take two stars from the Pleiades, responsible for cold, and then the Flood could come. When G-d decided to end the Flood He had to return two stars to the Pleiades, so He took them from ash and gave them to the Pleiades. The scholars asked: Why did G-d not return the stars from whence He took them? Answer: When two stars are taken they cannot be returned to their old location, just as one cannot fill a hole with the dirt which came from it. Another answer: Since the stars which were removed caused the Flood, which was a bad thing, it was not appropriate to return them to the group of stars at the tail of Aries, which are stars meant to bring good to the world; the prosecutor cannot become the defense. The scholars continued to state that G-d should have just created two new stars and put them in the gap. Answer: G-d no longer creates new things, for it is written “There is nothing new under the sun.” One of the scholars, Rav Nachman, said that in the future G-d will return the two stars He took from the group of stars at the tail of Aries, which the Scriptures call ash, for it says “And ash will be comforted for her sons,” meaning that in the future it will be comforted by having the two stars returned.
(Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot 58b-59a)