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Today, we are going to be looking at the constellations. Of course, I take a look at the constellations or at least mention some constellations in almost every piece, even if it’s just what constellation the object that we’re focusing on is in. Today however, we’re going to look at the constellations more generally by going through each one. We’re going to look at the northern and southern hemisphere constellations, and we’re going to take a look at the constellations that are behind the Sun at the moment.

Stellarium provides the names of the constellations in English, what could be called their common names, and the far more common Latin versions. These don’t always match up perfectly, but we will use both here. I’m not sure why the constellation Dorado gets labelled as swordfish, because, of course, it’s a dorado, also known as a dolphinfish. It’s not a swordfish, and it very much has the opposite of a sword at the front, with it a rounded face instead. Taking a broad view of the sky with all of the constellations visible, it should be clear that most of them are animals and most of them are real animals. Even things that seem as strange as flying fish are real animals, along with constellations like the Chameleon and the Bird of Paradise. There are also various tools or inanimate objects. There are a few inanimate objects that we would be familiar with here in the northern hemisphere, for example, Libra the Scales, we’ve got Triangulum the Triangle, we’ve got Lyra the Lyre as well but there’s not that many inanimate objects in the northern hemisphere. Down in the southern hemisphere, there’s a lot more, for example Caelum the Engraving Tool, which is a chisel really or perhaps an awl. There’s the Boat split up into its various pieces, the stern, the sails and the keel.

As well as real things there are mythological people and creatures. We’ve got the Phoenix, and the Centaur down here, the Centaur that’s actually called Centaur down south, compared to Sagittarius, the centaur, that is referred to as the Bowman, Archer or Soldier which we have in the northern hemisphere. Capricornus, the Capricorn is a mythological animal, along with Pegasus, and Cetus, there are a good few mythological creatures in the sky. Each different constellation has its own history. The vast majority of the constellations that we see in the sky do come from ancient Greek mythology, particularly the mythological characters like Perseus, Andromeda and Hercules. Looking down into the southern hemisphere, of course, many of those constellations were not coined by the Greeks, Centaurus the Centaur being an exception, Depending on how low you are on the planet you can see some of the constellations considered southern from the northern hemisphere as long as you’re sufficiently far south in the northern hemisphere,. However, many of the others, like the Toucan, the Microscope, Mensa or Uluru, Indus the Native American, these things could not have been known to the Greeks and so they must be newer. Some of the constellations that we see in the northern hemisphere, like Camelopardalis and Coma Berenice are also newer constellations, not from the ancient Greeks but from around the 16 to 1700s.

When it comes to the Latin pronunciation, often there are some options. For example Coma Berenices the Hair of Berenice. Whether or not you pronounce these as an English approximation, similar to the name Bernice, according to ecclesiastical Latin or according to classical Latin, with a hard “c” in Berenices pronounced like a “k” which is more like the original Greek of Berenikes, there are a few possibilities. Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs also presents these different possibilities. To go through the constellations, Stellarium has a list of all of the constellations, all 88 constellations. Unfortunately, they don’t give that much extra information, such as origin, but we know that those constellations that are down south would have usually been created later. We’re going to go through all of these different constellations in alphabetical order of their English name, more or less at least.

Antlia the Air Pump is the first, but in most illustrations it looks more like a gas lamp. This is one of the constellations that was added a little bit later to the 88 constellations that we now have as the official constellations, added in the 1760s. Its old name was *antlia pneumatica*, Latin for air pump, put this was shortened to just pump in the 1840s.

Ara the Altar is a ancient constellation, one of the furthest south depicted by Ptolemy.

Sagittarius the Archer is next. As one of the zodiacal constellations, it is one of the older ones that was listed by Ptolemy.

Sagitta the Arrow may help to show why Sagittarius is translated as Archer as well. It is small and faint but is one of the older constellations. Most of the older constellations were listed by Ptolemy, the ancient Greco-Roman astronomer who lived seemingly his whole life in Egypt near Alexandria. Alexandria was a Roman Province after the Macedonian leadership, after the Macedonian pharaohs of Egypt, so the cultural identity of the ancient Greco-Romans living in Egypt may have been interesting, so it’s tough know how to refer to Ptolemy. There were only 48 constellations listed in Ptolemy’s Almagest.

