- Star Tales - Andromeda (ianridpath.com)
Perhaps the most enduring of all Greek myths is the story of Perseus and Andromeda, the original version of George and the dragon. Its heroine is beautiful princess Andromeda (Ἀνδρομέδα in Greek). She was the daughter of the weak King Cepheus of Ethiopia and the vain Queen Cassiopeia, whose boastfulness knew no bounds.
- Star Tales - Antlia (ianridpath.com)
Antlia is one of the constellations of the southern sky introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille on his map of 1756. He said in the accompanying description that it symbolized experimental physics. Lacaille originally called the constellation la Machine Pneumatique but Latinized this to Antlia Pneumatica on the second edition of the map published in 1763. Following a suggestion by John Herschel, the English astronomer Francis Baily shortened its name to just Antlia in his British Association Catalogue of 1845, and it has been known as that ever since.
- Star Tales - Apus (ianridpath.com)
One of the dozen new constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century from observations of the southern sky by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Apus represents a fabulous bird of paradise, as found in New Guinea, but it is a disappointing tribute to such an exotic creature, its brightest stars being of only 4th magnitude.
- Star Tales - Aquarius (ianridpath.com)
Star maps show Aquarius as a young man pouring water from a jar or amphora, although Ovid, in his Fasti, says the liquid is a mixture of water and nectar, the drink of the gods. The water jar is marked by a Y-shaped asterism of four stars centred on 4th-magnitude Zeta Aquarii, and the stream ends in the mouth of the Southern Fish, Piscis Austrinus. Who is this young man commemorated as Aquarius?
- Star Tales - Aquila (ianridpath.com)
Aquila represents an eagle, the thunderbird of the Greeks. The constellation’s name in Greek was Ἀετός, i.e. Aetos, meaning eagle. There are several explanations for the presence of this eagle in the sky. In Greek and Roman mythology, the eagle was the bird of Zeus, carrying (and retrieving) the thunderbolts which the wrathful god hurled at his enemies. But the eagle was involved in love as well as war.
- Star Tales - Ara (ianridpath.com)
Altars feature frequently in Greek legend, for heroes were always making sacrifices to the gods, so it is not surprising to find an altar among the stars. But this altar is a special one, for it was used by the gods themselves to swear a vow of allegiance before their fight against the Titans, according to Eratosthenes and Manilius. That clash, known as the Titanomachy, was one of the most significant events in Greek myth.
- Star Tales - Argo Navis (ianridpath.com)
Argo (Ἀργώ in Greek) is a constellation that is not so much disused as dismantled. It was one of the 48 constellations known to Greek astronomers, as listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest, but the 18th-century French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille found it large and unwieldy and so divided it into three parts: Carina, the Keel or body; Puppis, the Poop (i.e. stern); and Vela, the Sails. Were the three parts to be reunited, the resulting figure would be almost 28% larger in area than the current largest constellation, Hydra.
- Star Tales - Aries (ianridpath.com)
It is not surprising to find a ram in the sky, for rams were frequently sacrificed to the gods, and Zeus was at times identified with a ram. But the mythographers agree that Aries is a special ram, the one whose golden fleece was the object of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts. This ram made its appearance on Earth just as King Athamas of Boeotia was about to sacrifice his son Phrixus to ward off an impending famine.
- Star Tales - Auriga (ianridpath.com)
High in the northern sky stands a forlorn-looking charioteer. With his right hand he grasps the reins of a chariot, while on his left arm he carries a goat and its two kids. Of his chariot itself there is no sign. What’s the story here? Mythology offers several identifications for this prominent constellation, although the presence of the goat is not accounted for by any of them.
- Star Tales - Boötes (ianridpath.com)
This constellation (pronounced Boh-oh-tease) is closely linked in legend with the Great Bear, Ursa Major, because of its position behind the bear’s tail. The origin of the name Boötes (Greek: Βοώτης) is not certain, but it probably comes from a Greek word meaning ‘noisy’ or ‘clamorous’, referring to the herdsman’s shouts to his animals. An alternative explanation is that the name comes from the ancient Greek meaning ‘ox-driver’, from the fact that Ursa Major was sometimes visualized as a cart pulled by oxen.
- Star Tales - Caelum (ianridpath.com)
This small and insignificant constellation in the southern hemisphere, representing an engraver’s chisel, is one of the inventions of the 18th-century French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. He introduced it on his map of the southern stars published in 1756, where he gave it the French name les Burins (although in the accompanying star catalogue it was listed as Burin, singular). On the second edition of the map in 1763 this was Latinized to Caelum Scalptorium. In 1844 the English astronomer John Herschel proposed shortening the name to Caelum. Francis Baily adopted this suggestion in his British Association Catalogue of 1845, and it has been known as Caelum ever since.
- Star Tales - Camelopardalis (ianridpath.com)
One of the most unlikely animals to be found in the sky is a giraffe. The Greeks called giraffes ‘camel leopards’ because of their long necks and spots, which is where the name Camelopardalis comes from. However, the constellation Camelopardalis was not invented by the Greeks but by the Dutch theologian and astronomer Petrus Plancius in 1612. Plancius first showed it on a celestial globe in that year along with another odd constellation that is still recognized, Monoceros.
