Robur Carolinum (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for ''Charles' oak'') was a constellation created by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

astronomer

Edmond Halley Edmond (or Edmund) Halley (; – ) was an English astronomer, mathematician and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720. From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, H ...

in 1679. The name refers to the

Royal Oak The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...

where Charles II was said to have hidden from the troops of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

after the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell d ...

. It was between the constellations of

Centaurus Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. ...

and

Carina Carina may refer to: Places Australia * Carina, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane * Carina Heights, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane * Carina, Victoria, a locality in Mildura Serbia * Carina, Osečina, a village in the Kolubara District ...

, extending into half of Vela. Robur Carolinum as a constellation never gained popularity, probably because it used the star

Eta Carinae Eta Carinae (η Carinae, abbreviated to η Car), formerly known as Eta Argus, is a stellar system containing at least two stars with a combined luminosity greater than five million times that of the Sun, located around distant in th ...

and the Eta Carinae Nebula, and was soon dropped from use after only fifty years.

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Goo ...

also complained bitterly that it took some of the finest stars from

Argo Navis Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo, is one of the 48 Ptolemy's constellations, now a grouping of three IAU constellations. It is formerly a single large constellation in the southern sky. The genitive is "Argus Navis", abbreviated "Arg" ...

.Richard Hinckley Allen, ''Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning'', Vol. 1 (New York: Dover Publications, 1899, p. 349.) Its brightest star was

Beta Carinae Beta Carinae is the second-brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina. It has the official name Miaplacidus; ''Beta Carinae'' is the star's Bayer designation, which is Latinised from β Carinae and abbreviated Beta Car or β ...

(β Car) or Miaplacidus, which was known as α Roburis or α Roburis Carolii.

References

Former constellations {{astronomy-stub