Abstract
HENRY I. CHRIST has an interesting article with this title in sky and Telescope of October, which describe a number of proposed names for the constellations which ‘fell by the wayside’. Even those suggested to flatter or honour monarchs, such as Frederick's Glory, Charles' Oak, did not survive for very long, though Sobieski Shield, in honour of the Polish hero who fought the Turks, has been retained. How many people realize the length of the list of forgotten constellations ? These include such animals as a cat, a flamingo, a turtle, a reindeer, a night owl and a thrush, and even objects like a printing office, an electric machine, a balloon, a solarium, a sceptre, and a quadrant, some of which were retained for a time, while others never gained acceptance. Wholesale recharting of the sky has not been a success, and perhaps it is just as well that the artificially fostered systems did not last.
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Naming the Constellations. Nature 158, 869 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158869c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158869c0