Apus the Bird of Paradise is a very southern constellation and almost all of the constellations that we see in the southern hemisphere are newer. Apus was added around the early 1600s. Its name literally means “foot-less” as these birds were originally thought to be.

Taurus the Bull, one of the zodiacal constellations, is a classic. It’s one of the constellations I mention regularly so I won’t say much here.

Coma Berenices or the Hair of Berenice, is named after a real historical figure. Queen Berenices II was an Egyptian Queen, the consort of Ptolemy III Euergetes. This is not the same Ptolemy that wrote the Almagest, but it is interesting that Ptolemy did not include this constellation, even though it was known in his time. It was added back in the late 1500s, under various names before being made truly official.

Norma the Carpenter’s Square doesn’t look like a square. It’s not a square like the shape, but more like a T-square. T-squares don’t get used very often anymore but as well as being useful for measuring, they’re also useful for performing certain mathematical calculations like logarithms. It is one of the devices that we see in the southern hemisphere, many of which were added in the mid-1700’s by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille. Devices that were very useful to the early modern or pre-modern sailors who were doing the navigation down in the southern hemisphere make up a lot of the southern constellations. There are a lot of things that are emblematic of the southern hemisphere itself, but also many emblematic of the time, in the Age of Exploration.

Centaurs aren’t exactly emblematic of the southern hemisphere, but Centaurus the Centaur is the second Centaur in the sky and is south of the ecliptic, while still being visible from the lower latitudes of the northern hemisphere

Andromeda the Chained Maiden, is of course a classic. Sometimes referred to as the Maiden of the Rock, Andromeda is of course a personal name, so this is not a translation but a description.

Chamaeleon the Chameleon, which is particularly fun, and I’m sure most of us would agree it would be better if it were, pronounced in a classical Latin way. However, the modern form of chameleon is the standard pronunciation. This is another creature that wouldn’t have been well known to the ancient Greeks, but despite being a newer southern constellation chameleons were known to the Greeks and Romans, occurring in many lands within their empires.

Auriga the Charioteer is usually depicted holding a goat. Auriga is a generic charioteer, it is more of a job description than a name, there are a few mythological stories defining him as one or other character. The bright star Capella was known as the goat star, and the goat was its own constellation in some sources. Ptolemy merged the two constellations into one in the Almagest and they have remained combined since.

Horologium the Clock is another southern constellation based on a modern device. I mentioned in previous pieces that clocks, an accurate method of measuring the time, was very important for solving the longitude or longitude problem. Figuring out your latitude isn’t too hard, figuring out your longitude is significantly more difficult and usually requires knowing the time of a given longitude, to contrast with local time to find your new longitude.

Cancer the Crab is another one of the classical signs of the zodiac.

Grus the Crane is another one of the slightly newer constellations, one of the southern birds. Again, cranes were known to the ancient Greeks, but it is still one of the newer constellations from the late 1500s, created by Petrus Plancius.

Pisces Austrinus the Southern Fish, is of course one of the southern constellations. Austrinus or Southerness is right there in the name, but it is one of the older constellations from Ptolemy. The stars that form Grus were originally part of its tail.

Corvus the Crow is of course a northern constellation, not a particularly famous one, but a particularly nice one and one of the originals.

Crater the Cup looks more like an urn or maybe a trophy, but it is considered the cup. It is based on a special vessel for diluting wine and is one of the classics.

Delphinus the Dolphin is another reasonably old constellation, another one that comes from the tradition of Ptolemy.

Columba the Dove is a newer constellation in the south, but usually isn’t counted as one of the southern birds. The constellation was depicted by Petrus Plancius, but didn’t really get established until Lacaille in the 1700’s. Doves were also associated with naval voyages and travel, and this dove in particular is holding an olive branch in its beak. This is associated with a different mythology, not the ancient Greek one, but Noah’s Ark and flood myth. This was an important symbol for sailors, based on the idea that the dove would fly off and bring back an olive branch to indicate that it had found land.

Draco the Dragon, is a huge constellation taking up a huge region of the northern sky. Not only were extra constellations added and older constellations taken away, but constellations had their size and shape changed as well. We’ll get to an example of that pretty soon, but Draco has managed to avoid most changes since classical times, remaining big.

