The word "constellation" comes from the Late Latin term , which can be translated as "set of stars"; it came into use in English during the 14th century. The Ancient Greek word for constellation is ἄστρον. These terms generally referred to a recognisable pattern of stars whose appearance is associated with mythological characters or creatures, earthbound animals, or objects. A more modern astronomical sense of the term "constellation" denotes one of the 88 IAU designated constellations recognized today. Colloquial usage does not draw a sharp distinction between "constellations" and smaller "asterisms" (pattern of stars), yet the modern accepted astronomical constellations employ such a distinction.
Terminology
Constellation
Constellation | Terminology
Late Latin term From the Late Latin term , which can be translated as "set of stars". It comes from the Late Latin term which can be translated as "set of stars The word "constellation" comes from the Late Latin term , which can be translated as "set of stars"
what is hydrus?
user
Small constellation in the deep southern sky.
assistant
what are its characteristics?
user
Irregular in shape and its tail has been shortened to make space for this last constellation he had drawn up.
assistant
name a few stars in the constellation?
user
Beta Hydri, Alpha Hydri, etc.
assistant
where did the second star get its name from?
user
Chinese system
assistant
who decribed the constellation for the first time?
user
Goes back to prehistory.
assistant
what does deep sky objects mean in the context of the constellation?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
name a few mordern constellations?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
where did the terminology for the term constellation get?
user
The word "constellation" comes from the Late Latin term , which can be translated as "set of stars"; it came into use in English during the 14th century. The Ancient Greek word for constellation is ἄστρον. These terms generally referred to a recognisable pattern of stars whose appearance is associated with mythological characters or creatures, earthbound animals, or objects. A more modern astronomical sense of the term "constellation" denotes one of the 88 IAU designated constellations recognized today. Colloquial usage does not draw a sharp distinction between "constellations" and smaller "asterisms" (pattern of stars), yet the modern accepted astronomical constellations employ such a distinction.
Constellation | Terminology
Each IAU constellation has an official 3-letter abbreviation based on the genitive form of the constellation name. The majority of the abbreviations are just the first three letters of the constellation name, with the first character capitalised: "Ori" for "Orion", "Ara" for "Ara/Arae", "Com" for "Coma Berenices". In some cases, the abbreviation is from the genitive form without appearing in the base name (as in "Sge" for "Sagitta/Sagittae", to avoid confusion with "Sagittarius", abbreviated "Sgr"). In other cases, to unambiguously identify the constellation, such as where the name and its genitive differ in the first three letters, other letters beyond the initial three are used: "Aps" for "Apus/Apodis", "CrA" for "Corona Australis", "CrB" for "Corona Borealis", "Crv" for "Corvus".
IAU designated constellations | Abbreviations
("Crater" is abbreviated "Crt" to prevent confusion with "CrA".) When letters are taken from the second word of a two-word name, the first letter from the second word is capitalised: "CMa" for "Canis Major", "CMi" for "Canis Minor". Two cases are ambiguous: "Leo" for the constellation "Leo" could be mistaken for "Leo Minor" (abbreviated "LMi"), and "Tri" for "Triangulum" could be mistaken for "Triangulum Australe" (abbreviated "TrA").
IAU designated constellations | Abbreviations
The name of the constellation was entered as "Corona Australis" when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established the 88 modern constellations in 1922. In 1932, the name was instead recorded as "Corona Austrina" when the IAU's commission on notation approved a list of four-letter abbreviations for the constellations. The four-letter abbreviations were repealed in 1955. The IAU presently uses "Corona Australis" exclusively.
Corona Australis | Name
Stars were often grouped into constellations differently by different observers, and the arbitrary constellation boundaries often led to confusion as to which constellation a celestial object belonged. Before astronomers delineated precise boundaries (starting in the 19th century), constellations generally appeared as ill-defined regions of the sky. Today they now follow officially accepted designated lines of Right Ascension and Declination based on those defined by Benjamin Gould in epoch 1875.0 in his star catalogue "Uranometria Argentina". The 1603 star atlas "Uranometria" of Johann Bayer assigned stars to individual constellations and formalized the division by assigning a series of Greek and Latin letters to the stars within each constellation.
Constellation | Early modern astronomy
These are known today as Bayer designations. Subsequent star atlases led to the development of today's accepted modern constellations.
Constellation | Early modern astronomy
The first modern schemes for designating stars systematically labelled them within their constellation.
Stellar designations and names | By constellation
The following lists of constellations are available:
Lists of constellations | Introduction
Historically, the origins of the constellations of the northern and southern skies are distinctly different. Most northern constellations date to antiquity, with names based mostly on Classical Greek legends. Evidence of these constellations has survived in the form of star charts, whose oldest representation appears on the statue known as the Farnese Atlas, based perhaps on the star catalogue of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus. Southern constellations are more modern inventions, sometimes as substitutes for ancient constellations (e.g. Argo Navis). Some southern constellations had long names that were shortened to more usable forms; e.g. Musca Australis became simply Musca. Some of the early constellations were never universally adopted.