- Star Tales - Cancer (ianridpath.com)
The crab is a minor character in one of the labours of Heracles (the Greek name for Hercules). While Heracles was fighting the multi-headed monster called the Hydra in the swamp near Lerna, the crab emerged from the swamp and added its own attack by biting Heracles on the foot. Heracles angrily stamped on the crab, crushing it. For this modest contribution to history, we are told that the goddess Hera, the enemy of Heracles, put the crab among the stars of the zodiac. Its name in Greek was Καρκίνος (Karkinos), or Carcinus in Latin transliteration.
- Star Tales - Canes Venatici (ianridpath.com)
The Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius formed this constellation in 1687 from a scattering of faint stars beneath the tail of Ursa Major. Canes Venatici represents a pair of greyhounds held on a lead by Boötes, snapping at the heels of the Great Bear. Hevelius named the dogs Asterion (‘Starry’) and Chara (‘Dear’), identifying them as male and female respectively…
- Star Tales - Canis Major (ianridpath.com)
Four dogs are to be found among the constellations: Canis Major, Canis Minor, and the two hunting dogs of Canes Venatici, but Canis Major is undoubtedly the top dog. Indeed, Ptolemy in the Almagest called it simply Κύων (Kyon), the Dog. Canis Major is dominated by Sirius, popularly termed the Dog Star, the most brilliant star in the entire night sky; almost certainly the constellation originated with this star alone.
- Star Tales - Canis Minor (ianridpath.com)
Representing the smaller of the two dogs of Orion, Canis Minor originally consisted of just the bright star Procyon, known in Greek as Προκύων (Prokyon), meaning ‘before the dog’ or ‘foredog’. This name, used by the Greeks for both the star and the constellation, comes from the fact that it rises earlier than its more prominent kennel-mate Canis Major which Ptolemy called simply Κύων (Kyon), the Dog.
- Star Tales - Capricornus (ianridpath.com)
Capricornus is an unlikely looking creature, with the head and forelegs of a goat and the tail of a fish. The constellation evidently originated with the Sumerians and Babylonians, who had a fondness for amphibious creatures; the ancient Sumerians called it SUHUR-MASH-HA, the goat-fish. But to the Greeks, who named it Αἰγόκερως (Aigokeros, or Aegoceros in Latin transliteration), meaning goat-horned, the constellation was identified with Pan, god of the countryside, who had the horns and legs of a goat.
- Star Tales - Carina (ianridpath.com)
The smallest but most prominent of the three parts into which the ancient Greek constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, was divided by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in his first catalogue of the southern stars, published in 1756. In that catalogue he gave it the French name Corps du Navire. His final catalogue, Coelum australe stelliferum, appeared in 1763 containing the same three subdivisions but with Latin instead of French names. Although usually described as the keel, Carina represents the main body or hull of the ship. The other two parts are Puppis, the poop or stern, and Vela, the sails.
- Star Tales - Cassiopeia (ianridpath.com)
Cassiopeia was the vain and boastful wife of King Cepheus of Ethiopia, who stands next to her in the sky. They are the only husband-and-wife couple among the constellations. Classical authors spell her name Cassiepeia, from the original Greek Κασσιέπεια, but Cassiopeia is the form used by astronomers.
- Star Tales - Centaurus (ianridpath.com)
Centaurs were mythical beasts, half-man, half-horse. They were a wild and ill-behaved race, particularly when the wine bottle was opened. But one centaur, Chiron, stood out from the rest as being wise and scholarly, and he is the one who is represented by the constellation Centaurus (Κένταυσος in Greek).
- Star Tales - Cepheus (ianridpath.com)
Cepheus was the mythological king of Ethiopia. He was deemed worthy of a place in the sky because he was fourth in descent from the nymph Io, one of the loves of Zeus – and having Zeus as a relative was always an advantage when it came to being commemorated among the constellations. The kingdom of Cepheus was not the Ethiopia we know today, but stretched from the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean southwards to the Red Sea, an area that contains parts of the modern Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Ptolemy described him as wearing the tiara-like head-dress of a Persian king, as he is shown on John Flamsteed’s star atlas…
- Star Tales - Cetus (ianridpath.com)
When Cassiopeia, wife of King Cepheus of Ethiopia, boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs called the Nereids she set in motion one of the most celebrated stories in mythology, the main characters of which are commemorated among the constellations. In retribution for the insult to the Nereids, the sea god Poseidon sent a fearsome monster to ravage the coast of Cepheus’s territory. That monster, a dragon of the sea, is represented by the constellation Cetus.
- Star Tales - Chamaeleon (ianridpath.com)
The celestial chameleon, named after the colour-changing lizard, is one of the constellations representing exotic animals introduced by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman when they charted the southern skies in 1595–97. These new southern constellations were first shown on a globe by their fellow Dutchman Petrus Plancius in 1598 and were rapidly adopted by other map makers such as Johann Bayer, since no other observations of the far southern skies were then available. Chamaeleon lies near the south celestial pole, in close pursuit of Musca, the fly.