Circinus the Drawing Compass is another navigational tool. These kinds of compasses were important for figuring out distances on maps. These two-pronged devices are related to the compasses used today for drawing circles, but aren’t the magnetic compasses used for navigation.

Aquila the Eagle is another gigantic and classical constellation, likely to have an origin in Babylonian times long before Ptolemy.

Caelum the Chisel, this is another one of the tool based newer constellations that was added around the 1700s by Lacaille. It is often called the engraving tool, and was originally Caelum Sculptoris the Engraver’s Chisel. Many drawings of it look more like what would be called an awl today.

Hydra the Water Snake is the female water snake. Sometimes it is associated with the many headed Hydra of Greek mythology, but this features in a separate constellation. As a constellation, it is the largest in the sky today.

Pisces the Fish, of course is another one of the zodiacal constellations, another one of those very famous and classical constellations.

Musca the Fly is a very southern constellation, very close to the Southern Cross. Flies, of course, maybe not the most well loved animal, but they do feature in the southern hemisphere. Sometimes the Chameleon is shown trying to eat it.

Volans the Flying Fish is shown with its wings spread. Flying fish are presumably really more gliders or ground-effect flying things, more like an ekranoplan than a bird or a plane. Volans really just means flying, shortened from Piscis Volans, and is another newer constellation.

Vulpecula the Fox is really the little fox, because vulpes is usually the term for fox. Many of the common names are shortened or changed from their full versions. Despite being a northern hemisphere animal, it is one of the newer constellations from Hevelius.

Fornax the Furnace isn’t just a fire, it’s often got a glass beaker or other glassware on it. Although furnaces and fire kept in this way have existed for a very long time, this is specifically a chemical furnace or a chemist’s furnace, something for heating up mixtures and reagents. Of course it is one of the more modern northern constellations. There are new constellations in the northern hemisphere as well as the Southern Hemisphere, but there’s a lot more of the ancient Greek constellations in the Northern hemisphere because of course, that was the sky that the ancient Greeks were familiar with.

Ursa Major the Great Bear, possibly one of the most famous constellations. Of course, the Plough or the Big Dipper is really one of the most famous asterisms in the sky, but the Great Bear is the reasonably famous constellation that contains it.

Canis Major the Great Dog, another famous constellation and another old one. This is well known thanks to the brightest star, Sirius or the Dog Star.

Lepus the Hare, is another old constellation. Most older constellations are associated with some myth, while the Hare just seems to be a generic animal.

Hercules is usually just called Hercules, being a personal name. Usually he is shown wrestling with the actual Hydra, the actual many-headed snake monster.

Boötes the Herdsman most likely herded cows and is often depicted with a herding staff. It often looks a lot like a spear, but it is, from what I’ve heard, intended to be more of a crook or a goad, something for use with guiding animals, poking them in the right direction.

Perseus the Hero, of course, isn’t the only hero in the sky. Hercules at least was considered a hero as well. Again, Perseus is a name so translation of it may be a little harder.

Orion the Hunter may be the most famous constellation, certainly outside of the zodiac, and is another classical one.

Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs are technically a newer constellation, coming from Hevelius. However, they originate as Boötes’s dogs, following a mistranslation of his hooked staff. Ptolemy depicted Boötes as having dogs, but they weren’t made a separate constellation for some time.

Indus the Native American is usually considered just the Indian, but in the meaning of a person indigenous to an area, rather than someone from the modern country of India. Thanks to the headdress and the clothing used in most modern descriptions, it is clear that it is intended to be a Native American. Although it is one of the newer constellations, that is a relative term and it still comes from the early 1600s, when Native Americans were still commonly called Indian.

The former constellation Argo Navis was depicted by Ptolemy, but it has been divided into Puppis, Vela and Carina, different parts of the boat. Lacaille made the divisions in the 1700s making the newer portions newer constellations.

Carina the Keel is the first part of the ship by alphabetical order of the English name, representing most of the ship’s body.

Cepheus the King is another constellation with a personal name. King Cepheus is the counterpart to Queen Cassiopeia, both classical constellations. As there is no other King in the sky to contrast him with, he is usually just called Cepheus.

Canis Minor the Lesser Dog, also called the Little Dog or the Small Dog, technically began as an asterism in Ptolemy’s Almagest and was often confused for Canis Major.