Constellation | Early modern astronomy
Citations Bibliography Online sources
Andromeda (constellation) | References
In 1922, Henry Norris Russell produced a general list of 88 constellations and some useful abbreviations for them. However, these constellations did not have clear borders between them. In 1928, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally accepted 88 modern constellations, with contiguous boundaries along vertical and horizontal lines of right ascension and declination developed by Eugene Delporte that, together, cover the entire celestial sphere; this list was finally published in 1930. Where possible, these modern constellations usually share the names of their Graeco-Roman predecessors, such as Orion, Leo or Scorpius. The aim of this system is area-mapping, i.e. the division of the celestial sphere into contiguous fields.
Constellation | 88 modern constellations
This is the list of the proper names for the stars in the constellation Crux. (Used modern western astronomy and uranography only)
List of star names in Crux | Introduction
This is the list of the proper names for the stars in the constellation Grus. (Used modern western astronomy and uranography only).
List of star names in Grus | Introduction
Obsolete constellations including Ptolemy's "Argo Navis" Anser
Outline of astronomy | Obsolete constellations including Ptolemy's "Argo Navis"
The level was dangling from the apex of a triangle, leading some astronomers to conclude he was renaming "l’Équerre et la Règle" to "le Niveau", "the level". In any case, the constellation's name had been shortened and Latinised by Lacaille to "Norma" by 1763.
Norma (constellation) | History
A constellation is formally any of certain areas of the celestial sphere, or popularly and traditionally a perceived pattern of stars. Constellation or constellations may also refer to:
Constellation (disambiguation) | Introduction
† 30 Doradus and 47 Tucanae are Bode numbers, not Gould designations.
Gould designation | 33 constellations that contain only Gould numbers
E.g., the Pleiades and the Hyades are both asterisms, and each lies within the boundaries of the constellation of Taurus. Another example is the northern asterism popularly known as the Big Dipper (US) or the Plough (UK), composed of the seven brightest stars within the area of the IAU-defined constellation of Ursa Major. The southern False Cross asterism includes portions of the constellations Carina and Vela and the Summer Triangle is composed of the brightest stars in the constellations Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus. A constellation (or star), viewed from a particular latitude on Earth, that never sets below the horizon is termed circumpolar.
Constellation | Terminology
Quadrans Muralis was originally created in 1795, placed in the northern skies between the still-accepted constellations Boötes and Draco. The Quadrantids meteor shower is named after this former constellation.
Former constellation | Quadrans Muralis
Stars are listed in the appropriate lists for the constellation, as follows: Constellation Note that these lists are currently unfinished, and there may be stars missing that satisfy these conditions. If you come across one, please feel free to add it.
Lists of stars by constellation | Lists of stars by constellation
Monocerotis is the Latin genitive of the constellation name Monoceros. Objects within the constellation include:
Monocerotis | Introduction
It is stated this Icarius, became Arcturus, while his dog, Maira, became Canicula (Procyon), although "Arcturus" here may be used in the sense of the constellation rather than the star.
Arcturus | Mythology
Algol may have been named "Matohi" by the Māori people, but the evidence for this identification is disputed. "Matohi" ("Split") occasionally came into conflict with "Tangaroa-whakapau" over which of them should appear in the sky, the outcome affecting the tides. It matches the Maori description of a blue-white star near Aldebaran but does not disappear as the myth would indicate.
Perseus (constellation) | In non-Western astronomy
Ranna an aeir ("The Constellations") is the title of a medieval Irish astronomical tract, thought to date from c.1500–1550? It was written in Early Modern Irish, with some words in English and Latin.
Ranna an aeir | Introduction
Ascribing 13 stars to the constellation, he named it Στεφάνος νοτιος (), "Southern Wreath", while other authors associated it with either Sagittarius (having fallen off his head) or Centaurus; with the former, it was called "Corona Sagittarii". Similarly, the Romans called Corona Australis the "Golden Crown of Sagittarius". It was known as "Parvum Coelum" ("Canopy", "Little Sky") in the 5th century. The 18th-century French astronomer Jérôme Lalande gave it the names "Sertum Australe" ("Southern Garland") and "Orbiculus Capitis", while German poet and author Philippus Caesius called it "Corolla" ("Little Crown") or "Spira Australis" ("Southern Coil"), and linked it with the Crown of Eternal Life from the New Testament.
Corona Australis | History
Former constellations are old historical western constellations that for various reasons are no longer widely recognised or are not officially recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Prior to 1930, many of these defunct constellations were traditional in one or more countries or cultures. Some only lasted decades but others were referred to over many centuries. All are now recognised only for having classical or historical value. Many former constellations had complex Latinised names after objects, people, or mythological or zoological creatures. Others with unwieldy names were shortened for convenience. For example, Scutum Sobiescianum was reduced to Scutum, Mons Mensae to Mensa, and Apparatus Sculptoris to Sculptor.
