Travelling in the night-sky is not an easy task. People usually get confused by the apparent lack of order of the crowd of stars — and the fact that they seem rotating above us across the hours and seasons doesn't help, too. However, if you live in the USA, in Canada, in Europe, in Russia, in China, or in Japan, your eyes will be easily captured in every season by an unmistakeable view: the seven main stars of Ursa Major the Great Bear. note
At least once in your life you'll have asked yourself why this stellar figure is called Bear: certainly ancient people who saw a bear in these stars had a vivid imagination! However, the stellar figure commonly identified as the Great Bear is only a single portion of a bigger constellation (the 3° widest constellation in the sky) that is the REAL Great Bear, with the seven stars of the commonly-intented "bear" better called "the Big Dipper" (in North America), the "Plough" (in Europe), or even the "Charles' Wain" (wain = wagon), and "the Seven Oxen" (which is at the origin of the old word "septentrion", indicating the North). The names of the stars are Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid (or Benetnash); they are all bright, though none among the 21 brightest stars of the Sky (the so-called 1° magnitude stars) — only Alioth almost reaches the 1° magnitude, the others are typical "2nd magnitude stars", while the weakest (Megrez) belongs to the relatively faint "3rd magnitude" stars. The relevant point is: among constellations completely above the Equator only Ursa Major has a plenty of bright stars grouped together to form a well-recognizable figure, so is usually the first one you've the chances to see in the night-sky even when you're near annoying town light sources.
In other words: if we want to find several other northern constellations Ursa Major might give an useful help. Let's start this trip just trying to find its little sister, Ursa Minor the Little Bear. Not necessarily an easy job: four of the seven stars of this small constellation are of 4th magnitude (4° magnitude stars are very faint stars usually invisible from cities); only Polaris, the famous Polar Star (signing the point of the Little Bear's tail) note and the two stars at the opposite end of the figure (nicknamed the "Guardians of the Pole") are respectively of 2nd and 3rd magnitude. Anyway, if you've got the patience you could identify the Polar (and consequently Ursa Minor) by noting the polar is the ONLY star in the firmament that seems remaining eternally fixed in a precise point of the Skynote . If you haven't got the patience, then watch the two Ursa Major's stars at the wider end of the "P", try to lengthen their imaginary link four times, and here's the polar. We don't know for sure from where the two Bears come from: probably the big one was a nymph loved by Zeus and transformed in a bear by his wife Hera to save her from the god's lust of women; the small one could have been invented by the first Greek philosopher, Taletes (if it represent just an undersized bear or a bear-cub is uncertain).
In spite of being close to each other in the sky, Ursa Major's & Ursa Minor's territories don't border on at all: there is a small space between them occupied by another constellation. What character is? Well... a dragon. Draco (the latin word of dragon) is a very long figure starting with a "head" of four stars placed "above" the Big Dipper, continuing with a serpentine "Z"-like body that almost encircles Ursa Minor, and ending with a tail wedging between the two Ursae. Draco is probably the monster killed by Hercules during his 11° fatigue, and is portrayed as a gigantic snake-thing (legged or legless) with its body making some small "coils" elsewhere — quite different from the classical winged fire-breathing dragons, more similar to the serpentine Eastern dragons. In the proximity, another large animal wedges its small head between the dragon's tail and the great bear's head: this is the Cameleopard, the ancient name of the Giraffe; its official latin name is Camelopardalis (lit. the camel-leopard). Both Draco and Camelopardalis belong to that type of constellations that are wide but hard to spot because of the faintness of their stars; however, while the Dragon, having several 4th magnitude stars and some other brighter stars elsewhere, is still spottable in the sky (though with some effort), the Giraffe put its faintness to the extreme having its figure made mainly of 5th magnitude stars note , and thus looking more like an area devoid of stars than to a commonly-intended constellation. Despite appearences, Camelopardalis is the biggest constellation by area created in recent centuries in the whole Sky, bigger even than Orion.
Near Draco and Camelopardalis (at the opposite side of the Polar Star with respect to Ursa Major) here's the celestial Royal Family watching his heavenly kingdom from the Polar Zone: sir Cepheus accompanied by madam Cassiopeia. "Cephus" is a word related with something african; indeed, Cepheus was an ancient king of Ethiopia, Andromeda's father and Perseus' father-in-law (see further). He deserves well the nickname of "our highness": it's indeed the second northernmost constellation after the Little Bear, and Cepheus' head almost manages to touch the Polar Star. Cassiopeia was Cepheus' extremely beautiful (and also extremely vain) wife, shown in portrayals watching herself with a mirror while sitting on her throne; as a stellar figure she's distinctly brighter than his husband, but is placed less-closely to the North Pole. Typically for human-portraying constellations, Cepheus & Cassiopeia's shapes recall infinitively more geometrical figures than human beings: the King looks like a faint elongated pentagon, while the Queen is a broken line of five stars.
The six constellations previously mentioned are roughly visible year-round (unless the horizon is disturbed by things such as trees, mountains, clouds, fog, houses etc.); they're the so-called "circumpolar" constellations (circumpolar = "around the pole"), while all the other constellations are mainly visible in some seasons of the year and can be totally invisible in other seasons from our latitudes.
We are in Autumn, around 22-23 o'clock. The Sky you see is quite poor of bright stars (a sensation increased by the fact that the Great Bear is near the horizon, making it difficult to spot). However, it's just in this period that you can see one of the most famous greek myths portrayed by a bunch of notable figures: other than the aforementioned Cepheus & Cassiopeia (which are minor characters of the story) there are other three large constellations placed "under" them: Perseus the Hero, Andromeda the Princess, and Pegasus the Flying Horse (and also Cetus the sea-monster below them, but this one is mentioned in another chapter). Perseus is the central character of the legend of Perseus & Andromeda (see Northern Seasonal Constellations in the main page to see a summary of the story), and also one of the three human "heroes" of the sky (the others are Hercules and Orion); but he's actually set rather apart from the other constellations of his own myth. In drawings Perseus is shown holding a sword with one hand and the cut-off head of the monster Medusa (the critter killed by him) with the other; curiously, it's sometimes said that Medusa's evil eye seems almost blinking, because it's signed by the famous variable star Algol ("the devil" in Arabic) that periodically lowers its luminosity. Algol is the second brightest star of the constellation: the brightest star of Perseus is Mirfak, as bright as some stars of the Big Dipper.
It's actually Andromeda the constellation at the center of the area occupied by the myth of Perseus & Andromeda. The sky's Princess represents Cassiopeia and Cepheus' daughter, was saved by Perseus from the monster Cetus, and finally got married with her saver. At a first glance, however, Andromeda doesn't resemble a constellation on its own; it appears attached to Pegasus in such a way to seem the latter's hindlimbs! Pegasus the Winged Horse is the biggest figure of the group (in spite of being a minor character of the story) and is also the one closest to the celestial equator. According to the legend the horse was born from Medusa's blood and became Perseus' mount for his next adventures. The horse' head is marked by the 2nd magnitude star Enif, while Pegasus' body (the famous Great Square) and the brightest portion of Andromeda, put together, make a wide figure that resembles a bit a gigantic version of the "Big Dipper". This figure is not excessively bright overall (being made only of 2nd and 3rd magnitude stars) and could request some effort to be identified correctly: but if you've managed to recognize it you'd find Perseus rather easily between it and the bright star Capella in Auriga — although devoid of 1st magnitude stars Perseus has two 2nd magnitude stars (one is Algol) and a plenty of 3rd magnitude stars that make together a sort of visible "Y". Between Pegasus and Cepheus there is also a small constellation which has nothing to do with the Myth of Perseus & Andromeda: the obscure Lacerta ("Lizard" in Latin). This is a typical example of those constellations which are a bit like "hole-fillers" of the "empty" spaces between other figures; such constellations abund in the sky (expecially in the Southern Emisphere), are usually of recent origins and appear "pressed" between the main constellations.