Monoceras the Unicorn is a large mythological creature in the northern hemisphere, but is also one of the newer constellations.

Leo Minor the Little Lion is another newer constellation, which may be why Leo isn’t called Leo Major.

Leo the Lion of course is a famous sign of the zodiac.

Ursa Minor the Little Bear is a classical constellation and does have its counterpart in Ursa Major.

Equuleus the Little Horse is called a little horse or pony, even though it is only the head of the horse that is depicted and there isn’t a full size normal horse in the sky, only Centaurs, Pegasi, and other mythological creatures. Despite being small and faint, it is a classical constellation.

Lacerta the Lizard, always reminds me more of a salamander, the drawing in Stellarium looks more like a salamander than a normal lizard to me. However, it is a newer constellation and based on a real lizard, the starred agama.

Lynx the Lynx another emblematic creature of northern Europe and Europe in general that is still one of the newer constellations from Hevelius. Its Latin and English names are luckily the same.

Lyra the Lyre is one of the fewer inanimate objects that we have in the Northern hemisphere, particularly one of the older inanimate objects.

Virgo the Maiden is another classical zodiacal constellation. Although associated with various gods at various times, Virgo is simply a description rather than a specific name.

Hydrus the Male Water Snake is other water snake, the smaller water snake than Hydra, the female water snake. It is very much a southern hemisphere constellation and one of the newer ones, representing a real animal rather than a myth.

Pyxis the Mariner’s compass is the actual compass, the kind of compass that uses a magnet to point north, rather than the drawing compass previously mentioned, that was also important for navigation. As a navigational tool in the southern hemisphere, it should be no surprise that it is one of the newer ones.

Microscopium the Microscope is based on a modern invention, so is necessarily a newer constellation.

Corona Borealis the Northern Crown is one of the older constellations. Along with the Southern Crown, both of the crowns in the sky are classical constellations.

Octans the Octant is a navigational tool similar to a sextant, again it’s another new southern navigational tool. While a sextant divides the sky into 6ths, the octant divides it into 8ths. Various similar angle measurement tools, sch as the quadrant, were important in the past. We do have a sextant in the sky as well.

Pictor the Easel is a painter’s easel. Not a navigational tool, but close to the Renaissance, back in the 1700s, art was very important. Lacaille, who named many of the southern tool based constellations, included this as an important part of the Age of Enlightenment. Originally Equuleus Pictoris, the artist’s easel or little horse, alludes to the easel being called a horse, or donkey which is ezel in Dutch.

Pavo the Peacock is another of the Southern Birds, a newer constellation. Peacocks would have been known to the ancient Greeks, given that they are from India, they are from the Northern hemisphere rather than the Southern hemisphere. The constellation usually depicts the male, a peacock with its big tail, but peafowl, peacocks and peahens generally, would have been known to the ancient Greeks. However, this constellation may be a green peacock, rather than the more famous blue peacock.

Phoenix the Phoenix is another one of the southern birds, despite being mythological. Featuring in the mythology of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, as the Phoenix rising out of the flames, is is one of the newer constellations added in around the 1600s.

Aries the Ram is another member of the zodiac.

Reticulum the Reticle, is a circle or ring with a cross through it. A reticle is still commonly used as an aiming device, we still use it in astronomy. A reticle is really just something you look through with a guide in it to make sure that you’re looking at what you’re really looking at, usually to make sure that you’re centered on a given feature. This is acheived by using its spider, the cross in the middle that allows you to make sure that what you’re looking at is centered.

Eridanus the River is often shown as a river that has people in it, sometimes the river of Souls. There’s a few different connections that get made with the river in the sky, including the Po river in Italy.

Vela the Sails, brings us back to the Argo Navis, but it is now a separate constellation. Navis is really the word for boat, with Argo being the name of the specific boat from mythology.

Libra the Scales is another one of the older constellations, though potentially not as old as Scorpius. As I mentioned in a previous piece, according to the ancient Babylonian tradition, there was probably just one constellation, a giant scorpion, with the scales coming later in Greek mythology.

Sculptor the Sculptor is another artistic constellation in the sky, like the artist’s easel it is a newer one based on the Age of Enlightenment. It doesn’t usually depict a sculptor but rather a sculpture, and was originally called the Sculptor’s Studio, Apparatus Sculptoris.