Former constellation | Introduction
The French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille first described the constellation in French as "le Fourneau Chymique" (the Chemical Furnace) with an alembic and receiver in his early catalogue, before abbreviating it to "le Fourneau" on his planisphere in 1752, after he had observed and catalogued almost 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the Cape of Good Hope. He devised fourteen new constellations in uncharted regions of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere not visible from Europe. All but one honoured instruments that symbolised the Age of Enlightenment. Lacaille Latinised the name to "Fornax Chimiae" on his 1763 chart.
Fornax | History
The Bayer designations of about 1,500 brightest stars were first published in 1603. In this list, a star is identified by a lower-case letter of the Greek alphabet, followed by the Latin name of its parent constellation. The Bayer designation uses the possessive form of a constellation's name, which in almost every case ends in "is", "i" or "ae"; "um" if the constellation's name is plural "(see genitive case for constellations)". In addition, a three-letter abbreviation is often used . Examples include Alpha Andromedae ("α And") in the constellation of Andromeda, Alpha Centauri ("α Cen"), in the constellation Centaurus, Alpha Crucis ("α Cru") and Beta Crucis ("β Cru"), the two brightest stars in the constellation Crux, the Southern Cross, Epsilon Carinae ("ε Car") in Carina, Lambda Scorpii ("λ Sco") in Scorpius and Sigma Sagittarii ("σ Sgr") in Sagittarius.
Astronomical naming conventions | Bayer designation
Grus and the nearby constellations Phoenix, Tucana and Pavo are collectively called the "Southern Birds". The stars that correspond to Grus were generally too far south to be seen from China. In Chinese astronomy, Gamma and Lambda Gruis may have been included in the tub-shaped asterism "Bàijiù", along with stars from Piscis Austrinus. In Central Australia, the Arrernte and Luritja people living on a mission in Hermannsburg viewed the sky as divided between them, east of the Milky Way representing Arrernte camps and west denoting Luritja camps. Alpha and Beta Gruis, along with Fomalhaut, Alpha Pavonis and the stars of Musca, were all claimed by the Arrernte.
Grus (constellation) | History
The generic term for "asterism" is ("", lit. "group of stars").
Chinese constellations | Terminology
From the North Pole or South Pole, all constellations south or north of the celestial equator are circumpolar. Depending on the definition, equatorial constellations may include those that lie between declinations 45° north and 45° south, or those that pass through the declination range of the ecliptic or zodiac ranging between 23½° north, the celestial equator, and 23½° south.
Constellation | Terminology
Derivative forms of constellations are used primarily for meteor showers. The genitive forms of the constellations are used to name stars. (See List of constellations.) Other adjectival forms are less common.
List of adjectivals and demonyms of astronomical bodies | Constellations
Norma is bordered by Scorpius to the north, Lupus to the northwest, Circinus to the west, Triangulum Australe to the south and Ara to the east. Covering 165.3 square degrees and 0.401% of the night sky, it ranks 74th of the 88 constellations in size. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Nor". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of ten segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −42.27° and −60.44°.
Norma (constellation) | Characteristics
Ptolemy's "Almagest" remained the standard definition of constellations in the medieval period both in Europe and in Islamic astronomy.
Constellation | Classical antiquity
Keyzer and de Houtman assigned fifteen stars to the constellation in their Malay and Madagascan vocabulary, with a star that would be later designated as Alpha Hydri marking the head, Gamma the chest and a number of stars that were later allocated to Tucana, Reticulum, Mensa and Horologium marking the body and tail. Lacaille charted and designated 20 stars with the Bayer designations Alpha through to Tau in 1756. Of these, he used the designations Eta, Pi and Tau twice each, for three sets of two stars close together, and omitted Omicron and Xi. He assigned Rho to a star that subsequent astronomers were unable to find.
Hydrus | Stars
Cerberus is an obsolete constellation created by Hevelius, whose stars are now included in the constellation Hercules. It was depicted as a three-headed snake that Hercules is holding in his hand. The constellation is no longer in use. This constellation "figure typified the serpent ... infesting the country around Taenarum the Μέτωπον of Greece, the modern Cape Matapan." The presence of Cerberus (Kerberos) at Taenarum (Tainaron) is mentioned by Strabo, Statius, and Seneca the Younger. John Senex combined this constellation with the likewise obsolete constellation Ramus Pomifer, an apple branch held by Hercules, in his 1721 star map to create "Cerberus et Ramus".
Cerberus (constellation) | Introduction
Gould designations for stars are similar to Flamsteed designations in the way that they number stars within a constellation in increasing order of right ascension. Each star is assigned an integer (starting at 1), followed by " G. " (or occasionally followed directly by a "G" without a space), and then the Latin genitive of the constellation it lies in. See 88 modern constellations for a list of constellations and the genitive forms of their names. They were assigned according to the stars' positions in epoch 1875.0, and over time are affected by Precession of the Equinoxes. Due to the star's proper motions or cpm., some stars may now occur out of order.
