Monoceros, Canis Major And Minor #1
by U.S. Naval Observatory Library
Title
Monoceros, Canis Major And Minor #1
Artist
U.S. Naval Observatory Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Monoceros is a faint constellation on the celestial equator. Its name is Greek for unicorn. Monoceros is a relatively modern constellation. 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 Jakob Bartsch as Unicornus in his star chart of 1624. It is bordered by Orion to the west, Gemini to the north, Canis Major to the south and Hydra to the east. Other bordering constellations include Canis Minor, Lepus and Puppis. Canis Major and Canis Minor are two of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and they remain two of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Canis Major is Latin for, greater dog, Canis Minor is Latin for, lesser dog, they are commonly represented as the dogs following Orion the hunter. The Atlas Coelestis is a star atlas published posthumously in 1729, based on observations made by the First Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. The Atlas, the largest that ever had been published and the first comprehensive telescopic star catalogue and companion celestial atlas, contains 26 maps of the major constellations visible from Greenwich, with drawings made in the Rococo style by James Thornhill. One of his main motivations to produce the Atlas, was to correct the representation of the figures of the constellations, as made by Bayer's, Uranometria (1603). Bayer represented the figures viewed from behind (not from the front, as was done since the time of Ptolemy), which reversed the placement of stars and created unnecessary confusion.
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December 13th, 2016
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