River Tigris or Tigris (named after the
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
river) was a
constellation, introduced in 1612 by
Petrus Plancius
Petrus Plancius (; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he ...
.
One end was near the shoulder of
Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus () is a large constellation straddling the celestial equator. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "serpent-bearer", and it is commonly represented as a man grasping a snake. The serpent is represented by the constella ...
and the other was near
Pegasus, and in between it passed through the area now occupied by
Vulpecula
Vulpecula is a faint constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "little fox", although it is commonly known simply as the fox. It was identified in the seventeenth century, and is located in the middle of the Summer Triangle (an ...
, flowing between
Cygnus and
Aquila.
It did not appear on
Hevelius' atlas of 1687 or
Johann Bode's ''Uranographia'' atlas of 1801 and was quickly forgotten.
See also
*
Obsolete constellations
*
Dutch celestial cartography in the Age of Discovery
The history of cartography refers to the development and consequences of cartography, or mapmaking technology, throughout human history. Maps have been one of the most important human inventions for millennia, allowing humans to explain and navig ...
*
References
External links
* http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/horvatin/Astronomy_Facts/obsolete_pages/river_tigris.htm
Former constellations
Constellations listed by Petrus Plancius
Dutch celestial cartography in the Age of Discovery
Astronomy in the Dutch Republic
1610s in the Dutch Republic
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