The Lost Constellations A History of Obsolete, Extinct, or Forgotten
Casual stargazers are familiar with many classical figures and asterisms composed of bright stars (e.g., Orion and the Plough), but this book reveals not just the constellations of today but those of yesteryear. The history of the human ide
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A History of Obsolete, Extinct, or Forgotten Star Lore
The Lost Constellations A History of Obsolete, Extinct, or Forgotten Star Lore
John C. Barentine
The Lost Constellations A History of Obsolete, Extinct, or Forgotten Star Lore
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John C. Barentine Tucson, AZ, USA
SPRINGER PRAXIS BOOKS IN POPULAR ASTRONOMY
Springer Praxis Books ISBN 978-3-319-22794-8 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-22795-5
ISBN 978-3-319-22795-5 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015947001 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image: “Lacerta, Cygnus, Lyra, Vulpecula and Anser”, plate 14 in Urania’s Mirror, a set of celestial cards accompanied by A familiar treatise on astronomy . . . by Jehoshaphat Aspin. London. Astronomical chart, 1 print on layered paper board : etching, hand-colored. Available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3g10063. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer. com)
To my grandparents, Gerald and Verne Anne Danley
Preface I grew up at the edge of Phoenix, Arizona, just before the start of the vast, sprawling suburbs that completely surround the city. In the late 1980s, beneath a sky already so light polluted that fourth-magnitude stars had essentially vanished, I came of age as an amateur astronomer. With a small backyard telescope, my views were largely limited to the Moon, bright planets, interesting double stars, and a handful of the very brightest nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters. In high school, I upgraded to a simple but sturdily constructed 8-in. Newtonian telescope that brought some of those distant objects closer; in the very middle of the night, when the city light was at a relative minimum, I could just begin to glimpse a few of the brighter galaxies in the NGC catalog. But the
