The Constellations 2 (original) (raw)

* NOTES ON COLUMN HEADINGS:

Visibility range (full) gives the range of latitudes from which each constellation rises fully above the horizon at some time. Stars close to the horizon will be considerably dimmed by atmospheric extinction.

Visibility range (partial) gives the latitudes from which the constellation only ever rises partly above the horizon. Constellations which never rise more than a few degrees above the horizon from a given latitude will be effectively unobservable.

Number of stars ≤6.5 gives the number of stars within the constellation of magnitude 6.5 and brighter as listed in the Hipparcos Catalogue.

Origin:

1. Original Greek constellations listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest

2. Considered by the Greeks as part of Leo; made separate by Caspar Vopel in 1536, followed by Gerardus Mercator in 1551.

3. The 12 southern constellations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman

4. Constellations added by Petrus Plancius

5. Seven constellations of Johannes Hevelius

6. The 14 southern constellations of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille

7. Part of the original Greek constellation Argo Navis, dismantled in the 18th century by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.

Who were Ptolemy, Keyser, de Houtman, Plancius, Hevelius, and Lacaille? For more on the origin and originators of the constellations, see Chapter One of Ian Ridpath’s Star Tales.