Gould designation | Introduction
Richard Allen, in "Star-names and Their Meanings", lists names for the constellation as follows: In Ancient Greece, Aratus called the crab "Καρκινος" ("Karkinos"), which was followed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy. The Alfonsine tables called it "Carcinus", a Latinized form of the Greek word. Eratosthenes extended this as "Καρκινος", "Ονοι", "και Φατνη" ("Karkinos", "Onoi", "kai Fatne"): the Crab, Asses, and Crib. In Ancient Rome, Manilius and Ovid called the constellation "Litoreus" (shore-inhabiting). "Astacus" and "Cammarus" appear in various classic writers, while it is called "Nepa" in Cicero's "De Finibus" and the works of Columella, Plautus, and Varro; all of these words signify crab, lobster, or scorpion.
Cancer (constellation) | Names
Out of the 88 modern constellations, 36 lie predominantly in the northern sky, and the other 52 predominantly in the southern. The boundaries developed by Delporte used data that originated back to epoch B1875.0, which was when Benjamin A. Gould first made his proposal to designate boundaries for the celestial sphere, a suggestion on which Delporte based his work. The consequence of this early date is that because of the precession of the equinoxes, the borders on a modern star map, such as epoch J2000, are already somewhat skewed and no longer perfectly vertical or horizontal. This effect will increase over the years and centuries to come.
Constellation | 88 modern constellations
Jean Fortin retained the French name in 1776 for his "Atlas Céleste", while Lacaille latinised the name for his revised "Coelum Australe Stelliferum" in 1763. Lacaille renamed it to "Musca Australis", the Southern Fly—"Australis", since it counterparted the now discarded constellation of Musca Borealis composed of a few stars in Aries, and to avoid confusion with Apus. Today, the name is simply Musca. It is the only official constellation depicting an insect. The Kalapalo people of Mato Grosso state in Brazil called Alpha and Beta Muscae (along with Beta and Kappa Crucis) "Kutsu anangagï" "Ornate Hawk-Eagle's double flutes". The Wardaman people of the Northern Territory in Australia perceived the main stars of Musca as a ceremonial boomerang, part of the Central Arena—a sacred area surrounding the constellation Crux that depicts the lightning creation beings and where they teach Wardaman customs; Alpha and Beta also signified a ceremonial headband, while Gamma and Delta represented two armbands.
Musca | History
The smaller constellation was not recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) when the constellations were established in the 1920s.
Triangulum | History and mythology
The French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille first described the constellation as "l'Horloge à pendule & à secondes" (Clock with pendulum and seconds hand) in 1756, after he had observed and catalogued almost 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the Cape of Good Hope. He devised fourteen new constellations in previously uncharted regions of the southern celestial hemisphere, which were not visible from Europe. All but one honoured scientific instruments, and so symbolised the Age of Enlightenment. The constellation name was Latinised to "Horologium" in a catalogue and updated chart published posthumously in 1763. The Latin term is ultimately derived from the Ancient Greek ὡρολόγιον, for an instrument for telling the hour.
Horologium (constellation) | History
Regarding astronomical constellation configurations:
Kʼàakʼ Chiʼ | See also
Due to its large size, telescopes do not afford an improved view of the cluster. The brighter stars make up the "face" of the former constellation Taurus Poniatovii, due to their V-shaped formation which resembles the Hyades cluster.
Melotte 186 | Observing
Various other unofficial patterns exist alongside the constellations. These are known as "asterisms". Examples include the Big Dipper/Plough and the Northern Cross. Some ancient asterisms, for example Coma Berenices, Serpens, and portions of Argo Navis, are now officially constellations.
IAU designated constellations | Asterisms
Covering 179 square degrees and hence 0.433% of the sky, Corona Borealis ranks 73rd of the 88 modern constellations by area. Its position in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible to observers north of 50°S. It is bordered by Boötes to the north and west, Serpens Caput to the south, and Hercules to the east. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "CrB". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of eight segments ("illustrated in infobox").
Corona Borealis | Characteristics
His student Petrus Keyzer, along with Dutch explorer Frederick de Houtman, coined the name Den Zuyden Trianghel. Triangulum Australe was more accurately depicted in Johann Bayer's celestial atlas "Uranometria" in 1603, where it was also given its current name. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille portrayed the constellations of Norma, Circinus and Triangulum Australe as a set square and ruler, a compass, and a surveyor's level respectively in a set of draughtsman's instruments in his 1756 map of the southern stars. Also depicting it as a surveyor's level, German Johann Bode gave it the alternate name of Libella in his "Uranographia". German poet and author Philippus Caesius saw the three main stars as representing the Three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (with Atria as Abraham).
Triangulum Australe | History
The constellation appeared in later star atlases through the 19th century but was rarely used by the end of the century; Richard Hinckley Allen noted its most recent use had been in 1878 in Father Angelo Secchi's planisphere, but stated "it is seldom found in the maps of our day.". The stars were later absorbed into northern Puppis, and remained permanently there after the setting of the constellation boundaries in 1928.
