Argo

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animated GIF for Argo
animated GIF of the transformation of the constellation Argo over the course of the centuries from ancient Greek to modern depictions (map: Stellarium)

Argo Navis (short: Argo) is one of the constellations of the Almagest star catalogue (137 CE) that became standardized by common usage of several cultures in the subsequent centuries. In the Early Modern Era, the constellation was changed and finally included in the set of constellations, globally defined by the IAU over the course of the 1920s.

Babylonian Constellation

In the place of the Greek Argo, the Babylonian uranology recognizes the constellations of the Harrow and the Asterism of Eridu.

The Babylonian uranology does contain a constellation of a ship or rather a boat but this is at the opposite site of the sky, frequently identified with the stars in the modern constellations Sgr, CrA and Cap (or only CrA).

Transformation of Argo

Ptolemy's Almagest

Argo, The Ship is one of the southern constellations.

Caption text
No. English translation (Toomer 1984) ident.
1 The more advanccd of the 2 stars in the stern-ornament 11 (e) Pup
2 The rearmost of them rho Pup
3 The northernmost of the 2 stars close tagether over the

little shield in the poop

xi Pup
4 The southernmost of them o Pup
5 The star in advance of these m Pup

HR 2944

6 The bright star in the middle of the little shield HR 2948 +29
7 The most advanced of the 3 stars under the little shield p Pup

HR 2922

8 The rearmost of them 3 Pup
9 The middle one of the three 1 Pup
10 The star on the goose[-neck HR 3113
11 The northernmost of the 2 stars in the stern-keel ?
12 The southernmost of them pi Pup
13 Stars in the poop-deck:

1. the northernmost

f Pup

HR 2937

14 2. the most advanced of the next 3 HR 2961 + 64
15 3. the middle one c Pup

HR 3017

16 4. the reannost of the three b Pup

HR 3084

17 5. the bright star on the deck to the rear of these zet Pup
18 6 the more advanced of the 2 faint stars under the bright one a Pup

HR 3080

19 7 the rearmost of them HR 3162
20 8 the more advanced of the 2 stars over the above-mentioned bright one h1 Pup

HR 3225

21 9 the rearmost of them h2 Pup

HR 3243

22 The northemmost of thc 3 stars an the little shiclds, about on the mast holder HR 3439
23 the middle one d Vel

HR 34/7

24 The southernmost of the three c Vel

HR 3426

25 The northernmost of the 2 stars close tagether under these *a Vel

HR 3487

26 The southernmost of them *b Vel

3445

27 The southernmost of the 2 stars in the middle of the mast bet Pyx
28 Thc northernmost of them alf Pyx
29 The morc advancerl of the 2 stars by thc tip of the mast gam Pyx
30 The rearmost of them del Pyx
31 The star belmA" the 3rd and rearmost little shield lam Pyx
32 The star on thc cut·off111 ofthe deck psi Pyx
33 The star between the steering--oars, in the keel sig Pup
34 The faint star to the rcar of this HR 3055
35 The bright star to thc rear of this, under the deck gam Vel
36 The bright star to the south of this, an the lower [part of the] keel chi Car
37 The most advanced of the 3 stars to the rear of this omi Vel
38 The middle one del Vel
39 The rearmost of the three HR 3498
40 The more advanced of the 2 stars to the rear of these, near the cut-off kap Vel
41 The rearmost of them N Vel

HR 3803

42 The more advanced of the 2 stars in the northem, advance steering-oar eta Col
43 The rearmost of them nu Pup
44 The more advanced of the 2 stars in the other steering-oar, called Canopus alf Car
45 The other, rearmost star tau Pup

Bayer's Uranometria

de Houtman's Star Catalogue

Mentions in ancient literature

Aratus

Phainomena 342:

Ἡ δὲ Κυνὸς μεγάλοιο κατ' οὐρὴν ἕλκεται Ἀργὼ

πρυμνόθεν·

Beside the tail of the Great Dog the ship Argo is hauled stern-foremost.

Phainomena 348:

ὣς ἥ γε πρύμνηθεν Ἰησονὶς ἕλκεται Ἀργώ.

Even so is the Argo of Jason borne along stern-foremost.

Other names

Ratis (Manilius I, 623 and 694; Germanicus 622 and 683), Cymba (Avienus 757), Carina (Germanicus 374; Avienus 808), Puppis (Cic. Arat. 34; 389)

Transformation Images

Splitting Argo up into three constellations

In 1755, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided Argo into the three modern constellations that occupy much of the same area: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the poop deck or stern), and Vela (the sails).

In his 1768 Coelum Australe Stelliferum, Lacaille divided the more than 160 stars in the constellation into the regions Argûs in carina (Carina, the keel), Argûs in puppi (Puppis, the stern), and Argûs in velis (Vela, the sails).

References