- Star Tales - Circinus (ianridpath.com)
An insignificant constellation representing a pair of dividing compasses as used by geometers, draughtsmen, and navigators for drawing circles and measuring distances; they are also known as dividers. Circinus was introduced in the 1750s by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who fitted various figures into gaps between the existing constellations of the southern skies. In this case the gap seems to have been almost non-existent, and the compasses are squeezed in their folded position between the forefeet of Centaurus and Triangulum Australe. It is the smallest of Lacaille’s 14 inventions, and the fourth-smallest constellation in the entire sky.
- Star Tales - Columba (ianridpath.com)
A constellation formed in the late 16th century by the Dutch cartographer and astronomer Petrus Plancius, who took some stars that Ptolemy in his Almagest had catalogued as lying outside Canis Major. These unformed stars can be seen, for example, on the southern half of Albrecht Dürer’s star chart of 1515 as two little groups, one group of six to the south of Lepus, from which the dove was formed, and another group of five between the hind legs of Canis Major which Plancius visualized as an olive branch.
- Star Tales - Coma Berenices (ianridpath.com)
Between Boötes and Leo lies a fan-shaped swarm of faint stars that was known to the Greeks but was not classed by them as a separate constellation. Eratosthenes referred to this swarm as the hair of Ariadne under his entry on the Northern Crown (Corona Borealis), but under Leo he said it was the hair of Queen Berenice of Egypt, which is how we identify it today.
- Star Tales - Corona Australis (ianridpath.com)
Corona Australis was known to the Greeks not as a crown but as a wreath, which is how it is depicted on old star maps. Aratus did not name it as a separate constellation but referred to it simply as a circlet of stars beneath the forefeet of Sagittarius. Hyginus said it was a wreath cast off by the archer ‘as by one at play’.
- Star Tales - Corona Borealis (ianridpath.com)
A semicircle of stars between Boötes and Hercules marks the golden crown worn by Princess Ariadne of Crete when she married the god Dionysus (known to the Romans as Bacchus). The crown is said to have been made by Hephaestus, the god of fire, and was studded with jewels from India.
- Star Tales - Corvus and Crater (ianridpath.com)
These two adjacent constellations are linked in a moral tale that goes back at least to the time of Eratosthenes in the third century BC. As told by Ovid in his Fasti, Apollo was about to make a sacrifice to Zeus and sent the crow to fetch water from a running spring. The crow flew off with a bowl in its claws until it came to a fig tree laden with unripe fruit. Ignoring its orders, the crow waited several days for the fruit to ripen, by which time Apollo had been forced to find a source of water for himself.
- Star Tales - Crux (ianridpath.com)
The smallest of all the 88 constellations. Its stars were known to the ancient Greeks, and were catalogued by Ptolemy in the Almagest, but at that time were regarded as part of the hind legs of Centaurus, the centaur, rather than as a separate constellation. They subsequently became lost from view to Europeans because of the effect of precession, which causes a gradual drift in the position of the celestial pole against the stars, and were rediscovered during the 16th century by seafarers venturing south.
- Star Tales - Cygnus (ianridpath.com)
A popular name for Cygnus is the Northern Cross, and indeed its shape is far larger and more distinctive than the famous Southern Cross. In its cruciform shape the Greeks visualized the long neck, outstretched wings, and stubby tail of a swan flying along the Milky Way, in which it is embedded. Aratus’s description of it as being hazy or misty in parts is no doubt a reference to the Milky Way running through it. The mythographers tell us that the swan is Zeus in disguise, on his way to one of his innumerable love affairs, but his exact quarry is a subject of some disagreement.
- Star Tales - Delphinus (ianridpath.com)
Dolphins were a familiar sight to Greek sailors, so it is not surprising to find one of these friendly and intelligent creatures depicted in the sky. Two stories account for the presence of the celestial dolphin. According to Eratosthenes, this jaunty dolphin represents the messenger of the sea god Poseidon.
- Star Tales - Dorado (ianridpath.com)
A small southern constellation introduced at the end of the 16th century by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Dorado was first depicted on a star globe of 1598 by the Dutchman Petrus Plancius and first appeared in print in 1603 on the Uranometria atlas of Johann Bayer.
- Star Tales - Draco (ianridpath.com)
Coiled around the sky’s north pole is the celestial dragon, Draco, known to the Greeks as Δράκων (i.e. Drakon). Legend has it that this is the dragon slain by Heracles during one of his labours, and in the sky the dragon is depicted with one foot of Heracles (in the form of the neighbouring constellation Hercules) planted firmly upon its head. This dragon, named Ladon, guarded the precious tree on which grew the golden apples.
- Star Tales - Equuleus (ianridpath.com)
This insignificant constellation, second-smallest in the sky, was one of the 48 constellations listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century AD. It was unknown to Aratus 400 years earlier, and its invention is often attributed to Ptolemy. In the Almagest he called it Ἵππου Προτομή (Hippou Protome), the forepart of a horse; Equuleus is a later Latin name.
