constellation
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The origins of the e ...
designated in the late sixteenth century, remaining in official use, with its rigid limits set in the 20th century. Its name is
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
dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
. It takes up 1.31% of the southern celestial hemisphere and is just south of
Canis Major
Canis Major is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin fo ...
and
Lepus
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The gen ...
.
History
* Early 3rd century BC:
Aratus
Aratus (; grc-gre, Ἄρατος ὁ Σολεύς; c. 315 BC/310 BC240) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' ( grc-gre, Φαινόμενα, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; la, Phaenomena), the fi ...
's astronomical poem ''Phainomena'' (lines 367–370 and 384–385) mentions faint stars where Columba is now but does not fit any name or figure to them.
* 2nd century AD:
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
listed 48 constellations in the ''
Almagest
The ''Almagest'' is a 2nd-century Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy ( ). One of the most influential scientific texts in history, it canoni ...
'' but did not mention Columba.
* c. 150–215 AD:
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and ...
wrote in his ''Logos Paidogogos''"Αἱ δὲ σφραγῖδες ἡμῖν ἔστων πελειὰς ἢ ἰχθὺς ἢ ναῦς οὐριοδρομοῦσα ἢ λύρα μουσική, ᾗ κέχρηται Πολυκράτης, ἢ ἄγκυρα ναυτική," (= " hen recommending symbols for Christians to use let our
seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
be a dove or a fish or a ship running in a good wind or a musical lyre ... or a ship's anchor ..."), with no mention of stars or astronomy.
* 1592 AD:
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 ...
first depicted Columba on the small celestial planispheres of his large wall map to differentiate the 'unformed stars' of the large constellation
Canis Major
Canis Major is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin fo ...
. Columba is also shown on his smaller world map of 1594 and on early Dutch celestial globes. Plancius named the constellation Columba Noachi ("
Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
's Dove"), referring to the dove that gave Noah the information that the
Great Flood
A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval ...
was receding. This name is found on early 17th-century celestial globes and star atlases.
* 1592:
Frederick de Houtman
Frederick de Houtman ( – 21 October 1627) was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern cel ...
listed Columba as "De Duyve med den Olijftack" (= "the dove with the olive branch")
* 1603: Bayer's
Uranometria
''Uranometria'' is a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer. It was published in Augsburg in 1603 by Christoph Mangle (''Christophorus Mangus'') under the full title ''Uranometria: omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, ae ...
was published. It includes Columba as Columba Noachi.
* 1624:
Bartschius
Jakob Bartsch or Jacobus Bartschius (c. 1600 – 26 December 1633) was a German astronomer.
Biography
Bartsch was born in Lauban (Lubań) in Lusatia. He was taught how to use the astrolabe by Sarcephalus (Christopher Hauptfleisch), a librar ...
listed Columba in his ''Usus Astronomicus'' as "Columba Nohae".
* 1662: Caesius published ''Coelum Astronomico-Poeticum'', including an inaccurate Latin translation of the above text of Clement of Alexandria: it mistranslated "ναῦς οὐριοδρομοῦσα" as Latin "Navis coelestis cursu in coelum tendens" ("Ship of the sky following a course in the sky"), perhaps misunderstanding "οὐριο-" as "up in the air or sky" by analogy with οὐρανός = "sky".
* 1679:
Halley Halley may refer to:
Science
* Halley's Comet, officially designated 1P/Halley, a comet that becomes visible from Earth every 75-76 years
* Halley (lunar crater), a lunar crater named after Edmond Halley
* Halley (Martian crater), a Martian cra ...
mentioned Columba in his work ''Catalogus Stellarum Australium'' from his observations on
St. Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constit ...
.
* 1679:
Augustin Royer
Augustin Royer was a French architectKanas. N., (2007) ''Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography'', Praxis, Chichester, p. 159. who lived in the time of Louis XIV.
In 1679 he published a star map; in addition to the 48 constellations of P ...
published a star atlas that showed Columba as a constellation.
* c.1690:
Hevelius
Johannes Hevelius
Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Some sources refer to Hevelius as German:
*
*
*
*
*of the Royal Society
* (in German also known as ''Hevel''; pl, Jan Heweliusz; – 28 January 1687) was a councillor ...
's Prodromus Astronomiae showed Columba but did not list it as a constellation.
* 1712 (pirated) and 1725 (authorized):
Flamsteed
John Flamsteed (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. His main achievements were the preparation of a 3,000-star catalogue, ''Catalogus Britannicus'', and a star atlas called ''Atlas Coe ...
's work ''Historia Coelestis Britannica'' showed Columba but did not list it as a constellation.
* 1757 or 1763: Lacaille listed Columba as a constellation and catalogued its stars.
* 1889: Richard H. Allen, misled by Caesius's mistranslation, wrote that the Columba asterism may have been invented in Roman/Greek times, but with a footnote saying that it may have been another star group.
* 2001: Ridpath and Tirion wrote that Columba may also represent the dove released by Jason and the Argonauts at the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
's mouth; it helped them navigate the dangerous Symplegades.
* 2007: The author P.K. Chen wrote (his opinion) that, given the mythological linkage of a dove with Jason and the Argonauts, and the celestial location of Columba over
Puppis
Puppis is a constellation in the southern sky. Puppis, the Latin translation of "poop deck", was originally part of an over-large constellation Argo Navis (the ship of Jason and the Argonauts), which centuries after its initial description, was ...
(part of the old constellation
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". ...
, the ship of the Argonauts), Columba may have an ancient history although Ptolemy omits it.
* 2019–20:
OSIRIS-REx
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission. The mission's primary goal is to obtain a sample of at least from 101955 Bennu, a carbonac ...
students discovered a
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
in the constellation Columba, based on observing X-ray bursts.
In the
Society Islands
The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...
, Alpha Columbae (Phact) was called ''Ana-iva''.
Features
Stars
Columba is rather inconspicuous, the brightest star, Alpha Columbae, being only of
magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
2.7. This, a blue-white star, has a pre-
Bayer
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...
, traditional, Arabic name ''Phact'' (meaning ring dove) and is 268 light-years from Earth. The only other named star is Beta Columbae, which has the alike-status name ''Wazn''. It is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 3.1, 87 light-years away.
The constellation contains the
runaway star
In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the Observational astronomy, observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space.
Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar Velocity, velocities in the Milky W ...
Exoplanet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
NGTS-1b
NGTS-1b is a confirmed hot Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet orbiting NGTS-1, a red dwarf star about half the mass and radius of the Sun, every 2.65 days. The NGTS-1 system is about 716 light-years from Earth in the Columba constellation.
Dis ...
and its star NGTS-1 are in Columba.
General radial velocity
Columba contains the solar antapex – noting the local spiral arm of the Milky Way itself is responsible for most of our change of position over time - the opposite to the net direction of the solar system.
globular cluster
A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of membe ...
in Columba appears at 7th magnitude in a far part of our galaxy as is 39,000 light-years away - it is resolvable south of at greatest latitude +40°N in medium-sized amateur telescopes (under good conditions).
* NGC 1792 is a
spiral galaxy
Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''NGC 1808 is a
Seyfert galaxy
Seyfert galaxies are one of the two largest groups of active galaxies, along with quasars. They have quasar-like nuclei (very luminous, distant and bright sources of electromagnetic radiation) with very high surface brightnesses whose spectra ...
Dutch celestial cartography in the Age of Exploration
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 ...
Constellations created and listed by Dutch celestial cartographers
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 ...