Before continuing the trip among constellations, a word about the famous Great Andromeda Galaxy: don't hope seeing it like how is shown in photos, even in the cleanest nights, you'll see at best a confuse spot where it is, even with binoculars. The typical brightness of the galaxy seen in books and magazines is uniquely due to patient long-exposition photos — the same thing about all the other galaxies, as well as most nebulas, the Milky Way, and other faint sources of light of the sky.
If you don't know how to do during a warm Summer night, then try to watch above your head from 23 o'clock until midnight: if the sky is moon-less and clean of clouds you'll easily find a wide right-angled triangle of bright bluish stars. Astro-lovers nickname it the Summer Triangle; the stars making it are the famous Vega and the less-famous Deneb and Altair, each belonging to its own constellation: Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila respectively. The brightest star is that in the right-angle, Vega (whose name is of uncertain meaning), but the rest of Lyra (Lyre in Latin) is small and quite uncospicuous. The lyre is an excellent example of those constellations that can be easily found in the sky thanks to only one of their stars: such constellations are quite common in the celestial sphere (see other examples in the next chapters), but Lyra takes this to an extreme — without Vega it would become one of the least-luminous figures of the northern sky. Aquila (meaning Eagle in latin) is the most southern figure of the Summer Triangle, to the point it's crossed by the celestial Equator; this is another good example of "one-bright-star" constellation, having one single luminous 1st magnitude star (Altair, meaning "flying eagle" in Arabic), several of 3rd forming together a sort of polygon, but no "intermediate" stars of 2nd.
On the other hand, Cygnus (a rare variation of Cycnus, "swan" in Latin) has a more recognizable shape: the great "cross" (nicknamed the Northern Cross) signing the swan's flying body is rather bright and stretches just through the center of the Summer Triangle. Compensating this, Deneb is the less-luminous star of the three of the Summer Triangle (Vega is the first, Altair the second), and even the famous double-star Albireo signing the swan's head is only of 3rd magnitude. Deneb means "tail" in Arabic because signs the posterior end of the bird; several other constellations have similarly-named stars signing the respective animals' tails (Leo, Cetus and Capricornus for example). About mythology, Cygnus is probably one of the disguises adopted by Zeus to courtship some mortal woman, Lyra could be the instrument used by Orpheus to enchant every living being, while Aquila is possibly a homage to the bird sacred to Zeus, the eagle indeed. It's curious that in the past the Lyre was sometimes identified as a bird on its own (usually a vulture) — to the point someone could rename the Summer Triangle "the three birds". Also, in ancient maps the Eagle was shown holding a man with its claws (Antinous) but the latter has disappeared in illustrations today.
If you live in the northern USA winter is obviously not a good period to go out and watch the stars. However, it's just in winter times that one of the most admired constellation of the sky is best-visible: Orion the Hunter, with its upright rectangle of luminous stars and the famous "belt" of three stars at its center. But if you watch "above" Orion's head you'll see other three large constellations: two prominent Zodiac figures (Taurus & Gemini) and another even more evident figure above them, Auriga. They have one luminous identikit-star within (Gemini has two) and also other relatively bright stars of 2nd and 3rd magnitude, so they are easier to identify than most other constellations of the northern sky. Making things even better, the shiny Orion can be used as a reference to find them.
Taurus ("bull" in Latin) is placed at the north-eastern side of Orion; the eponymous animal (which, like Pegasus, is classically shown running out from a cloud in celestial maps) points its horns leftwards, and is probably another disguise adopted by Zeus for its love-adventures. Both the bright orange star Aldebaran and the star-cluster named the Hyades contribute to sign the bull's head and muzzle, while the famous star-cluster named "the Pleiades" (which belong officially to Taurus) are not part of the animal's figure but makes a group of characters on their own, the seven nymphs Alcyone, Asterops, Merops, Maia, Electra, Taigeta, and Celaeno (plus their parents Atlas and Pleione). Being the proper bull placed between Orion and the Pleiades some see it as the defender of the "seven sisters" againt Orion's lust for them.
Placed at the north-western side of Orion, Gemini ("twins" in Latin) portrays the two mythical Dioscures. Their heads are marked by the two main stars of the constellation, each bearing one of the twins' names: Castor & Pollux. note In mythology, however, they were two very different twins — Castor was of totally mortal origins, Pollux was half-human and half-divine, being son of Zeus. Some illustrations portray them as children while others show them as adults (sometimes with weapons); their bodies are signed by two roughly parallel lines of stars each starting with one of the two main stars. Above both Taurus and Gemini (about in the middle-way between Orion and the North Pole) there's Auriga ("coachman" in Latin, or to be more precise, the Charioteer). It portrays an unidentified man with a goat (plus some kids) on his left shoulder; it could be a legendary king or whatnot. The goat is portrayed by the yellow star Capella, the "little goat" in Latin note . Auriga is perhaps the most well-visible among the costellations completely above the Equator (after Ursa Major of course); Capella is brighter and more northern than both Aldebaran and the two Twins, becoming usually the first star of the four to attract people's attention near the zenith. Furthermore, the brightness of the remaining Auriga is furtherly increased by the star signing the bull's upper horn (El Nath), which is almost of 1st magnitude and traditionally makes also the lower extremity of the charioteer's pentagonal figure. Between Auriga, Gemini and Ursa Major there is a vast area very poor of visible stars that was originally not-assigned to any constellation: since the 1600 it's occupied by Lynx, representing the eponymous cat while jumping (perhaps toward Auriga's goats). Like the near Camelopardalis this is one of the largest constellations created in the modern era: such constellations were created arbitrarily by few astronomers living between 1600 and 1700 and are usually not linked with any ancient legend (see Recent Constellations).
At a first glance distinguishing the 1st magnitude stars of the sky from each other is not immediate: however, knowing the period of the year, the color of the stars, their overall luminosity, and their position in respect to some really-bright constellations like Ursa Major & Orion, you can easily learn which star it the one you're looking at — and consequently you can also individuate the constellation it belong to. In Springtime, for example, Orion is visible more and more near the western horizon losing its usefulness as a "guide", but compensating this the Great Bear is high in the sky (it could even be near the zenith), becoming the main way to identify the typical constellations of this period.
Just below the Ursa Major's "paws" (a bit above the celestial Equator) you can see another large celestial beast: Leo (obviously meaning lion in Latin), whose maned head (signed by the inverted "?" known as the Sickle) points rightwards like the Bear's head, and its long body is roughly parallel to the Big Dipper. It's probably the lion killed by Hercules during the 1st of his 12 fatigues — since it had invulnerable hide, the hero defeated the animal by suffocation. The lion's forebody is dominated by the "faintest" of the twenty-one 1° magnitude star, the bluish Regulus — lit. "the little king", a clear reference to the historical reputation of the lion as the King of Beasts. Even though the overall shape of Leo make it appearing limb-less, drawings typically show it like it's stretching his legs or like it's jumping with its forefeet extended toward the nearby zodiac constellation: the much fainter Cancer (crab in Latin). This one is also probably tied with one of the Hercules' 12 fatigues: it could be the crab envoyed by Hera to disturb the hero while was fighting the seven-headed Hydra, and ended crushed under Hercules' foot. Curiously, two stars of Cancer are named "the donkeys", eating in the "manger" portrayed by the star-cluster also called the Beehive. In modern era one astronomer decided also to invent the small "brother" of Leo, the little-known Leo Minor (minor = smaller) portaying either a undersized lion or a lion-cub; it's another example of a "hole-filling" constellation, pressed between Leo's head and Ursa Major's feet.