Capricornus the Capricorn is another one of the zodiacal constellations. Really meaning the horned goat or having goat-like horns, it is usually depicted as a sea goat or goat fish, a mythical creature similar to a hippocamp or mermaid.

Cetus the Sea Monster, or, as I always refer to it, Cetus the Great Whale is another classical constellation. Originally likely to have been a whale in Mesopotamian mythology, it is associated with the Greek sea monster. IN some depictions is is more whale like, in others more monstrous. In Stellarium there are lines on the lower jaw that similar to the kind of lines that you get with baleen whales on their lower jaws.

Cassiopeia the Seated Queen is the only queen in the sky so we don’t really have to distinguish, and Cassiopeia of course is another personal name.

Serpens the Serpent is another snake in the sky, often divided into Serpens Cauda (the tail) and Serpens Caput (the head) because they are separated by Ophiuchus in the center, the only constellation to split in this way.

Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer is the 13th sign of the zodiac, with its knee crossing the ecliptic just in between Sagittarius and Scorpius. An alternative name for Ophiuchus is Serpentarius, with the same meaning and a more obvious connection to the serpent, which was ophis in ancient Greek.

Sextans the Sextant is up in the northern hemisphere, and just like Octans it is a newer constellation, even though it’s up next to Leo and Hydra.

Scutum the Shield is another one of the newer constellations from Hevelius. It is South of the ecliptic, but commonly visible in the northern hemisphere.

Crux the Cross or the Southern Cross, the smallest constellation, can be used to find the south celestial pole. It was known to Ptolemy, but considered part of Centaurus, not becoming its own constellation till the 1600s.

Corona Australis the Southern Crown is an older constellations coming from Ptolemy. This is one of the best examples that southern constellations, even the ones called Southern or Austral/Australis, can still be older, so it’s not a perfect division between north and south.

Pisces Austrinus the Southern Fish, is another example of a southern constellation that comes from Ptolemy.

Triangulum Australe the Southern Triangle is a much more even triangle, closer to an equilateral triangle, rather than the right angle triangle that we have for Triangulum. It is one of the newer constellations.

Puppis the Poop Deck, or the Stern, is the front of the ship now split into three parts. It is the front of the ship including the prow. Altogether, the Stellarium depiction of the ship looks very similar to a galley of some sort, with a single rectangular or square sail.

Cygnus the Swan, part of the Summer Triangle, is another very famous constellation.

Dorado the Dorado, or mahi-mahi, was sometimes depicted as a swordfish. Dorado is Spanish, but is treated as Latin for the constellation’s name. In English, these fish are called dolphinfish or goldfish, though they may also cause confusion.

Mense the Table Mountain is intended to be a mountain, but Mensa just means Table. In the case of Stellarium it’s Uluru, the big red rock in Australia, sometimes known as Ayer’s Rock. However, it was originally named in honour of Table Mountain in South Africa.

Telescopium the Telescope is the only surviving telescope constellation, with several being proposed in more modern times. It is also much smaller today than it was originally drawn.

Tucana the Toucan is another of the Southern Birds. Originally a toucan, it was referred to as a hornbill and even a goose at various times.

Triangulum the Triangle is our northern triangle. It is very much a right angle triangle and of course geometry was very important to the ancient Greeks, with people like Pythagoras. This is another classical constellation.

Gemini the Twins are another classical zodiacal constellation.

Aquarius the Water-Bearer is the last of the signs of the zodiac, in English at least, despite its real name starting with an “a”.

Pegasus the Winged Horse is similar, I think of it as a Pegasus with a P, even though it’s listed here as winged horse with a W.

Lupus the Wolf is just barely in the southern hemisphere, it’s too far south for us to see here in Ireland, but it would be visible from other northern hemisphere areas, and is a classical constellation.

That’s the constellations, that’s all 88 of them. You won’t get to see all of those constellations, nobody gets to see all of the constellations. Even if you’re bang on the equator, there’s going to be some constellations that you’re just not going to catch, whether they’re too far south or too far north, and of course, there’s always going to be some behind the Sun. I hope that you get to see some of those constellations. This is the first time I’ve run through every single one of them in one go so I hope you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy this piece, then please do like it. If you like this kind of content, then please subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel. Thank you very much for reading and hopefully I’ll see you back here next time.