Centaurus

IAU star chart (CC By: IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg)

One of the 88 IAU constellations. The ancient Greek constellation of the Centaur forms a super-constellation with Lupus and Ara. It is unknown whether or not Centaurus had a Babylonian predecessor: The Mesopotamian uranologies in this area mention a god (Numushda) whose appearance and exact location in the sky are not preserved, and the constellation UR.IDIM which is commonly translated as "Mad Dog" (or rabid dog) but also associated with a benevolent door keeper daemon who is a lion-man. Such a lion-man may possibly be depicted in seal imprints and mythologically named Urmahlullu.

Etymology and History

The Greek constellation is possibly derived from a Babylonian one. There were several centaur-like creatures and other mixed man-animal beings in Mesopotamian culture; seal imprints and reliefs witness them.

Origin of Constellation

Almagest

id	Greek (Heiberg 1898)	English (Toomer 1984)	ident.
1		The southernmost of the 4 stars in the head	2 Cen
2		The northernmost of them	4 Cen
3		The more advanced of the other, middle 2	1 Cen
4		The rearmost of these, the last of the 4	3 Cen
5		The star on the left, advanced shoulder	iot Cen
6		The star on the right shoulder	tet Cen
7		The star on the left shoulder-blade	HR 5089
8		The 4 stars in the thyrsus: the northcrnmost of thc advance 2	psi Cen
9		The 4 stars in the thyrsus: the southernmost of these	HR 5378
10		The 4 stars in the thyrsus: that one of the other two which is at the tip of the thyrsus	HR 5485+5489
11		The 4 stars in the thyrsus: the last one, south of the latter	HR 5471
12		The most advanced of the 3 stars in the right side	nu Cen
13		Tbe middle one	mu Cen
14		The rearmost of the three	phi Cen
15		The star on the right upper arm	chi Cen
16		The star on the right forearm	eta Cen
17		The star in the right hand	kap Cen
18		The bright star in the place where the human body joins [the horse's]	zet Cen
19		The rearmost of the 2 faint stars to the north of this	ups2 Cen
20		The more advanced of them	ups1 Cen
21		The star on the place where the back joins [the horse's body]	omega Cen
22		The star in advance of this, on the horse's back	HR 4940
23		The rearmost of the stars on the rump	gam Cen
24		The middle one	tau Cen
25		The most advanced of the three	sig Cen
26		The more advanced of the 2 stars close tagether on the right thigh	del Cen
27		The rearmost of them	rho Cen
28		The star in the chest, under the horse's armpit	HR 5172
29		The more advanced of the 2 stars under the belly	eps Cen
30		The rearmost of them	Q Cen
31		The star on the knee-bend of the right [bind] leg	gam Cru
32		The star in the hock of the same leg	bet Cru
33		The star under the knee-bend of the left [hind] leg	del Cru
34		The star on the frag of the hoof an the same leg	alf Cru
35		The star on the end of the right front leg	alf Cen
36		The star on the knee of the left [front] leg	bet Cen
37		The star outside, under the right hind leg	mu Cru

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

• 

  Centaurus et Lupus on the ancient Greek Kugel Globe, drawing by SMH 2021.

• 

  Centaurus et Lupus on the ancient Greco-Roman Farnese Globe, drawing by SMH 2017.

• 

  Centaurus et Lupus on the ancient Roman Mainz Globe, drawing by SMH 2021.

• 

  Centaurus and Lupus constellations from the Mercator celestial globe 1551 (CC0).

• 

  Centaurus as drawn by Joh. Bayer (1603) and Lupus drawn by the user of this exemplar of the atlas (extra map for Bayer).

• 

  Centaurus et Lupus at Planisferio celeste (Carlos Simón 1894)

Weblinks

• Ridpath, Ian, “Star Tales: online edition”.

References

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