Returning to Ursa Major, if you travel with your eye below its "handle" you'll surely find the brightest star of the Northern Emisphere, and the forth brightest star of the whole Sky: the orange Arcturus, the main star of Bootes. Bootes is vast and latitudinally-elongated constellation portraying an unidentified herdsman or shepherd (boo- in greek means ox); Arcturus is slightly above the celestial Equator, while the kite-shaped human's upper body stretches between this star and the Plough's "handle". Arcturus means "the bear's tail" in Greek, and is a reference to the near Ursa Major; curiously, this star has sligthly changed its position in respect to Antiquity note In ancient portrayals the bootes appears alone, but since the 1600 it was added a companion-constellation: Canes Venatici (lit. "hunting dogs"), representing two dogs (usually greyhounds) held by the herdsman by a leash while he's leaving its left arm. This faint figure is made of only two stars, even though the brightest of them (of 3rd magnitude) has the suggestive latin name Cor Caroli, the "King Carol's Heart". Other two faint constellations flank Bootes at each of his sides, and share a "royal" reference: Corona Borealis the Northern Crown (Corona = crown, Borealis = northern) at the left and Coma Berenices (Queen Berenice's Hair) at the right, just below the hunting dogs. They too are small and hardly visible, even though Corona has a typical "U" shape and a relatively bright star of 2nd magnitude named Gemma, "the gem" of the crown.
If you watch even souther beyond Arcturus and the triangle of stars marking the Lion's hindquarters (the one signing its tail is named Denebola, similarly to Deneb in the Swan), you'll find a bluish 1° magnitude star similar to Regulus but slightly brighter: this is Spica (lit. the "ear of wheat" in latin), placed a bit below the celestial Equator. This is the main star of one of the biggest figures in the whole firmament (2nd placement by area): Virgo (Virgin in Latin, colloquially the Maiden), one of the few constellations - among the 13 portraying people - representing a feminine character (the others are Andromeda and Cassiopeia)note , probably the roman goddess Ceres who protected crops. In the sky Virgo appears almost "lying" on the Equator with her head below the Lion's paws and her feet below Bootes' legs: it's a classical "one-bright-star" constellation which apart from Spica has not other really-luminous stars. Being a zodiacal constellation, if you find one or more other bright stars within they are not true stars but planets of our Solar System — namely Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn: Venus and Mercury are only visible near the Sun at dawn or dusk, while Uranus is almost-invisible and Neptune is totally invisible to a naked eye. note
We're again in Summertime. Between the Summer Triangle and the star Arcturus you might discover one of the biggest stellar figures of the sky, the fifth by area precisely; Hercules, portraying the Greek Superman covered by a lion's hide (probably the Leo's one). He's shown in illustrations in a kneeled suffering pose while leaving a mace with his right hand and something else with the left (usually a bow, sometimes flowers). Several other constellations are linked with Hercules' legendary enterprises known as the 12 Fatigues (undertook by the hero as a punishment for his arrogance); however, only a handful of critters fought by the demigod are represented in the sky, and they are usually in distant portions of the celestial sphere far from Hercules. A notable exception could be the circumpolar Draco (the Dragon) whose head is just near one of Hercules' feet, looking like the hero is actually crushing the dragon's head as a sign of victory!
Despite its wideness, Hercules, being made mainly of 4th magnitude stars and none of 2nd, has a quite indistinct appearance. Just below Hercules, however, there is another large and slightly brighter equatorial constellation portraying another tough guy: Ophiuchus ("ophis" means snake in Greek). It probably represents the greek/roman god of medicine Aesculapius, but some see it as one of Hercules' companions — because of this, the two constellations are sometimes nicknamed "the two giants". Hercules and Ophiuchus have their bodies pointing in opposite directions (Hercules points northwards, Ophiuchus southwards), while their heads are close to each other; the stars marking Hercules' and Ophiuchus' heads are respectively Ras Algethi ("kneeled man's head", of 3rd magnitude) and Ras Alhague ("snake-bearer's head", 2nd magnitude) — "ras" is arabic for head. Rich of 3rd magnitude stars but without 1° magnitude ones, Ophiuchus is also known as the Serpent-Holder because has a huge snake coiled around his waist which actually makes a constellation on its own: Serpens ("the slithering one" in Latin), the only constellation in the whole sky divided in two distinct areas. This certainly doesn't represent a Real Life snake such as a boa or a python (which were still unknown in ancient time), but probably a legendary snake associated with medicine. Being mainly made of 4th magnitude stars, Serpens is definitively not easy to see: its tail (Serpens Cauda: Cauda = tail in latin) can be spotted between Ophiuchus and the Eagle's star Altair, while the snake's head (Serpens Caput: Caput = head in Latin) is just below the aforementioned Northern Crown. The latter appears pressed between Hercules' and Bootes' bodies — but actually don't belong to neither: it's probably Bacchus' crown, the roman god of wine.
In the sky, other than really-bright constellations such as Ursa Major & Orion and "one-bright-star" constellations like Virgo & Bootes there are also some constellations that are very large but, having no stars of 1st magnitude, one single star of 2nd (when they have it), and even few stars of 3rd, are basically invisible from light-polluted locations, and thus ignored by occasional watchers (but not by the more skilled astro-lovers). Already-seen examples are Hercules (the 5° widest constellation by area) and the Dragon (the 8°), but also Cepheus, the Giraffe, the Lynx, the Serpent, and other we've still not encountered in our travel in the night sky, like the Unicorn and the Hydra (Sea-Serpent).
Here we'll cope with other three excellent examples: the zodiacal Aquarius (10° widest) & Pisces (14°) plus Cetus the "Whale" (4°). Together, they make the bulk of the celestial area traditionally called for understandable reasons the Heavenly Waters (which includes also some smaller constellations nearby like Capricornus and Piscis Austrinus). note Aquarius Pisces & Cetus are all visible in Fall like those of the Myth of Perseus but placed more south than them (they are all crossed by the Equator). To be fair, however, one of them, Cetus, is one of the character of the myth, or rather, it's the villain of the story: it tried eating the princess Andromeda chained on a rock as a sacrifice to the Gods, but was killed by Perseus who pietrified the monster with the cut-head of Medusa's still-open eyes. Even though "Cetus" is usually translated as "the Whale" (recalling the modern word "cetacean") it actually means "great marine beast" or "marine monster" in latin, and represent a sort of sea-dragon more than a whale; however, considering its size, the nickname "whale" may be appropriate. Its only relatively bright stars are at the two opposite ends of the figure, the 3rd magnitude Menkar (the "nose") and the 2nd magnitude Deneb Kaitos ("the tail of the sea-monster"), the rest of the figure is made of 4th magnitude stars. On the other hand, the name of Cetus' most famous star, Mira, latin for "the wonderful one", also known as Mira Ceti, "the wonderful (star) of Cetus", was coined few centuries ago and refers to a merely astronomical trait, the star's extreme variations in luminosity. Not all star-names are of ancient origin as it could seem.