- Star Tales - Eridanus (ianridpath.com)
Aratus applied the mythical name Ἠριδανός (Eridanos) to this constellation although many other authorities, including Ptolemy in the Almagest, simply called it Ποταμός (Potamos), meaning river. Eratosthenes had another identification: he said that the constellation represented the Nile, ‘the only river which runs from south to north’. Hyginus agreed, claiming that the star Canopus lay at the end of the celestial river, in the same way that the island Canopus lies at the mouth of the Nile. However, in this he was wrong, for Canopus marks a steering oar of the ship Argo and is not part of the river. Hyginus had evidently misunderstood a comment by Eratosthenes, who had simply said that Canopus lay ‘beneath’ the river, meaning that it was at a more southerly declination.
- Star Tales - Fornax (ianridpath.com)
An obscure constellation introduced by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after his trip to the Cape of Good Hope to observe the southern stars in 1751–52, depicting a chemist’s furnace used for distillation. It lies tucked into a bend in the river Eridanus.
- Star Tales - Gemini (ianridpath.com)
Gemini represents the mythical Greek twins Kastor (Κάστωρ) and Polydeukes (Πολυδεύκης). The Latinized forms of their names are Castor and Pollux (sometimes Polydeuces), by which they are now generally known. The Greeks referred to them jointly as the Dioskouroi (Dioscuri in Latin), literally meaning ‘sons of Zeus’. However, mythologists disputed whether both really were sons of Zeus, because of the unusual circumstances of their birth.
- Star Tales - Grus (ianridpath.com)
One of the 12 constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman after their pioneer observations of the southern skies. Grus represents a long-necked wading bird, the crane. Possibly they had in mind the sarus crane of India and southeast Asia, which is the largest species of crane, standing nearly 6ft tall.
- Star Tales - Hercules (ianridpath.com)
The origin of this constellation is so ancient that its true identity was lost even to the Greeks, who knew the figure as Ἐνγόνασι (Engonasi) or Ἐνγόνασιν (Engonasin), literally meaning ‘the kneeling one’. The Greek poet Aratus described him as being worn out with toil, his hands upraised, with one knee bent and a foot on the head of Draco, the dragon. ‘No one knows his name, nor what he labours at’, said Aratus. But Eratosthenes, a century after Aratus, identified the figure as Heracles (the Greek name for Hercules) triumphing over the dragon that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. The Greek playwright Aeschylus, quoted by Hyginus, offered a different explanation. He said that Heracles was kneeling, wounded and exhausted, during his battle with the Ligurians.
- Star Tales - Horologium (ianridpath.com)
One of the small southern constellations introduced by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after he mapped the southern stars in 1751–52. Lacaille wrote that the constellation represented a pendulum clock beating seconds, as used for timing his observations. Lacaille introduced it on his first chart in 1756 under the French name l’Horloge, but this was Latinized to Horologium on the second edition of 1763.
- Star Tales - Hydra (ianridpath.com)
Hydra is the largest of the 88 constellations, winding over a quarter of the way around the sky. Its head is south of the constellation Cancer, the crab, while the tip of its tail lies between Libra, the scales, and Centaurus, the centaur. The total length from its westernmost boundary to the easternmost one is 102°.5. Yet for all its size there is nothing prominent about Hydra. Its only star of note is second-magnitude Alphard, a name that comes from the Arabic al-fard appropriately meaning ‘the solitary one’. Bode on his Uranographia atlas gave it the alternative name Unuk es Schudscha, from the Arabic unuk al-shujā, neck of the serpent. Both names were originally given by al-Ṣūfī in his Book of the Fixed Stars (AD 964).
- Star Tales - Hydrus (ianridpath.com)
A small southern counterpart of the great water-snake, Hydra, with which it is not to be confused. This is one of several examples of the repetition of constellation figures in the sky, as in the Great and Little Bear, the Great and Little Dog, the two lions, the horses Pegasus and Equuleus, the Northern and Southern Crown, and the Northern and Southern Triangle.
- Star Tales - Indus (ianridpath.com)
Indus is one of the 12 figures formed by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman from stars they charted in the southern hemisphere on their voyages to the East Indies at the end of the 16th century. It was first shown in 1598 on a globe by the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius and first appeared in print in 1603 on the Uranometria atlas of Johann Bayer.
- Star Tales - Jordanus (ianridpath.com)
Also known as Jordanus Fluvius or Jordanis, this constellation representing the river Jordan was introduced by the Dutchman Petrus Plancius on his celestial globe of 1612. He created it from the eight ‘unformed’ stars that Ptolemy had listed in the Almagest as lying outside the figure of Ursa Major. These stars are the modern Alpha and Beta Canes Venatici, Alpha, 31, and 38 Lyncis, and three others of uncertain identity (see here).
- Star Tales - Lacerta (ianridpath.com)
This inconspicuous constellation, sandwiched between Cygnus and Andromeda like a lizard between rocks, was introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his star catalogue of 1687 and depicted in his star atlas published posthumously in 1690. Hevelius gave it the alternative title of Stellio, a type of lizard also known as a starred agama, but this secondary name soon fell into disuse.
