Quadrans Muralis

This is one of the obsolete constellations from Early Modern Europe. The term is Latin and means "wall-mounted quadrant", a large instrument attached to a wall. The constellation is still in common memory of astronomers as a rich meteor shower that peaks in the first days of January is named The Quadrantids; their apparent point of origin, the radiant, is in the area where historically this constellation used to be defined.

Etymology and History

Quadrans Muralis in Fortin's 1795 star catalogue (first page).

Quadrans Muralis in Fortin's 1795 star catalogue (second page).

Origin of Constellation

The constellation was originally invented by the French astronomer Joseph Jérôme Lalande in 1795. In the same year, the other French astronomer Jean Fortin published an atlas and a star catalogue in which he mentions ten stars in the constellation "Le Mural" (in French).

The German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in his 1801 trilingual magnus opus "Uranographia" (with text in German and French, and constellation maps labelled in Latin) took up the idea.

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

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  Bode's (1801), Quadrans Muralis in Uranographia, Johann E. Bode. This file is from Wikimedia Commons and may be used by other projects

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  Quadrans in Alexander Jamieson (1822), Plate 7 from 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 exercises

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  Sidney Hall, Urania's Mirror (1825): "Bootes, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, and Quadrans Muralis", plate 10, a set of celestial cards accompanied by A familiar treatise on astronomy ... by Jehoshaphat Aspin. London. Astronomical chart, 1 print on layered paper board : etching, hand-colored.

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  Map of the ancient constellation Quadrans Muralis. Created by CWitte with PP3 (PP3's homepage) byTorsten Bronger. This file is from Wikimedia Commons and may be used by other projects.

Mythology

no mythology

References

• References (general)
• References (Babylonian)
• References (ancient Greco-Roman)
• References (medieval)