Just below the flying horse Pegasus there's Aquarius ("aqua" = water in Latin), a very irregular figure almost entirely of 4th magnitude stars, whose alpha has the long arabic name Sadlamelik. Slightly below the equator, Aquarius famously portrays a man spilling water from an urn (hence the name Water-Carrier), but how character is portrayed in Aquarius is matter of speculation — it could be Ganymede, the Gods' cup-bearer. Pressed between Pegasus, Aquarius & Cetus, Pisces (latin plural of fish) is a very long "L"-like line of 4th/5th magnitude stars that seem encircling two sides of the great Pegasus' Square. The two parts of the "L" represent two ropes united by a knot, while the two ends portray one fish each. They are probably Venus and her son Cupidus transformed into fish to escape another sort of sea-monster, but the fishes' species is not known. Even though the bigger & most southern fish is marked by a typical ellipse of stars, Pisces is extremely faint for such an extended figure, with no 3rd magnitude stars — to the point to appear almost as an "empty" area between the other Fall constellations, like the circumpolar Giraffe in the North Pole area.
Encircled by the constellations of the Heavenly Waters, the Perseus Myth & the zodiacal Bull, you could glimpse two little faint figures looking like pointed triangles. One portrays the head of Aries (the Ram in Latin), a middle-sized constellation whose body is signed by even weaker starlets nearby, the other makes a small constellation on its own, Triangulum (THE triangle in latin). Aries is probably the ram of the "golden wool" searched by the sailors called Argonauts; despite its overall faintness it contains a 2nd magnitude star that is called Hamal ("lamb" in Arabic), which signs the eye of the ram. The Triangle sometimes didn't portray a simple geometrical figure but a geographical element, the Nile's Delta (which is notoriously triangular in shape). At the other side of the Heavenly Waters (roughly between the Summer Triangle, Pegasus and Aquarius) there are other four small and weak constellations that are relatively little-known: Vulpecula the Little Fox, Sagitta the Arrow, Delphinus the Dolphin, and Equuleus the Little Horse. Vulpecula (diminutive of Vulpes, "fox" in latin) is a modern figure without links with mythology; just in the middle of the Summer Triangle, is a typical "hole-filler" whose 5th magnitude stars don't make any recognizable pattern. Sagitta ("arrow" in latin), on the other hand, is one of the very rare constellations that really resembles the portrayed figure: it could represent the arrow throwed by Hercules. Delphinus ("dolphin" in latin) is another member of the Heavenly Waters, probably celebrating the dolphin which was very considered by ancient greek people, as is still today. The tiny Equuleus (diminutive of Equus, "horse" in latin), the smallest constellation of the northern emisphere, portrays the head of which could be the brother of the near Pegasus; admitly, it's surprising that this almost-invisible figure has been judged since Antiquity a constellation on its own, and yet Ptolemy listed it as one of the official 48 constellations!
It would be perfectly useless talking even more about Orion the Hunter, definitively one of the most appreciated constellations in the Sky (if the most): just read the folder Equatorial Constellations to learn why night-sky enthusiasts belove it so much. We can, however, add here the names of its main stars. The four that make the upright rectangle are Betelgeuse (high-left), Bellatrix (high-right), Rigel (low-right), Saiph (low-left); the three stars of the famous "belt" are Mintaka, Alnilam & Alnitak. They're all arabic names except for Bellatrix which is Latin for "she-warrior". Betelgeuse (the Alpha star) and Rigel (the Beta) are famously of 1st magnitude and among the most luminous stars in the firmament, but also Bellatrix (the Gamma star) almost reaches the 1st magnitude as well. The others are typically of 2nd magnitude like the stars of the Great Bear. All these stars are bluish except for the reddish Betelgeuse, and most belong to a single group of stars moving together in the space (like those of Ursa Major). We have to add that, together with the Great Bear, Orion is the only constellation (totally or partially) in the northern emisphere to have six or more 1st or 2nd magnitude stars — all the others, included the brightest ones like Bootes, Cygnus or Auriga, never have more than three. This means several other stars both above and below the Equator can be found by using Orion's amazingly regular shape as a point of reference.
One of them, a bright whitish 1st magnitude star just at the left side of Orion, actually seems an isolated star not pertaining to any constellation: this is Procyon (greek for "before the dog").note . This star actually does pertain to its own small constellation, Canis Minor (canis = dog in Latin, minor = smaller), whose figure seems almost made of two stars alone; despite its smallness, this is the only constellation placed above the sky Equator and below the Zodiac at the same time. But if you hear about THE celestial dog par excellence, this is Canis Major (major = bigger in Latin); the fact that the little dog rises slightly before the greater one has given the name to Procyon. The Great Dog is souther than the Little one, but its immediately recognized thanks to Sirius ("shining, burning" in Greek), the pure-white note star that is by far the most luminous in the firmament, to the point that its magnitude is -1 (stars' magnitude is inversely proportional to their brightess: Sirius is so bright it has a negative number!) Together, Sirius Procyon & Betelgeuse are sometimes called the "Winter Triangle", countered against the famous "Summer Triangle" described above. But the whole Canis Major is very bright, defending itself very well from Orion himself; other than Sirius it has four 2nd magnitude stars (and one of them, Adhara, is actually in the middle between the 1st and the 2nd magnitude). This makes the Great Dog as shining as the Great Bear (or rather, even more), but sadly, this splendor is strongly darkened for people living in the Earth's northern emisphere; being Canis Major' below the equator it appears always low in the sky and not far from the south horizon. Since stars' visibility near the horizons is lowered by both the greater rate of pollution and the profile of mountains buildings and so on, people living in the northern USA often manage to see only Sirius and Mirzam (Canis Major's two star closer to Orion). Talking about mythology, Canis Major & Canis Minor represent Orion's two hunting dogs, even though their breed is undeterminate — some portray the major like a german shepherd, others like a bloodhound and so on, while some depict the minor as a puppy. As said above another human character (Bootes) has two hunting dogs portrayed in the constellation named Canes Venatici. It's curious to note, at this point, that house-cats are totally missing today in the sky (which has 4 dogs, 2 lions, 2 bears, a wolf, a fox, and even a lynx); but a true-cat constellation once REALLY existed, but it was not made official in year 1922 by the International Convention: Felis (just meaning "cat" in Latin), a tiny group of faint stars between the Hydra and the Ship Argo, both described further.
When thinking about the night-sky visible from USA, one common regret among U.S. astro-lovers is that the most shiny constellations of the celestial sphere are mainly in the Southern Emisphere. Among the six most splendid celestial figures (those with MANY bright stars of 1st and 2nd magnitude and not just one, two or three), the Big Dipper is definitively in the Northern Emisphere, Orion is evenly divided in two by the Equator, but four are actually in full Southern Emisphere. Worsening things, two of them (the Centaur and the Ship Argo) are in the Deep South of the sky —spectacularly visible only for Australians, New Zealanders, Africans, Mexicans, South Americans, Caribbeans, Arabians, Indians, Indonesians etc., but hardly visible (when they are) for North American, European, Russian, and Chinese/Japanese Far East observers.