Officina Typographica | Introduction
In Hawaii, the constellation was called "Na Kuhi", and Mira (Omicron Ceti) may have been called "Kane".
Cetus | In global astronomy
In fact, it covers the region from Boötes to as far as the Zodiac constellation Gemini. In addition, the clustering is somewhat roundish in shape, which is more likely a supercluster, in contrast to an elongated shape of a galaxy wall. Another name, Great GRB Wall, was proposed in a later paper.
Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall | Nomenclature
For help with the literary English pronunciations, see the . There is considerable diversity in how Latinate names are pronounced in English. For traditions closer to the original, see Latin spelling and pronunciation.
IAU designated constellations | List
It was most likely catalogued with no relation to Fomalhaut due to the fact that it is in the Aquarius constellation, while the rest of the system are in the Piscis Austrinus constellation.
Fomalhaut C | Introduction
Covering a total of 248.9 square degrees or 0.603% of the sky, Horologium ranks 58th in area out of the 88 modern constellations. Its position in the southern celestial hemisphere means the whole constellation is visible to observers south of 23°N. Horologium is bordered by five constellations: Eridanus (the Po river), Caelum (the chisel), Reticulum (the reticle), Dorado (the dolphin/swordfish), and Hydrus (the "male" water snake). The three letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "Hor". The official constellation boundaries are defined by a twenty-two-sided polygon ("illustrated in infobox"). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −39.64° and −67.04°.
Horologium (constellation) | Characteristics
Constellation Dome () is an ice-covered prominence, high, the highest feature in the Darley Hills, standing west of Gentile Point, between the Ross Ice Shelf and Nursery Glacier. It was so named by the Northern Party of the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1960–61) because it was here that the party carried out the first astro fix of the journey.
Constellation Dome | Introduction
The luminosity of the sources was typical of RS Canum Venaticorum variables, close binaries that could retain very active coronal sources despite the age of the cluster.
NGC 6940 | Charasteristics
The stars of the modern constellation Fornax were formerly a part of Eridanus.
Eridanus (constellation) | History and mythology
Norma was introduced in 1751–52 by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille with the French name "l’Équerre et la Règle", "the Square and Rule", after he had observed and catalogued 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the Cape of Good Hope. He devised 14 new constellations in uncharted regions of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere not visible from Europe. All but one honoured instruments that symbolised the Age of Enlightenment. Lacaille portrayed the constellations of Norma, Circinus and Triangulum Australe, respectively, as a set square and ruler, a compass, and a surveyor's level in a set of draughtsman instruments, in his 1756 map of the southern stars.
Norma (constellation) | History
The meanings of the names are still under discussion.
Chinese astronomy | Constellations
In Western astronomy, Monoceros is a relatively modern constellation, not one of Ptolemy's 48 in the "Almagest". Its first certain appearance was on a globe created by the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius in 1612 or 1613 and it was later charted by German astronomer Jakob Bartsch as Unicornu on his star chart of 1624. German astronomers Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers and Ludwig Ideler indicate (according to 's allegations) that the constellation may be older, quoting an astrological work from 1564 that mentioned "the second horse between the Twins and the Crab has many stars, but not very bright"; these references may ultimately be due to the 13th century Scotsman Michael Scot, but refer to a horse and not a unicorn, and its position does not quite match.
Monoceros | History
(GoH: Gordon R. Dickson, AGoH: Mark Maxwell, MC: Frank Kelly Freas, FGoH: Maurine Dorris, "Uncle Timmy") Each Con†Stellation has been subtitled with an astronomical constellation—usually one of the 88 official modern constellations, though the first one was named after a group of stars in Taurus. The convention often uses the constellation as a theme in its advertising and for events at the convention.
Con†Stellation | Con†Stellation history
The "Uranometria" contained 48 maps of Ptolemaic constellations, a plate of the southern constellations and two plates showing the entire northern and southern hemispheres in stereographic polar projection. The Pole Johannes Hevelius finished his Firmamentum Sobiescianum star atlas in 1690. It contained 56 large, double page star maps and improved the accuracy in the position of the southern stars. He introduced 11 more constellations (Scutum, Lacerta, Canes Venatici, etc.).
Star chart | Early modern
Rangifer was a small constellation between the constellations of Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis. It was also known as Tarandus. Both words mean "reindeer" in Latin. ""Rangifer"" is the generic name of the reindeer, and ""tarandus"" is the specific name.
Rangifer (constellation) | Introduction
Although the name originally referred to an entire constellation, it was assigned to this particular bright star at least as early as 1660, when it appeared in Andreas Cellarius’s Harmonia Macrocosmica, a renowned 17th century Dutch magnificently illustrated book about the cosmos. In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems. It approved the name "Alsephina" for the component δ Velorum Aa on 5 September 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.