- Star Tales - Leo (ianridpath.com)
Eratosthenes and Hyginus both affirm that the lion was placed in the sky because it is the king of beasts. Mythologically speaking, this is reputed to be the lion of Nemea, slain by Heracles as the first of his 12 labours. Nemea is a town some way south-west of Corinth. There the lion lived in a cave with two mouths, emerging to carry off the local inhabitants, who were becoming scarce. The lion was an invulnerable beast of uncertain parentage; it was variously said to have been sired by the dog Orthrus, the monster Typhon, or even to be the offspring of Selene, the Moon goddess. Its skin was proof against all weapons, as Heracles found when he shot an arrow at the lion and saw that it simply bounced off.
- Star Tales - Leo Minor (ianridpath.com)
A lion cub accompanying Leo, introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his star catalogue of 1687 and depicted in his star atlas published posthumously in 1690. He formed it from 18 faint stars between Ursa Major and Leo where the short-lived constellation Jordanus once flowed. The brightest stars of Leo Minor are of only fourth magnitude and there are no legends associated with it.
- Star Tales - Lepus (ianridpath.com)
This constellation was known to the Greeks as Λαγωός (Lagoös), the Greek word for hare; Lepus is the more recent Latin name. Eratosthenes tells us that Hermes placed the hare in the sky because of its swiftness. Both Eratosthenes and Hyginus referred to the remarkable fertility of hares, as attested to by Aristotle in his Historia Animalium (History of Animals): ‘Hares breed and bear at all seasons, superfoetate (i.e. conceive again) during pregnancy and bear young every month.’
- Star Tales - Libra (ianridpath.com)
In ancient Greek times, the area of sky we know as Libra was occupied by the claws of the scorpion, Scorpius. Aratus and Eratosthenes, among others, called this area Χηλαί (Chelae), literally meaning ‘claws’, an identification that lives on in the names of the individual stars of Libra (see below). As things have worked out, Libra is now a slightly larger constellation than Scorpius, but is much less conspicuous.
- Star Tales - Lupus (ianridpath.com)
The ancient Greeks called this constellation Θηρίον (Therion), representing an unspecified wild animal, while the Romans called it Bestia, the beast. It was visualized as impaled on a long pole called a thyrsus, held by the adjoining constellation of Centaurus, the centaur. Consequently, the centaur and the animal were often regarded as a combined figure, although Ptolemy listed the animal as a separate constellation in the Almagest.
- Star Tales - Lynx (ianridpath.com)
Johannes Hevelius, the Polish astronomer who introduced this constellation in his star catalogue of 1687, continued to measure star positions with the naked eye long after other astronomers had adopted telescopic sights. The French astronomer Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) wrote in 1644 that Hevelius had the ‘eyes of a lynx’ and this constellation can be seen as an attempt to demonstrate that.[note] Indeed, Hevelius wrote in the Introduction to his catalogue that anyone who wanted to observe it would need the eyesight of a lynx (‘oculos habeat Lynceos’), although he undoubtedly exaggerated the faintness of the 19 stars he catalogued in it, typically by a full magnitude.
- Star Tales - Lyra (ianridpath.com)
A compact but prominent constellation, marked by the fifth-brightest star in the sky, Vega. Mythologically, Lyra (Λύρα in Greek) was the lyre of the great musician Orpheus, whose venture into the Underworld is one of the most famous of Greek stories. It was the first lyre ever made, having been invented by Hermes, the son of Zeus and Maia (one of the Pleiades). Hermes fashioned the lyre from the shell of a tortoise that he found browsing outside his cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Hermes cleaned out the shell, pierced its rim and tied across it seven strings of cow gut, the same as the number of the Pleiades. He also invented the plectrum with which to play the instrument.
- Star Tales - Mensa (ianridpath.com)
A small, faint constellation of the far southern sky invented by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille to commemorate Table Mountain near Cape Town, South Africa, from where he catalogued the southern stars in 1751–52. Lacaille originally gave it the French name Montagne de la Table on the first version of his planisphere published in 1756 but this was Latinized to Mons Mensae on the second edition of 1763. In 1844 the English astronomer John Herschel proposed shortening it to Mensa. Francis Baily adopted this suggestion in his British Association Catalogue of 1845, and it has been known as Mensa ever since.
- Star Tales - Microscopium (ianridpath.com)
One of the southern constellations representing scientific instruments that were invented in 1751–52 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. In this case the instrument concerned is an early form of compound microscope, i.e. one that uses more than one lens.
- Star Tales - Monoceros (ianridpath.com)
The mythical single-horned beast, the unicorn, is represented by this constellation which was unknown to the ancient Greeks. Monoceros was introduced in 1612 under the name Monoceros Unicornis on a globe by the Dutch theologian and cartographer Petrus Plancius. This was the same globe on which Camelopardalis, another of his inventions, first appeared.