Fortunately, other than the aforementioned Canis Major (with Sirius) there is another bright constellation that, being only a bit below the heavenly equator, can still appear in full splendor without the necessity to travel to the terrestrial Tropics: the zodiacal Scorpius (a rare variant of Scorpio, "scorpion" in Latin), with its unmistakeable "S"-like shape. Its curved line of stars includes the bright 1st magnitude Antares and five or six stars of 2nd magnitude, that together make Scorpius almost as luminous as Orion. The northern end of the "S" has a "T" shape and signs the animal's head; the 1st magnitude red star Antares (lit. "anti" + "Ares", the greek name of Mars) is just behind it and marks the scorpion's heart; the southern end has a "V" shape and includes the star Shaula (liter. the "sting"), which is almost of 1st magnitude. But where are the pincers? They are marked by two weak 3rd magnitude stars (Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, "the southern pincer" and the "northern pincer" in Arabic) which... well... are not in Scorpius at all, but in the neighboring zodiac constellation, the much less-spectacular Libra ("scales" in latin) — see Zodiacal Constellations to understand the reason of this oddity. However, almost-every illustration (ancient or modern) still portrays the scorpion with its claws, looking like it's trying to grasp the Scales with them. Libra has the shape of a rhombus, hasn't got bright stars, and as is known portrays a pair of ancient scales (possibly belonging to the near Virgo); this is the only zodiac constellations representing an object.
Let's make some statistics at this point: among the 88 constellations officially recognized today about half of them represent animals (usually mammals, and then 9 birds, 6 reptiles, 4 fish and 3 arthropods), 13 represent humans (10 males and 3 females), about 25 portray man-created objects (but only few are ancient constellations such as the scales), three represent geometrical figures (one cross and two triangles), two are geographical elements (a river and a mountain), and, oddly, NONE portrays member of the plant world such as flowers or trees (but see also the "Ship Argo" chapter below). But there is also a bunch of constellations that are hard to classify elsewhere: ex. Sagittarius (lit. the arrow-bearer in Latin): horse with human-prominence, or a human with a horsy rear-end? Not to mention the nearby Capricornus: a swimming goat, or a strange goat-like fish? Talking about Sagittarius, even though lacking luminous 1st magnitude stars, Sagittarius has several 2nd/3rd stars "packed" together to form the unmistakeable shape of a teapot — actually, the stars near the "spout" of the "teapot" sign the Archer's bow, while the "handle" of the teapot marks his right arm ready to throw the arrow against the Scorpion's heart. The centaur's legs and head, on the other hand, are marked only by faint stars. Some have said the teapot almost seems emitting smoke from its spout, in the form of the faint stripe of light called the Milky Way. The latter, according to the myth, is just a gush of milk escaped from Hercules' mouth while he was sucking the goddess Hera's breast: ancient astronomers like Ptolemy would be amazed to know the "gush of milk" is a thing 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times bigger than our full World! The Milky Way Galaxy appears particularly dense just in the portion of the sky between Sagittarius, Scorpius & Ophiuchus —- this also because we're watching in the direction of the center of our own Galaxy. Don't miss the opportunity to watch it with your binoculars, it's really an astounding wiew!
Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, and Capricornus are all placed entirely in the Southern Emisphere near each other just below the Equator, making together the most southern part of the Zodiac. In this area there is also a relatively little-known constellation above Sagittarius and below the equatorial Aquila and Serpens-Cauda: Scutum (shield in Latin) with its tiny area and extremely incospicous look seems a simple "hole-filler", but is notable for being the only constellation below the equator and above the zodiac at the same time. Its full names is Sobieski's shield, but it's not linked with ancient mythology as it seems, but real-history: it portrays the shield of a Polish King lived in the XVII century. Capricornus ("the billy-goat's horn" in latin) is a faint middle-sized figure with a peculiar obtuse-triangle shape; the wider corner points southwards. The capricorn is another character of the Heavenly Waters; it could represent the fully-animal shape assumed by the goat-footed god Pan (who invented of the panflute according to the legend). If you've individued Aquarius you could see Capricornus at its below-right; but it's easier for you to see under the Water-Carrier a bright solitary star (if the mountains, hills, trees or buildings around you permit this of course): this is Fomalhaut, the mouth of Piscis Austrinus (Piscis is the latin singular of fish, Austrinus is a variant of Australis, meaning "southern"). This small constellation (which apart from Fomalhaut has only weak 4th magnitude stars) represents an undetermined species of big fish swimming in the southernmost portion of the heavenly waters. The curiosity is it's classically shown in portrayals DRINKING the stream of water spilled by Aquarius — this means that, prosaically, Aquarius & Piscis Austrinus could be considered the Tap and the Drain of the Heavenly Sink!
Unlike Earth's planispheres which show the two Earth's emispheres together, most celestial maps show the two Sky's emispheres separated in two distinct "disks". Even though this is useful to emphasize the differences between each semi-sky, it has a unpleasant consequence: Equatorial constellations appear inevitably split in two, with their portion north
◊ of the equator in one half-map and the southern
◊ in the other half-map — enormously troubling the remembering of their stellar pattern. However, if you have a bit of imagination you can amuse yourself by thinking the sky's equator is the surface of a huge ocean, the northern emisphere is the sky above the sea and the southern one the underwater. The results can be quite funny: Orion appears plunged in water at his belt, Ophiuchus at his chest, Virgo happily floating while watching the sky above her, and Aquarius almost-totally submerged like's drowning (and spilling water when he's UNDER-water!)
Two constellations, however, make this fantasy actually realistic: Cetus the Whale, which appears emerging from the "equator-ocean" with only its head, while the tail is kept underwater (just like what Real Life whales do), and Hydra ("water snake" in latin) swimming almost-totally underwater with its tiny head slightly above the "surface" just like Real Life snake. Cetus and Hydra are placed in opposite sides of the Equatorial Belt with respect to Orion, and share several traits in common. Both are just below the Ecliptic note ; both potray legendary & dragon-like marine critters; and both are faint for their size — Hydra has only one 2nd magnitude star (signing the creature's heart) called Alphard, "the solitary one" in arabic because is the only relatively luminous star in the surroundings. And both are really large, to the point they border on FOUR zodiac constellations each: Aquarius Pisces Aries & Taurus (Cetus) and Cancer Leo Virgo & Libra (Hydra). To be precise, however, the Sea-Serpent borders only partially Leo & Virgo: between them there are three small constellations which appear "pressed" againt their much larger neighbors; Corvus, Crater & Sextans (see below). Hydra is NOT the seven-headed monster defeated by Hercules during its 2nd fatigue (despite its closeness to Leo, the critter of the 1st fatigue); it is a one-headed serpentine dragon very similar to "the" Dragon in the polar zone, even with a small polygon signing its head and its body making some small coils elsewere in drawings just like Draco's.