Delta Velorum | Nomenclature
Similarly, faint unlettered stars were listed only as in "Argûs". The final breakup and abolition of Argo Navis was proposed by Sir John Herschel in 1841 and again in 1844. Despite this, the constellation remained in use in parallel with its constituent parts into the 20th century. In 1922, along with the other constellations, it received a three-letter abbreviation: "Arg". The breakup and relegation to a former constellation occurred in 1930 when the IAU defined the 88 modern constellations, formally instituting "Carina", "Puppis", and "Vela", and declaring "Argo" obsolete. Lacaille's designations were kept in the offspring, so "Carina" has α, β, and ε; "Vela" has γ and δ; "Puppis" has ζ; and so on.
Argo Navis | The constituent modern constellations
Tolkien developed a list of names and meanings called the "Qenya Lexicon". Christopher Tolkien included extracts from this in an appendix to "The Book of Lost Tales", including mentions of specific stars, planets, and constellations in the entries: "Gong, Ingil, Mornië, Morwinyon, Nielluin, Silindrin, and Telimektar". The Sun was called Anor or Ur. The Moon was called Ithil or Silmo.
Cosmology of Tolkien's legendarium | Planets and constellations
The whole constellation is visible to observers south of latitude 29°N.
Norma (constellation) | Characteristics
Corona Australis may have been recorded by ancient Mesopotamians in the MUL.APIN, as a constellation called MA.GUR ("The Bark"). However, this constellation, adjacent to SUHUR.MASH ("The Goat-Fish", modern Capricornus), may instead have been modern Epsilon Sagittarii. As a part of the southern sky, MA.GUR was one of the fifteen "stars of Ea". In the 3rd century BC, the Greek didactic poet Aratus wrote of, but did not name the constellation, instead calling the two crowns Στεφάνοι ("Stephanoi"). The Greek astronomer Ptolemy described the constellation in the 2nd century AD, though with the inclusion of Alpha Telescopii, since transferred to Telescopium.
Corona Australis | History
Melotte 186 (also known as Collinder 359) is a large, loosely bound open cluster located in the constellation Ophiuchus. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.0 and an approximate size of 240 arc-minutes.
Melotte 186 | Introduction
In a given constellation, the first variable stars discovered were designated with letters R through Z, e.g. R Andromedae. This system of nomenclature was developed by Friedrich W. Argelander, who gave the first previously unnamed variable in a constellation the letter R, the first letter not used by Bayer. Letters RR through RZ, SS through SZ, up to ZZ are used for the next discoveries, e.g. RR Lyrae. Later discoveries used letters AA through AZ, BB through BZ, and up to QQ through QZ (with J omitted). Once those 334 combinations are exhausted, variables are numbered in order of discovery, starting with the prefixed V335 onwards.
Variable star | Nomenclature
In practice, some threshold can be defined such that, if the ratio exceeds that threshold, we then consider an instance of an object to be detected.
Constellation model | Classification
Pyxis was listed among his 14 new constellations, separate from Argo. In 1844, John Herschel suggested formalizing the mast as a new constellation, "Malus", to replace Lacaille's "Pyxis", but the idea did not catch on. Similarly, an effort by Edmond Halley to detach the "cloud of mist" at the prow of Argo Navis to form a new constellation named "Robur Carolinum" (Charles' Oak) in honor of King Charles II, his patron, was unsuccessful.
Argo Navis | The constituent modern constellations
The sky was divided into constellations by historic astronomers, according to perceived patterns in the sky. At first, only the shapes of the patterns were defined, and the names and numbers of constellations varied from one star map to another. Despite being scientifically meaningless, they do provide useful reference points in the sky for human beings, including astronomers. In 1930, the boundaries of these constellations were fixed by Eugène Joseph Delporte and adopted by the IAU, so that now every point on the celestial sphere belongs to a particular constellation.
Astronomical naming conventions | Constellations
The constellations around the South Pole were not observable from north of the equator, by the ancient Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Indians, or Arabs. During the Age of Exploration, expeditions to the southern hemisphere began to result in the addition of new constellations. The modern constellations in this region were defined notably by Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, who in 1595 traveled together to the East Indies (First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia). These 12 newly Dutch-created (that include Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Pavo, Phoenix, Triangulum Australe, Tucana, and Volans) first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597/1598 in Amsterdam by Dutch cartographers Petrus Plancius and Jodocus Hondius.
Early modern Netherlandish cartography | Dutch celestial and lunar cartography in the Age of Discovery
At Gundamine, on the Namoi, the Pleiades are called "Gindemar"; higher up the river, at Burburgate, this constellation is called "Dindima" (woman), and the Hyades "Giwīr" (man).
Yuwaalaraay | Mythology
Constellations is a series of 23 small paintings on paper, initiated by Joan Miró in 1939 in Varengeville-sur-Mer and completed in 1941 between Mallorca and Mont-roig del Camp. The Fundació Joan Miró preserves a work of this series and "The Morning Star," one of the most important pieces of the series. The painter gave to his wife and she later donated to the Foundation.