- Star Tales - Musca (ianridpath.com)
A small constellation to the south of Crux, the Southern Cross. Musca was one of the 12 southern constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman from the stars they observed during the first Dutch expeditions to the East Indies. The constellation arose because the seafarers saw chameleons eating flies during their stopover on Madagascar, and in the sky the fly lies next to the constellation Chamaeleon. These new southern constellations were first depicted by their fellow Dutchman Petrus Plancius on his globe of 1598, but for some reason he left the fly unnamed. In de Houtman’s catalogue of 1603, completed after Keyser’s death, it is called De Vlieghe, Dutch for fly.
- Star Tales - Norma (ianridpath.com)
Norma is one of the constellations introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille following his mapping of the southern skies in 1751–52. It consists of faint stars between Ara and Lupus that were not catalogued by Ptolemy. On his 1756 planisphere Lacaille called it l’Equerre et la Regle, although in his accompanying star catalogue the name was given simply as l’Équerre. In the notes to his catalogue he described it as representing an architect’s set-square and ruler.
- Star Tales - Octans (ianridpath.com)
Octans was one of 14 new southern constellations introduced in the 1750s by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. It represents a navigational instrument known as a reflecting octant, invented in 1730 by the Englishman John Hadley (1682–1744). Lacaille originally named it l’Octans de Reflexion on his chart published in 1756, but changed this simply to Octans on the second edition of 1763 on which he Latinized the names of the constellations.
- Star Tales - Ophiuchus (ianridpath.com)
Ophiuchus (pronounced off-ee-YOO-cuss) represents a man grasping a huge snake with both hands, the head of the snake in his left hand and its tail in his right hand. The snake is represented by a separate constellation, Serpens, which is unique among the 88 constellations in being divided into two halves, the head on one side of Ophiuchus and the tail on the other. The mythologists such as Aratus and Hyginus described the snake as being coiled around the waist of Ophiuchus, and that is how it was shown on early illustrations, including Dürer’s hemisphere of 1515; but from Bayer’s chart onwards it was usually shown passing either across his body or between his legs.
- Star Tales - Orion (ianridpath.com)
Orion (Ὠρίων in Greek) is the most splendid of constellations, befitting a character who was in legend the tallest and most handsome of men. His right shoulder and left foot are marked by the brilliant stars Betelgeuse and Rigel, with a distinctive line of three stars forming his belt. ‘No other constellation more accurately represents the figure of a man’, says Germanicus Caesar.
- Star Tales - Pavo (ianridpath.com)
The peacock is one of the 12 figures introduced into the southern skies at the end of the 16th century from the observations by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Pavo seemingly represents not the common blue, or Indian, peacock commonly seen in parks but its larger, more colourful, and more aggressive cousin, the Java green peacock which Keyser and de Houtman would have encountered in the East Indies. Pavo was first depicted in 1598 on a globe by Petrus Plancius and first appeared in print in 1603 on the Uranometria atlas of Johann Bayer. As visualized by Plancius and Bayer the peacock had a more expansive tail, but its feathers were later trimmed by Lacaille to make room for his own invention Telescopium to the north.
- Star Tales - Pegasus (ianridpath.com)
Pegasus was the winged horse best known for his association with the Greek hero Bellerophon. The manner of the horse’s birth was unusual, to say the least. Its mother was Medusa, the Gorgon, who in her youth was famed for her beauty, particularly her flowing hair. Many suitors approached her, but the one who took her virginity was Poseidon, who is both god of the sea and god of horses. Unfortunately, the seduction happened in the temple of Athene. Outraged by having her temple defiled, the goddess Athene changed Medusa into a snake-haired monster whose gaze could turn men to stone.
- Star Tales - Perseus (ianridpath.com)
Perseus (Περσεύς in Greek) is one of the most famous Greek heroes. The characters in his story are represented by six constellations that occupy a substantial part of the sky. The constellation depicting Perseus lies in a prominent part of the Milky Way, which is perhaps why Aratus termed him ‘dust-stained’.
- Star Tales - Phoenix (ianridpath.com)
A constellation representing the mythical bird that supposedly was reborn from its own ashes. It is the largest of the 12 figures invented at the end of the 16th century from the observations made by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. As with all the Keyser and de Houtman constellations it was first depicted on a globe by Petrus Plancius in 1598 and first appeared in print in 1603 on the Uranometria atlas of Johann Bayer. The constellation lies near the southern end of the river Eridanus and its brightest star, Alpha Phoenicis, known as Ankaa, is of magnitude 2.4.
- Star Tales - Pictor (ianridpath.com)
One of the constellations representing technical and artistic apparatus introduced into the southern sky by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after his observing expedition to the Cape of Good Hope in 1751–52. It lies under the keel of the now-dismembered Greek constellation Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, next to the bright star Canopus. In fact the four brightest stars in Pictor, labelled α, β, γ, and δ by Lacaille, had been catalogued by the Dutch explorer Frederick de Houtman as part of Argo a century and half earlier.
