Noctua (

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 ...

: ''

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

'') was a

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 ...

near the tail of Hydra in the southern celestial hemisphere, but is no longer recognized. It was introduced by

Alexander Jamieson Alexander Jamieson (1782–1850) was a Scottish writer and schoolmaster, now best known as a rhetorician. He has been described as effectively a professional textbook writer. After the failure of his school, he worked as an actuary. Life Some o ...

in his 1822 work, ''

A Celestial Atlas ''A Celestial Atlas'', full title: ''A Celestial Atlas: Comprising A Systematic Display of the Heavens in a Series of Thirty Maps Illustrated by Scientific Description of their Contents, And accompanied by Catalogues of the Stars and Astronomical ...

'', and appeared in a derived collection of illustrated cards, ''

Urania's Mirror ''Urania's Mirror; or, a view of the Heavens'' is a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards, first published in November 1824. They are illustrations based on Alexander Jamieson's ''A Celestial Atlas'', but the addition of holes punched in them ...

''. Now designated Asterism ''a'', the owl was composed of the stars 4 Librae and 54–57 Hydrae, which range from 4th to 6th

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 ...

. The French astronomer

Pierre Charles Le Monnier Pierre Charles Le Monnier (; 23 November 1715 – 3 April 1799) was a French astronomer. His name is sometimes given as Lemonnier. Biography Le Monnier was born in Paris, where his father Pierre (1675–1757), also an astronomer, was professor ...

had introduced a bird on Hydra's tail as the constellation Solitaire, named for the extinct

flightless bird Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the In ...

, the

Rodrigues solitaire The Rodrigues solitaire (''Pezophaps solitaria'') is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Rodrigues, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Genetically within the family of pigeons and doves, it was most closely relate ...

, but the image was that of a

rock thrush The rock thrushes, ''Monticola'', are a genus of chats, medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous songbirds. All are Old World birds, and most are associated with mountainous regions. Taxonomy The genus was erected by the German naturali ...

which had been classified in the genus ''

Turdus True thrushes are medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus ''Turdus'' of the wider thrush family, Turdidae. The genus name ''Turdus'' is Latin for "thrush". The term " thrush" is used for many other birds of the family T ...

'', giving rise to the constellation name

Turdus Solitarius Turdus Solitarius (Latin for ''solitary thrush'') was a constellation created by French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier in 1776 from stars of Hydra's tail. It was named after the Rodrigues solitaire, an extinct flightless bird that was ende ...

, the solitary thrush. It has also been depicted as a

mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...

. The boundaries of the constellation were defined as

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

0° to 26°30' and from the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic again ...

to 15° S.

References

External links

Ian Ridpath's Star Tales – Noctua

* {{navconstel-historic Former constellations