The Hydra's main trait, however, is its size. Not only it's the vastest by-area among the 88 constellations of the northern and the southern emisphere: its figure is so enormously long that it almost seems making Snake & Ladders in the sky, with its head just below Cancer and the tailtip touching Libra! Among the other constellations only Eridanus the River really rivals Hydra in length. Above Hydra lie the aforementioned 4 constellations of the Zodiac, while below it there are the most spectacular figures of the deep south-sky, Centaurus and the huge Ship Argo. Moreover, beside the (signed by an attractive grouplet of six stars) hydra's head there is a relatively large but very faint modern figure that, in spite of portraying a legendary character, is definitively not linked with greek mithology: Monoceros the Unicorn (Monoceros = "one horn" in Greek), whose area fills the apparently "empty" zone in the middle of the bright Winter Triangle (Orion, Canis Major & Canis Minor). With Monoceros the celestial horses/horse-things reach the total number of five: other than the spiral-horned one there are also the bird-winged Pegasus, the two centaurs Sagittarius & Centaurus, and the tiny Equuleus (which is the only fully-horse of them all). And now let's talk about the aforementioned three small constellations between the Zodiac and Hydra. Sextans the Sextant, Crater the Cup (or the Bowl), and Corvus the Crow (or the Raven) are all just below the equator; even though they are usually not much considered because of their smallness and their "lowness" in the sky, they are nonetheless characteristic. Sextans ("sextus" means sixth in latin) is the largest one and the only that slightly passes the line of the equator, but is almost-invisible to naked eyes — note . A typical "hole-filling" figure created in modern age, it represents the eponymous astronomical instrument to find the height of the stars in the celestial dome. On the other hand, Crater (crater is latin for cup, and is at the origin of the modern meaning of "mouth of the volcano") and Corvus (which can be translated either "crow" or "raven" from latin) are ancient figures strictly tied with Hydra by a legend involving the god Apollo. Both are shown in portrayal lying upon the monster's body; even though a bit wider and more northern, Crater is made of fainter stars and is harder to spot in the sky than the Crow, which has a rather evident quadrilater-like figure made of 3rd magnitude stars (that are also placed near the bright Virgo's star Spica), making it is the easiest to discover of the trio.
The celestial Southern Emisphere is not only brighter than the Northern one: it has also much more constellations. Constellations above the equator have usually large areas leaving little room for many smaller figures; below the equator, on the other hand, big constellations are ofter surrounded by an entire collection of smaller constellations usually not much well-known (at least among people living in the USA or in other countries at the same latitude). Most of these "lesser southern constellations" were created only few centuries ago and lack links with mythology; we'll encounter them by using bigger constellations as a reference. In this chapter we'll cope with those bordered by what could be the longest stellar figure of the firmament: Eridanus the Eridan River. note It's unknown what kind of river is: some think it's the Po (in Italy), others the Euphrates or even the Nile, but it could just be a small stream near Athens, or even a legendary river. Whatever the case, according to the classic myth this is the river in which Phaeton (Apollo's son) fell down while driving the famous carriage with the Sun.
Eridanus starts below Orion's left foot (the one marked by the famous bright star Rigel); the river's 3rd magnitude star signing its source is called Cursa (the "stool") just because is under the Hunter's foot. Then the constellation turns right and makes a wide "U"-like "bend" made of about twenty almost-entirely 4th magnitude stars. Just below Orion near Eridanus' source we can see the first "lesser constellation", a small animal hiding itself under the Hunter's feet under the menace of his Greater Dog: Lepus ("hare" in Latin). Like the near Unicorn (which has not any link with Orion's legend) the Hare is strongly overshadowed by Orion's and Canis Major's magnificence but remains nonetheless a relatively easy-to-recognize figure, made of a quadrilater of 3rd magnitude stars with other fainter stars nearby — it's also the only "lesser constellation" near Eridanus to have been known since antiquity. The outer edge of the river's bend borders the Whale's tail, but then the River turns left and makes another less-deep bend which makes it assuming the overall shape of an inverted "S". Encircled by this second bend at the left bank of the river there is an extremely faint but interesting southern constellation: Fornax. This is one of those constellations created in the 1700 century by the french astronomer Lacaille to celebrate Man's science and creativity; even though its name means "furnace" in Latin it actually represents a chemical oven. Just beyond Fornax there is that could be called its "twin"-constellation: Sculptor, another extremely weak but relatively-large Lacaille's constellation portraying NOT a sculptor but his study (the nature of this study is uncertain however: it could be a sculpted human head, a hammer, or other similar things). At the right bank of the "bend" there is the sculptor's tool: a burin (a kind of chisel) portrayed by one of the smallest Lacaille's creations: Caelum (it's interesting however that the latin pronounce of Caelum is the same of Coelum, meaning "Sky"). However, beyond the almost-invisible burin there is a more evident (though still weak) figure, that of Columba ("dove", "pigeon" in Latin). Columba flies just below Lepus from the Ship Argo toward the Eridan River, but unlike the Hare is not another hunter's prey: often shown with a olive twig in its bill, Columba is perhaps the only constellation of the whole sky portraying a Christian figure (Noah's Dove) note .
Beyond the second bend Eridanus points decisely southwards, making some zigzags with its (almost-exclusively of 4th magnitude) stars, and starting to become invisible from the northermost USA latitudes. Finally, our boundless river ends its journey with Achernar ("the river's mouth" in Arabic), the 9th brightest star in the Sky signing its mouth (sometimes portrayed as a delta and sometimes as an estuary). We started just below the Equator and now we're not far from the South Pole! At the river's left bend near Achernar there is a relatively wide and visible constellation : Phoenix the Phenix (whose name recalls "Phoenicia", the ancient mideastern region were it was believed living in), portraying the legendary Arabian bird able to be born again from its own ashes. On the right side of Phoenix there's another bird: Grus (crane in Latin), the brightest among the so-called "four birds" — the remaining two are a toucan and a peacock, see further. Two 2nd magnitude stars and one of 3rd make Grus as bright as the Little Bear in the northern emisphere, while its figure resembles a distorted cross looking like a humbler version of Cygnus the Swan. While the phoenix is often shown perched on a branch near the mouth of the Eridan River signed by Achernar, the crane is usually shown flying, just below another mouth, the Southern Fish' one signed by Fomalhaut. Achernar & Fomalhaut are the only bright 1st magnitude stars near the area occupied by the "4 birds"; this area appears very poor of luminous stars if compared with the spectactular zone populated by such evident figures like Centaurus, Crux, & Argo Navis. Still, the "4 birds" are bigger and/or more luminous than most other "minor southern constellations". Returning to Eridanus' right bank, just below Columba there are four small roughly parallel constellations running from Achernar and the shiny Ship Argo's star Canopus — now we're in the closeness of the "extreme celestial south". The one closest to Eridanus is another very modest-looking Lacaille's figure, Horologium the Pendulum Clock ("horologium" is a latin neologism, since clocks obviously didn't exist in Ancient times), bordering with its elongated shape the Eridanus' lowest right bank below Caelum. The following figure is smaller but more visible: a small rhombus named Reticulum by Lacaille (dim. of "net" in Latin). And then, the relatively most well-known of the foursome: Dorado, the only constellation of the whole sky whose official name is neither greek nor latin (it's a spanish word meaning "golden"). This constellation looks like a distorted line of faint stars and represents a large Real Life gold-skinned fish swimming in the waters of Ship Argo: the Coryphenid or "dolphinfish", which often leaps out of water to catch the smaller flying-fishes. Finally, between Dorado and Canopus, another Lacaille's constellation: Pictor the Painter's Easel (pictor = "painter" in latin), similar to Dorado but even weaker. It's noteworthy that just the area including these 4 constellations owns two notable features: the Great Magellanic Cloud (with its Tarantula Nebula and the Supernova 1987A) which is mainly in Dorado, and the South Pole of the Ecliptic, at the opposite pole in respect to the one in Draco. Returning to Achernar, in the "sea" beyond the mouth of the Eridan River a guy is swimming in the "extreme celestial south", which you could actually think to be Hydra's husband: Hydrus (whose latin name is the masculine version of Hydra), the so-called "male sea-serpent". it's actually a simple Real Life small-sized sea-snake, nothing to do with the huge monster of the equatorial regions. Near its figure there is the Small Magellanic Cloud, which at a first glance seems pertaining to Hydrus but actually lies within the territory of Tucana (another latin neologism, as toucans were unknown by Ancients!). This is another member of the "4 birds", less-bright than Grus, Pavo & Phoenix (about the same luminosity of the Lynx) and placed below Grus and Phoenix in full "extreme-celestial-south" zone like Pavo (which, being set rather apart from the other three birds, is described in another chapter). Hydrus is slighty brighter than the Toucan (with three 3rd magnitude stars) and reaches even souther latitudes, becoming the closest constellation to the South Pole among those still-visible in a non-perfectly clean sky. Other four, Apus, Mensa, Chamaeleon & Octans, are even closer but their figure is exclusively made of few 4th or even 5th magnitude stars.