- Star Tales - Pisces (ianridpath.com)
The mythological events concerning this constellation are said to have taken place around the Euphrates river, a strong indication that the Greeks inherited this constellation from the Babylonians. The story follows an early episode in Greek mythology, in which the gods of Olympus had defeated the Titans and the Giants in a power struggle. Mother Earth, also known as Gaia, had another nasty surprise in store for the gods. She coupled with Tartarus, the lowest region of the Underworld where Zeus had imprisoned the Titans, and from this unlikely union came Typhon, the most awful monster the world had ever seen
- Star Tales - Piscis Austrinus (ianridpath.com)
Eratosthenes called this the Great Fish and said that it was the parent of the two smaller fish of the zodiacal constellation Pisces. Like Pisces, its mythology has a Middle Eastern setting that reveals its Babylonian origin.
- Star Tales - Puppis (ianridpath.com)
The largest of the three sections into which the ancient constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, was divided by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in his catalogue of the southern stars published in 1756. In that catalogue he gave it the French name Pouppe du Navire. His final catalogue, Coelum australe stelliferum, appeared in 1763 containing the same subdivisions but with Latin rather than French names.
- Star Tales - Pyxis (ianridpath.com)
A small southern constellation invented by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his survey of the southern skies in 1751–52. Pyxis represents a magnetic compass as used by seamen. It is located near the stern of the ship Argo in the same area as the ship’s mast. Lacaille’s original depiction of it was published in 1756 under the French name la Boussole, and in the notes accompanying the chart he described it as ‘le Compas de mer’. On the second edition of his chart in 1763 Lacaille Latinized its name to Pixis Nautica (sic), which was subsequently shortened, with amended spelling, to just Pyxis.
- Star Tales - Reticulum (ianridpath.com)
A small southern constellation, introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille to commemorate the reticle in the eyepiece of his small telescope with which he catalogued the southern stars from the Cape of Good Hope in 1751–52.
- Star Tales - Sagitta (ianridpath.com)
Sagitta, the third-smallest constellation in the sky, has no stars brighter than fourth magnitude, but it was well-known to the Greeks and was among the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest. Aratus described it as ‘alone, without a bow’ since there is no sign of the archer who might have shot it.
- Star Tales - Sagittarius (ianridpath.com)
Sagittarius is depicted in the sky as a centaur, with the body and four legs of a horse but the upper torso of a man. He is shown wearing a cloak and drawing a bow, aimed in the direction of the neighbouring scorpion, Scorpius. Aratus spoke of the Archer, Τοξότης (Toxotes), and his Bow, Τόξον (Toxon), as though they were separate constellations. Most likely this is because the stars of the bow and arrow are the most distinctive part of the figure. They form the asterism that we now know as the Teapot…
- Star Tales - Scorpius (ianridpath.com)
‘There is a certain place where the scorpion with his tail and curving claws sprawls across two signs of the zodiac’, wrote Ovid in his Metamorphoses. He was referring to the ancient Greek version of Scorpius, which was much larger than the constellation we know today. The Greek scorpion was in two halves: one half, called Σκορπίος (Skorpios), contained its body and sting, while the front half comprised the claws. The Greeks called this front half Χηλαί (Chelae), which means ‘claws’. In the first century BC the Romans made the claws into a separate constellation, Libra, the balance.
- Star Tales - Sculptor (ianridpath.com)
A faint constellation south of Cetus and Aquarius, invented by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his mapping of the southern skies in 1751–52. His original name for it, given on his planisphere of 1756, was l’Atelier du Sculpteur, the sculptor’s studio, although in the accompanying star catalogue he spelled (or mis-spelled) the first part of the name as ‘attelier’. As described by Lacaille, it consisted of a carved head on a three-legged table, with the artist’s mallet and a chisel on a block of marble next to it (although his illustration actually showed two chisels). On Lacaille’s 1763 planisphere the title was Latinized to Apparatus Sculptoris.
- Star Tales - Scutum (ianridpath.com)
The fifth-smallest constellation in the sky, introduced in 1684 by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius under the title Scutum Sobiescianum, Sobieski’s Shield. He named it in honour of King John III Sobieski of Poland who helped Hevelius rebuild his rooftop observatory after a disastrous fire in 1679 that destroyed his instruments and most of his three houses.
- Star Tales - Serpens (ianridpath.com)
This constellation is unique, for it is divided into two parts – Serpens Caput, the head, and Serpens Cauda, the tail. Nevertheless, astronomers regard it as a single constellation. Serpens represents a huge snake held by the constellation Ophiuchus. Its Greek name was Ὄφις (Ophis), but in the Almagest Ptolemy gave it as Ὄφις Ὀφιούχου (Ophis Ophiouchou), i.e. the serpent of the serpent-holder, presumably to prevent confusion with the other celestial serpents Draco and Hydra.
- Star Tales - Sextans (ianridpath.com)
A faint constellation south of Leo, introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his star catalogue of 1687 under the name Sextans Uraniae and depicted in his star atlas published posthumously in 1690. It commemorated the instrument he used for measuring star positions, which was destroyed along with other instruments in a fire at his home in 1679. In his book Machina Coelestis (1673) he provided an engraving of himself displaying his sextant at his rooftop observatory, which was built over three adjoining properties he owned in the present-day Korzenna Street, Danzig (the modern Gdańsk).