Constellations (Miró) | Introduction
In modern times, Argo Navis was considered unwieldy due to its enormous size (28% larger than Hydra, the largest modern constellation). In his 1763 star atlas, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille explained that there were more than a hundred and sixty stars clearly visible to the naked eye in Navis, and so he used the set of lowercase and uppercase Latin letters three times on portions of the constellation referred to as ""Argûs in carina"" (Carina, the keel or hull), ""Argûs in puppi"" (Puppis, the poop deck or stern), and ""Argûs in velis"" (Vela, the sails). Lacaille replaced Bayer's designations with new ones that followed stellar magnitudes more closely, but used only a single Greek-letter sequence and described the constellation for those stars as "Argûs".
Argo Navis | The constituent modern constellations
Grus (, or colloquially ) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the crane, a type of bird. It is one of twelve constellations conceived by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Grus first appeared on a celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius and was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas "Uranometria" of 1603. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille gave Bayer designations to its stars in 1756, some of which had been previously considered part of the neighbouring constellation Piscis Austrinus.
Grus (constellation) | Introduction
However, there are very young clusters like Ruprecht 44 and the 4-million-year-old NGC 1893 at a distance of about 7 and 6 kiloparsecs, respectively.
V838 Monocerotis | Thermonuclear event within a massive supergiant
μ Gruis, Latinised as, Mu Gruis refers to 2 distinct star systems in the constellation Grus:
Mu Gruis | Introduction
A general list of 88 constellations was produced for the International Astronomical Union in 1922. It is roughly based on the traditional Greek constellations listed by Ptolemy in his "Almagest" in the 2nd century and Aratus' work "Phenomena", with early modern modifications and additions (most importantly introducing constellations covering the parts of the southern sky unknown to Ptolemy) by Petrus Plancius (1592, 1597/98 and 1613), Johannes Hevelius (1690) and Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (1763), who named fourteen constellations and renamed a fifteenth one. De Lacaille studied the stars of the southern hemisphere from 1750 until 1754 from Cape of Good Hope, when he was said to have observed more than 10,000 stars using a refracting telescope.
Constellation | 88 modern constellations
In the past decade, further advancements in the use of the process have been innovated by practitioners throughout the world.
Family Constellations | Conceptual basis
The constellation Rangifer was created by the French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier in 1736 to commemorate the expedition of Maupertuis to Lapland. Geodetical observations from the expedition proved Earth's oblateness. The constellation is no longer in use.
Rangifer (constellation) | History
A star located in the northern constellation of Corona Borealis (The Northern Crown) is named after it. See HD 145457.
Kamuy | Star naming
In August 1939, a month before the outbreak of the World War II, Miró, with his family escaped Paris and moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer, a small town in Normandy. This sentiment of escaping is clearly reflected in this series' harmonic and poetic production. At Varengeville-sur-Mer he painted the top ten works in the series which was later called "Constellations", beginning with "The Dawn" and "The Scale of Evasion". After escaping from France, Miró continued the series of "Constellations" in Mallorca, creating a more complex group of ten more. The last three were created in 1941 in his ancestral home in Mont-roig del Camp.
Constellations (Miró) | History
It was once suspected to be a strange star, but this has been discounted.
Corona Australis | Stars
Some of the northern sky's former constellations were placed in the less populated regions between the traditional brighter constellations just to fill gaps. In the southern skies, new constellations were often created from about the 15th century by voyagers who began journeying south of the equator. European countries like England, France, the Netherlands, German or Italian states, etc., often supported and popularised their own constellation outlines. In some cases, different constellations occupied overlapping areas and included the same stars. These former constellations are often found in older books, star charts or star catalogues. The eighty-eight modern constellation names and boundaries were standardised by Eugene Delporte for the IAU in 1930, under an international agreement, removing any possible astronomical ambiguities between astronomers from different countries.
Former constellation | Introduction
In some ancient atlases, the constellations Serpens and Ophiuchus were depicted as two separate constellations, although more often they were shown as a single constellation. One notable figure to depict Serpens separately was Johann Bayer; thus, Serpens' stars are cataloged with separate Bayer designations from those of Ophiuchus. When Eugène Delporte established modern constellation boundaries in the 1920s, he elected to depict the two separately. However, this posed the problem of how to disentangle the two constellations, with Deporte deciding to split Serpens into two areas—the head and the tail—separated by the continuous Ophiuchus. These two areas became known as Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda, "caput" being the Latin word for head and "cauda" the Latin word for tail.
Serpens | History
Nearly all former or defunct constellations differ in their designated boundaries inasmuch as they have outlines that do not follow the exact lines of right ascension and declination.
Former constellation | Introduction
In the north of the constellation is the Corona Australis Molecular Cloud, a dark molecular cloud with many embedded reflection nebulae, including NGC 6729, NGC 6726–7, and IC 4812. A star-forming region of around , it contains Herbig–Haro objects (protostars) and some very young stars. About 430 light years (130 parsecs) away, it is one of the closest star-forming regions to the Solar System. The related NGC 6726 and 6727, along with unrelated NGC 6729, were first recorded by Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt in 1865. The Coronet cluster, about 554 light years (170 parsecs) away at the edge of the Gould Belt, is also used in studying star and protoplanetary disk formation.