Despite their length, Eridanus and Hydra are not the biggest stellar patterns of the southern sky. There is a really huge figure between them: Argo Navis (navis = ship in Latin), representing the famous legendary Ship Argo driven by Jason with the sailors named Argonauts (lit. the "Argo sailors") note , which once undertook a long journey in the lands where is today the Caucasus (between the Black and the Caspian Sea) searching for the Golden Wool of the mythical Ram.
But this constellation don't exist anymore. It was one of the original 48 Ptolemy's constellations, but was divided in three parts by Lacaille because it was judged really too big: Carina (Keel in Latin), Puppis (latin for Stern), and Vela (plural latin of Velum, "sail"), each still a large figure compared with most southern constellations. As one would expect Carina is the southernmost part of the ship, another "extreme celestial south" figure reaching an almost as-low latitude as Hydrus; however, the keel's stars appear "fused" with those of Puppis & Vela — ancients saw the whole ensemble as one single constellation because of this. The fact that ancient navigators of the Mediterranean waters could spot this figure just above the marine horizon like it's ploughing the waves note could explain why they identified it as a ship. The second brightest star in the Sky just belongs to Carina and is called Canopus (the name of one of the Argonauts); it is at its posterior end, while the second brighter star of the Keel (and of the whole Ship Argo), Miaplacidus, is at the front end of the keel. At about 70° south, Miaplacidus is the most southern 2nd magnitude star of the Sky (to be fair it's almost of 1st magnitude). Roughly other seven stars of the Ship are of 2nd magnitude, making it not only the widest but also one of the totally brightest celestial figures; Carina alone is almost as bright as Canis Major or Orion, and even Vela and Puppis are relatively bright figures (about the same luminosity of Andromeda or Cassiopeia). The main star of Puppis is named Naos ("ship" in Greek). Interestingly, a forth portion of the Ship Argo (the mast) was deemed by Lacaille a brand new figure: Pyxis the Compass (the tool to find the North), visible at the left of Puppis and above the Sails. As a memory of the object originally-portrayed, however, Pyxis has the shape of a straight line of three 4th magnitude stars. Just on the left side of Pyxis Lacaille invented an even more evanescent neighbor: Antlia the Pneumatic Machine (or more simply the Air Pump) — "pneumatic machine" sounds as of the most bizarre names for a constellation, at least according to some. Both are middle-latitude figures pressed between Argo Navis and Hydra; because of the imposing presence of the ship, these two "sister" constellations are isolated from most other lesser-southern-constellations.
Returning to the dead constellation Argo Navis: this has not been the only case in history. Many other brand-new constellations invented at one point have disappeared today: they were ignored in 1918 by the Astronomical International Convention either because they were extremely small or faint (and thus believed unnecessary), or because they were proposed alternatively against some still-living constellations, with the latter that won the contest... or maybe simply because they "spoiled" the beauty of the classical constellations thanks to their presence. Anyway, many classical maps of the Sky show them as "official" constellations of their time. One famous example in the northern sky is "Quadrans Muralis" (lit. "Quadrant of the Wall") between Bootes and Draco, which still today gives its name to the Quadrantid Meteors; you can see other examples in other chapters. Note that in this list there are included even the Magellanic Clouds, the two dwarf-galaxies satellites of our own Galaxy, that were once classified as proper constellations on their own! For plant-lovers there's "Robur Carolinum" (Charles' Oak): it was created in the XVII century by taking some stars away from the Ship Argo before Lacaille divided it in three parts, but has had less-luck than Pyxis and today the sky is totally devoid of members of the plant world.
As is known crusaders were knights of the Middle Ages with a cross designed on their costume. In a sense a crusader is actually still-present in the sky, but his cross is put UNDER him. Of course we are talking about the two most iconic constellations of the southern sky: Centaurus (the other celestial centaur other than Sagittarius) & Crux (the "southern-cross" so beloved by Australians, New Zealanders and Oceanians as a whole, see also further). While the cross is a modern figure not related with mythology, Centaurus (centaur in Latin) in an ancient figure representing a half-horse/half-human holding a wild animal with his spear as a sacrifice to the Gods. He could be Chiron, the wisest among the centaurs and educator of many greek heros (among them Achilles), thus a more peaceful creature than his warlike "cousin" Sagittarius. Even though seeming a simple part of Centaurus, the sacrificed animal is actually a constellation on its own: Lupus ("wolf" in Latin: remember the 2nd latin declination you could have learned at school?), an irregular but relatively bright figure placed at the left side of Centaurus near the Scorpion's tail, with several 3rd magnitude stars and one of 2nd that make it more visible than most other small-sized constellations below the Equator.
Returning to the Centaur and the Southern Cross, it's hard imagining two more different-looking celestial figures like these. Centaurus is a very large (9th placement) constellation placed between the Ship Argo and the Southern Zodiac (below the end of Hydra's tail) full of 2nd magnitude stars that make one of the contenders of "the most luminous constellation in the sky" title; note Crux is a small rhombus-like quadrilater encircled by the Centaur's limbs at three sides; the scarcity of "room" due to the centaur's cumbersomeness astonishingly makes the cross the smallest-by area constellation in the whole sky. Being made of bright stars, Crux seems bigger than some weaker "lesser southern constellations" nearby such as Musca and Chamaeleon. This is a simple psychological effect however: also Orion appears one of the biggest figure of the firmament for the same reason, but is actually only the 26th constellation by area — even smaller than the weak Giraffe near the North Pole. Anyway, the southernmost parts of both Centaurus and Crux hold the record of the celestial zone with the absolutely highest density of 1st magnitude stars: four in an area not wider than the Little Bear! They are Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, Alpha Crucis and Beta Crucis (Centauri & Crucis are latin genitives of Centaurus & Crux respectively: remember your Latin lessons again). And then, the 2nd magnitude star Gamma Crucis is almost of 1st magitude. Alpha Centauri's common name is Rigil Kentaurus, meaning "the centaur's foot" (similarly to Rigel in Orion), or alternatively Toliman; the Beta Centauri's is named either Hadar or Agena. Alpha Crucis is named Acrux, Gamma Crucis is named Gacrux, while Beta Crucis has two names, Becrux and also the name of a flower, Mimosa. However, these names are rarely heard; unusually for constellations, the official denomination with greek letters of the main stars of Centaurus and Crux is more familiar to people than their common names. Making things clear: even if you're not an astronomy-expert you'll have surely heard at least once the name Alpha Centauri somewhere in pop-culture, but have you ever heard the names Rigil-Kentaurus or even Toliman? And oppositely, when was the last time you've heard Sirius named "Alpha Canis Majoris", Betelgeuse named "Alpha Orionis", or Vega named "Alpha Lyrae"? Acrux is the 1st magnitude star closest to the South Pole, closer than Alpha Centauri, Canopus, or Achernar.