- Star Tales - Taurus (ianridpath.com)
Taurus (Ταῦρος in Greek) is a distinctive constellation, with star-tipped horns and a head defined by a V-shaped group of stars. Two Greek bull-myths were associated with Taurus. Usually it was said to represent Zeus in the disguise he adopted for another of his extramarital affairs, this time as the bull that carried away Europa, daughter of King Agenor of Phoenicia.
- Star Tales - Telescopium (ianridpath.com)
One of the faint and obscure constellations of the southern sky introduced by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after his sky-mapping trip to the Cape of Good Hope in 1751–52. It was originally called le Telescope on Lacaille’s first planisphere published in 1756 but was Latinized to Telescopium on the second edition of 1763.
- Star Tales - Triangulum (ianridpath.com)
Since any three points make up the corners of a triangle it is unsurprising, if somewhat unimaginative, to find a triangle among the constellations. Aratus and Eratosthenes knew this constellation as Δελτωτόν (Deltoton), because its shape resembled a capital delta (Δ), while Ptolemy in the Almagest listed it as Τρίγωνον (Trigonon), triangle.
- Star Tales - Triangulum Australe (ianridpath.com)
One of the 12 constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, and the smallest of them according to modern boundaries. A southern triangle had previously been shown in a completely different position, south of Argo Navis, on a globe of 1589 by the Dutchman Petrus Plancius, along with a southern cross, but they were not the constellations we know today. The modern Triangulum Australe was first depicted in 1598 on a globe by Petrus Plancius and first appeared in print in 1603 on the Uranometria atlas of Johann Bayer.
- Star Tales - Tucana (ianridpath.com)
One of the 12 southern constellations devised by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman at the end of the 16th century. It represents the South American bird with a huge bill.
- Star Tales - Ursa Major (ianridpath.com)
Undoubtedly the most familiar star pattern in the entire sky is the seven stars that make up the shape popularly termed the Plough or Big Dipper, part of the third-largest constellation, Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The seven stars form the rump and tail of the bear, while the rest of the animal is comprised of fainter stars. Its Greek name in the Almagest was Ἄρκτος Μεγάλη (Arktos Megale); Ursa Major is the Latin equivalent.
- Star Tales - Ursa Minor (ianridpath.com)
The Little Bear was said by the Greeks to have been first named by the astronomer Thales of Miletus, who lived from about 625 to 545 BC. The earliest reference to it seems to have been made by the poet Callimachus of the third century BC, who reported that Thales ‘measured out the little stars of the Wain [wagon] by which the Phoenicians sail’. The little bear was evidently unknown to Homer, two centuries before Thales, for he wrote only of the Great Bear, never mentioning its smaller counterpart.
- Star Tales - Vela (ianridpath.com)
One of the three sections into which the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided the oversized Greek constellation of Argo Navis, the Argonauts’ ship, in his southern star catalogue of 1756. In that preliminary catalogue he gave it the French name Voilure du Navire, which was Latinized to Vela in his final catalogue, Coelum australe stelliferum of 1763.
- Star Tales - Virgo (ianridpath.com)
Virgo is the second-largest constellation in the sky, exceeded only by the much fainter Hydra. The Greeks called the constellation Παρθένος (Parthenos), which is the name Ptolemy gave in the Almagest. She is usually identified as Dike, goddess of justice, who was daughter of Zeus and Themis; but she is also known as Astraea, daughter of Astraeus (father of the stars) and Eos (goddess of the dawn). Virgo is depicted with wings, reminiscent of an angel, holding an ear of wheat in her left hand (the star Spica).
- Star Tales - Volans (ianridpath.com)
One of the 12 new constellations introduced at the end of the 16th century by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Volans represents a real type of fish found in tropical waters that can leap out of the water and glide through the air on wings. Sometimes the fish landed on the decks of ships and were used for food. In the sky the flying fish is imagined being chased by the predatory Dorado, as happens in reality.
- Star Tales - Vulpecula (ianridpath.com)
A constellation introduced by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his star catalogue of 1687. In his Firmamentum Sobiescianum star atlas published posthumously in 1690 he depicted it as a double figure of a fox, Vulpecula, carrying in its jaws a goose, Anser. Since then the goose has flown (or been eaten), leaving just the fox.
- Star Tales grew out of my skywatching guides for amateur astronomers. As I came to describe each constellation, I found myself wondering about its origin and the way in which ancient people had personified it in mythology. Astronomy books did not contain satisfactory answers. They either gave no mythology at all, or they recounted stories that, I later discovered, were not true to the Greek and Roman originals. I decided to write my own book on the mythology of the constellations. The result was published in 1988. A revised and expanded edition appeared in 2018 by when it had grown into a comprehensive biography of the constellations from Ptolemaic times to the present: not just the 88 officially recognized figures which are described in Chapter Three, but also two dozen others that fell by the wayside, featured in Chapter Four. This web version contains additional information not found in the books, most notably details on how Chinese astronomers visualized the stars, a subject still poorly understood in the west. Further updates and improvements to these pages are made from time to time.