Noctua

Noctua, the owl, was an extinct constellation introduced by Alexander Jamieson (1822) "Celestial Atlas Comprising A Systematic Display Of The Heavens In A Series Of Thirty Maps".

Etymology and History

The joint history of the extinct constellations Turdus Solitarius (Solitaire) and Noctua in the tail of Hydra are discussed at length in Chapter 29 of John Barentine's (2015) "The Lost Constellations: A History of Obsolete, Extinct, or Forgotten Star Lore," with the origins of Noctua discussed on p. 454.

Early 19th century English atlases did not adopted Bode's "Solitaire", but retained figures of birds in the same region. Thomas Young (1807; "A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts") replaced the Solitaire with a Mockingbird.

Alexander Jamieson (1822) "Celestial Atlas Comprising A Systematic Display Of The Heavens In A Series Of Thirty Maps" (p.49) reimagined the bird constellation. Not mentioning either Bode's or Young's version, but only mentioning Monnier's earlier version:

"L'ERMITE (Oiseau), which appears on Map XIX, was formed some years ago by M. Monnier, under the Southern scale of the Celestial Balance. I have transformed L'Ermite Oiseau into the sage looking Noctua, a bird, which, considering the frequency it is met with on all Egyptian monuments, it appears strange our astronomers have not long ere this transferred among the celestials."

Variants of the image

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  Noctua on the Celestial Atlas of Alexander Jamieson (1822).This file is from Wikimedia Commons and may be used by other projects.

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  Noctua in Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror. plate 32 in Urania's Mirror, 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.

IAU Working Group Star Names

The name "Noctua" appeared on Jamieson's charts next to a star in the head of the owl, situated about halfway between Spica and pi Hya, a star labeled "X" (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Alexander_Jamieson_Celestial_Atlas-Plate_27.jpg ; see also Fig. 29.11 of "The Lost Constellations" by Barentine 2015). The brightest star in the vicinity of the head of Noctua, within about 3 degrees radius, is HR 5301 (ET Vir, HIP 69269).

HR 5301 (ET Vir, HIP 69269) is a previously unnamed naked eye star (Vmag=4.93; Hipparcos), a M2IIIa-type spectral standard giant star (Keenan & McNeil 1989), and a semi-regular variable. HR 5301 was given the variable star designation ET Vir in the 58th Name-List of Variable Stars (1972).

The name "Noctua" was discussed as a proper name for ET Vir (HR 5301, HIP 69269) in October 2024.

The name was discussed and approved by the IAU WGSN in 202x. As this star is already named ..., the WGSN chose ... (not to apply/ to apply the name to a neighbouring star/ to ...) in the IAU-CSN.