Antinous is an obsolete
constellation no longer in use by astronomers, having been merged into
Aquila, which it bordered to the north.
The constellation was created by the
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Hadrian in 132.
Antinous was a beautiful youth loved by Hadrian, and also his erotic lover.
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, having access to Hadrian's diary now lost, informs that Antinous died either by drowning or (as he himself believed) as a voluntary human sacrifice, something supported by Lambert (1984). The elevation to divinity meant that Antinous was to be a god in the heavens forever – Hadrian having named an
asterism in the sky after him.
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was ...
was originally given credit for inventing Antinous, but current finds include a
celestial globe
Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon, and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated.
Th ...
by the
cartographer Caspar Vopel from 1536 that contains Antinous, so Brahe simply measured up the sky according to contemporary traditions and decided to give Antinous a separate table in his
star catalogue.
[Tycho B., (ed.) "Stellarum Inerrantium Plurimarum et Praecipuarum...", ''Astronomiae Instauratae Progymnasmata'', Uraniburgi Daniae, 1602, p. 269 L.]
Kepler, J., (ed.) "Catalogus Stellarum Fixarum, Mille ex Accuratis...", ''Tabulae Rudolphinae
The ''Rudolphine Tables'' ( la, Tabulae Rudolphinae) consist of a star catalogue and planetary tables published by Johannes Kepler in 1627, using observational data collected by Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). The tables are named in memory of Rudolf ...
'', Pragae Bohemiae, 1627, p. 10
(by Kepler, Brahe, Bartsch, in Universitätsbibliothek Kiel scan, enter 257 in the text box and press "Zu Zeite..."!)
In the following modern times, Antinous has been variously considered an asterism within Aquila or as a separate constellation, until the
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
discarded it when formalizing the constellations in 1930.
References
External links
* http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/antinous.htm
* http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/horvatin/Astronomy_Facts/obsolete_pages/antinous.htm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antinous (Constellation)
Former constellations