Returning a moment to the other heavenly centaur, Sagittarius, there are a bunch of some "lesser-southern-constellations" at its surroundings. Put near Sagittarius' feet (a bit like Crux in respect to Centaurus), Corona Australis ("southern crown" in latin) is a tiny but attractive semicircle of starlets visible only in the cleanest night (and only from the southern USA); known since Antiquity, it's the counterpart of the brighter Corona Borealis of the northern emisphere (some portray the southern as a laurel-crown), but it's unknown who is its owner — it could belong to the Archer, but it's not sure. Below the Crown, here's Lacaille's homage to the basic instrument of every astronomer: Telescopium (meaning "the one watching far" in Greek) at a first glance appears a tiny figure made of only two 4th magnitude stars, but its area is actually rather large occuping most the territory below Sagittarius & Corona Australis considered together. Between Sagittarius and the Southern Fish, just next to the tool for watching the infinitively great Lacaille wittily put the one for watching the infinitively small: Microscopium (lit. "the one watching the small"), a sort of "phantom-figure" exclusively made of 5th magnitude stars. Below the Microscope there is a long but evanescent figure which is notable for being the only constellation of modern origins portraying a human: Indus (latin adjective meaning "indian") —- not a Hindu but a Native North-American completed with arrows and feathered cap. Indus' feet are already in the "extreme celestial South" and divide two of the aforementioned "four birds" (Grus the Crane and Tucana the Toucan) from the only one still-not described yet: Pavo (latin for peacock), representing the bird sacred to Hera, usually shown not-spreading its tail. Fainter than Grus but brighter than Tucana, the Peacock with its dozen 4th magnitude stars (+ one of 2th also named Peacock) is bigger and brighter than the previous constellations, about the same size and luminosity of Capricornus, but being in full "extreme celestial south" you should go to the Tropics to see it fully. A bit norther than Pavo but still close to the "extreme celestial south" there is Ara ("altar" in Latin), another rare example of a "lesser-southern constellation" of ancient origins; looking like a polygon made of 3rd and 4th magnitude stars, it doesn't portray a Christian but a greek altar with something burning above. Ara (which is also the shortest-named constellation together with Leo) could be the site of the sacrifice of the poor Lupus — but could also be a more generic altar. Fortunately for the wolf, Lacaille chose to put another of its almost-invisible constellations just between the two setting them apart from each other: Norma (a latin word originally meaning "rule", "law") created by taking some starlets away from both Lupus and Ara.
Here we've named "extreme celestial South" the celestial area from -65° degrees down to the Pole — that is, the area at even souther latitudes than Crux the Southern Cross — Crux means simply "cross" in latin: the adjective "Australis" (southern) is omitted. Some "extreme southern" constellations have already been described above, the ones closest to Eridanus and Sagittarius: Hydrus, Tucana, Indus, Pavo. Here we'll describe the 8 still not mentioned yet, the ones at the side of the polar zone closest to Centaurus and the Cross, not including the keel of the Ship Argo, the shiny Carina already described, also close to the cross.
Most of the constellations of the "extreme south" were officialized by famous astronomer Johann Bayer in 1603 in his atlas Uranometria (which also started the use to list the stars of a constellation with greek letters), but few are Lacaille's. Now we're almost at the end of our stellar journey. Just below Alpha Centauri and the Altar, a small but unexpectedly bright nearly-equilateral triangle attracts our attention: this is Triangulum Australe (Australe is latin neuter of Australis). This is Bayer's southern equivalent of Triangulum, with its corners signed by one 2nd magnitude star and two of 3rd. The four stars of the corners of Crux are named Acrux, Becrux, Gacrux & Decrux; the three of Triangulum Australe are called Atria, Betria & Gatria. A = Alpha, Be = Beta, Ga = Gamma, De = Delta; Tria are the first four letters of the double name Triangulum Australe, the longest name of any constellation. With its add constellations portraying geometrical figures become three (Crux + the northern and southern Triangles) note . Pressed in the narrow space between T. Australe and the star Alpha Centauri, Circinus the compasses ("circus" = circle in latin) is a small segment looking like the geometrical tool (and not the geographical compass) — which Lacaille appropriately put near Norma which represents a set-square, a ruler or a level. Constellations portraying objects are numerous in the sky, but only few are ancient objects of the Greeks — a pair of scales, a lyre, two crowns, a cup, an arrow, and an altar (and of course a ship). Between the triangle and the south-pole there's the most southern of the celestial birds, Apus the Bird-Of-Paradise (apus = footless, but the real-life bird does have feet! Today "Apus" is the scientific name of another bird, the swift, which has really tiny feet). Originally called "Avis Indica" (bird of the Indies), in spite of portraying one of the most beautiful birds in the world Apus is the least luminous among the 9 bird-portraying constellations. note Just below the iconic Southern Cross buzzes the only insect still-remaining today in the sky: Musca (latin for fly) which is appropriately small like its portrayed animal (it originally was a bee, named Apis, "bee" in Latin) but slightly brighter than its neighbors.note , Even below Musca there's one possible predator of it, Chamaeleon (useless saying which animal indicates this greek word); this is one of the six celestial reptiles, the others being the Dragon, the Lizard, the Ophiuchus' Snake, and the two Hydras. Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals would be apt for some constellations on their own, but prehistoric beings were discovered only after the XVIII century or even later, decades after the creation of the most recently invented constellations. Chamaeleon is as difficult to see as a Real Life chameleon in the trees. Below the Keel of Ship Argo here's a "flying" creature that is neither a bird nor an insect: Volans the Flying Fish ("volans" = flying in Latin), originally named Piscis Volans (the flying fish indeed). Made only by 4th magnitude stars like Chamaeleon and Apus, the fish is shown in drawings escaping toward the Ship to escape the bigger Dorado nearby note Between Dorado and the South Pole, here's the faintest among all the 88 constellations: Mensa ("table" in latin). A veritable "phantom-constellation" without any recognizable figure, this is the only constellation other than the Eridanus River representing a geographical element: the flat "Table Mountain" near Cape Town in South Africa, from where Lacaille made his sky-observations. note Despite this Mensa is notable because contains the smaller-southermost portion of the Large Magellanic Cloud, mainly visible in Dorado just above it. And here we are at the actual South Pole of the Sky at last! The honor of occuping the pole belongs to the last Lacaille's constellation: Octans (octo = eight in latin). This is the southern "twin" of Sextans, with a similar faint triangular shape of three 4th magnitude stars — in Real Life the Octant was a little-used astronomical tool very similar to the sextant.
At the end of our celestial trip, there is still a question to answer: is there a South Polar Star at the South Pole, or not? The good new is: yes, there is, and is called Sigma Octantis or Polaris Australis (Sigma is the greek letter equivalent of our "S"); the bad new is: it's only of 5.5 magnitude — meaning if it would be only a FRACTION of magnitude weaker it would totally disappear to naked eyes even in the cleanest sky possible. But it can nonetheless be a great satisfaction managing to tell the Sigma apart from the other Octant's stars with the aid of your binoculars: if in this moment you are travelling below the terrestrial Equator, try to do it the next time you go out to watch the night-sky.