Corona Australis | Deep sky objects
Satellite constellation simulation tools: More information:
Satellite constellation | External links
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived outline or pattern, typically representing an animal, mythological person or creature, or an inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellations likely go back to prehistory. People used them to relate stories of their beliefs, experiences, creation, or mythology. Different cultures and countries adopted their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before today's constellations were internationally recognized. The recognition of constellations has changed significantly over time. Many have changed in size or shape. Some became popular, only to drop into obscurity.
Constellation | Introduction
Another ten have the same stars but different names. Biblical scholar E. W. Bullinger interpreted some of the creatures mentioned in the books of Ezekiel and Revelation as the middle signs of the four quarters of the Zodiac, with the Lion as Leo, the Bull as Taurus, the Man representing Aquarius, and the Eagle standing in for Scorpio. The biblical Book of Job also makes reference to a number of constellations, including "bier", "fool" and "heap" (Job 9:9, 38:31–32), rendered as "Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades" by the KJV, but "‘Ayish" "the bier" actually corresponding to Ursa Major. The term "Mazzaroth" , translated as "a garland of crowns", is a "hapax legomenon" in Job 38:32, and it might refer to the zodiacal constellations.
Constellation | Ancient Near East
In 1922, Quadrans Muralis was omitted when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formalised its list of officially recognized constellations.
Quadrans Muralis | Introduction
Excerpt from Chapter 2:- On the formation of the luminaries. 1. Ohrmazd produced illumination between the sky and the earth, the constellation stars and those also not of the constellations, then the moon, and afterwards the sun, as I shall relate. 2. First he produced the celestial sphere, and the constellation stars are assigned to it by him; especially these twelve whose names are Varak (the Lamb), Tora (the Bull), Do-patkar (the Two-figures or Gemini), Kalachang (the Crab), Sher (the Lion), Khushak (Virgo), Tarazhuk (the Balance), Gazdum (the Scorpion), Nimasp (the Centaur or Sagittarius), Vahik (Capricorn), Dul (the Water-pot), and Mahik (the Fish);
Bundahishn | Zoroastrian astronomy
Their existence was confirmed by data analysis later that year.
Corvus (constellation) | Meteor showers
It is a variable star with a minimum magnitude of 2.3 and a maximum magnitude of 2.0. An imaginary line drawn from the Great Square of Pegasus through Fomalhaut will lead to Alnair and Beta Gruis. Lying in the northwest corner of the constellation and marking the crane's eye is Gamma Gruis, a blue-white subgiant of spectral type B8III and magnitude 3.0 lying around 211 light-years from Earth. Also known as Al Dhanab, it has finished fusing its core hydrogen and has begun cooling and expanding, which will see it transform into a red giant.
Grus (constellation) | Stars
Others were limited to a single culture or nation. The 48 traditional Western constellations are Greek. They are given in Aratus' work "Phenomena" and Ptolemy's "Almagest", though their origin probably predates these works by several centuries. Constellations in the far southern sky were added from the 15th century until the mid-18th century when European explorers began traveling to the Southern Hemisphere. Twelve ancient constellations belong to the zodiac (straddling the ecliptic, which the Sun, Moon, and planets all traverse). The origins of the zodiac remain historically uncertain; its astrological divisions became prominent c. 400 BC in Babylonian or Chaldean astronomy.
Constellation | Introduction
The Aranda people of central Australia saw the four Cross stars as the talon of an eagle and Gamma Centauri as its leg. Various peoples in the East Indies and Brazil viewed the four main stars as the body of a ray. In both Indonesia and Malaysia, it is known as "Bintang Pari" and "Buruj Pari", respectively ("ray stars"). This aquatic theme is also shared by an archaic name of the constellation in Vietnam, where it was once known as "sao Cá Liệt" (the ponyfish star). The Javanese people of Indonesia called this constellation "Gubug pèncèng" ("raking hut") or "lumbung" ("the granary"), because the shape of the constellation was like that of a raking hut.
Crux | Various Cultures
Corona Australis is a small constellation bordered by Sagittarius to the north, Scorpius to the west, Telescopium to the south, and Ara to the southwest. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is "CrA". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of four segments ("illustrated in infobox"). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −36.77° and −45.52°. Covering 128 square degrees, Corona Australis culminates at midnight around the 30th of June and ranks 80th in area.
Corona Australis | Characteristics
Most modern catalogues are generated by computers, using high-resolution, high-sensitivity telescopes, and as a result describe very large numbers of objects. For example, the Guide Star Catalog II has entries on over 998 million distinct astronomical objects. Objects in these catalogs are typically located with very high resolution, and assign designations to these objects based on their position in the sky. An example of such a designation is "SDSSp J153259.96−003944.1", where the initialism "SDSSp" indicates that the designation is from the "Sloan Digital Sky Survey preliminary objects", and the other characters indicate celestial coordinates (epoch 'J', right ascension 153259.96, declination −00°39′44.1″).
Astronomical naming conventions | Modern catalogues