Cancer Minor (Latin for "lesser crab") was a constellation composed from a few stars in Gemini adjacent to Cancer. The constellation was introduced in 1612 (or 1613) by Petrus Plancius. [1]
The 5th-magnitude stars constituting Cancer Minor were HIP 36616, and 68, 74, 81 and 85 Geminorum, forming a faint natural arrow-shaped asterism.
It is only found on a few 17th-century Dutch celestial globes and in the atlas of Andreas Cellarius. It was no longer used after the 18th century.
Apus is a small constellation in the southern sky. It represents a bird-of-paradise, and its name means "without feet" in Greek because the bird-of-paradise was once wrongly believed to lack feet. First depicted on a celestial globe by Petrus Plancius in 1598, it was charted on a star atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 Uranometria. The French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted and gave the brighter stars their Bayer designations in 1756.
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky representing a giraffe. The constellation was introduced in 1612 or 1613 by Petrus Plancius. Some older astronomy books give Camelopardalus or Camelopardus as alternative forms of the name, but the version recognized by the International Astronomical Union matches the genitive form, seen suffixed to most of its key stars.
Chamaeleon is a small constellation in the deep southern sky. It is named after the chameleon, a kind of lizard. It was first defined in the 16th century.
Monoceros is a faint constellation on the celestial equator. Its definition is attributed to the 17th-century Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius. 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.
Volans is a constellation in the southern sky. It represents a flying fish; its name is a shortened form of its original name, Piscis Volans. Volans was one of twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and it first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 in Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius. The first depiction of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of 1603.
Columba is a faint constellation designated in the late sixteenth century, remaining in official use, with its rigid limits set in the 20th century. Its name is Latin for dove. It takes up 1.31% of the southern celestial hemisphere and is just south of Canis Major and Lepus.
Indus is a constellation in the southern sky first professionally surveyed by Europeans in the 1590s and mapped on a globe by Petrus Plancius by early 1598. It was included on a plate illustrating southern constellations in Bayer's sky atlas Uranometria in 1603. It lies well south of the Tropic of Capricorn but its triangular shape can be seen for most of the year from the Equator. It is elongated from north to south and has a complex boundary. The English translation of its name is generally given as the Indian, though it is unclear which indigenous people the constellation was originally supposed to represent.
Pavo is a constellation in the southern sky whose name is Latin for 'peacock'. Pavo first appeared on a 35-cm (14 in) diameter celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Petrus Plancius and Jodocus Hondius and was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603, and was likely conceived by Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille gave its stars Bayer designations in 1756. The constellations Pavo, Grus, Phoenix and Tucana are collectively known as the "Southern Birds".
In contemporary astronomy, 88 constellations are recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Each constellation is a region of the sky bordered by arcs of right ascension and declination, together covering the entire celestial sphere. Their boundaries were officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1928 and published in 1930.
Frederick de Houtman was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern celestial hemisphere and contributed to the creation of 12 new southern constellations.
Petrus Plancius was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.
Augustin Royer was a French architect who lived in the time of Louis XIV.
Musca Borealis was a constellation, now discarded, located between the constellations of Aries and Perseus. It was originally called Apes by Petrus Plancius when he created it in 1612. It was made up of a small group of stars, now called 33 Arietis, 35 Arietis, 39 Arietis, and 41 Arietis, in the north of the constellation of Aries.
Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser was a Dutch navigator and celestial cartographer who mapped several constellations on the southern celestial hemisphere.
River Tigris or Tigris was a constellation, introduced in 1612 by Petrus Plancius. One end was near the shoulder of Ophiuchus and the other was near Pegasus, and in between it passed through the area now occupied by Vulpecula, flowing between Cygnus and Aquila. It did not appear on Hevelius' atlas of 1687 or Johann Bode's Uranographia atlas of 1801 and was quickly forgotten.
Gallus was a constellation introduced in 1612 by Petrus Plancius.
Jordanus was a constellation introduced in 1612 on a globe by Petrus Plancius and first shown in print by Jakob Bartsch in his book Usus Astronomicus Planisphaerii Stellati (1624).
Polophylax was a southern constellation that lay where Tucana and Grus now are.
Constellation families are collections of constellations sharing some defining characteristic, such as proximity on the celestial sphere, common historical origin, or common mythological theme. In the Western tradition, most of the northern constellations stem from Ptolemy's list in the Almagest, and most of the far southern constellations were introduced by sailors and astronomers who traveled to the south in the 16th to 18th centuries. Separate traditions arose in India and China.
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