The mid-Southern sky contains the constellation, Lupus. Its name is a wolf in Latin. Lupus is one of the eighty-eight contemporary constellations, and it was previously an asterism connected to the just westerly, larger constellation Centaurus. Lupus was one among the forty-eight constellations named by the 2nd-century astronomer Claudius Ptolemy, and it still is today.
|
History and Mythology
The constellation was once thought to be an asterism within Centaurus and was thought to have been a fictitious animal that had been killed or was about to be killed on behalf of or for Centaurus. (Chartrand 1983) Eratosthenes referred to a different interpretation in which this constellation was represented as a wineskin clutched by Centaurus. Hipparchus of Bithynia, who gave it the name Therion (from the mediaeval Latin word fera, which means "beast") in the second century BC, was the first to distinguish it from Centaurus. The Babylonian image known as the Mad Dog served as the inspiration for the Greek constellation (UR.IDIM). The cuneiform sign "UR" simply denotes a giant carnivore, which includes lions, wolves, and dogs. This unusual hybrid monster had the head, torso, and legs of a man and the legs and tail of a lion. It is frequently linked to the sun god and another fictitious creature known as the bison-man, who is thought to be related to the Centaurus constellation in Greek mythology. In Arab folk astronomy, Centaurus and Lupus were collectively referred to as " الشماريخ al-Shamareekh," which is Arabic for "the dense branches of the date palm's fruit." It was later given the name " لسبع al-Sab" which is a phrase for any rapacious wild animal (like the Greek therion), as a separate constellation that was drawn together with Centaurus. It was depicted as a lion in certain manuscripts of Al-Book Sufi's of Fixed Stars and celestial globes, while it was depicted as a wolf in others, both of which were in keeping with the Sab's name. It was not until the Latin translation of Ptolemy's work that it was connected to a specific animal in Europe. |
Deep-sky Objects
NGC 5824 – Globular Cluster
NGC 5986 – Globular Cluster
NGC 5927 – Globular Cluster
B 228 – Dark Nebula
NGC 5822 – Open Cluster
NGC 5749 – Open Cluster
IC 4406 – Planetary Nebula
NGC 5882 – Planetary Nebula
Main stars - 9
Bayer stars - 41
Stars with planets - 5
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 3
Stars within 32 Ly - 1
Bordering
constellations
- Norma
- Scorpius
- Circinus
- Centaurus
- Libra
- Hydra