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Origin Constellations

A Possible Origin for the Constellations Hipparchus found the position of the star Spica by finding the angle between it and the moon at the time of an eclipse.

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213 views4 pages

Origin Constellations

A Possible Origin for the Constellations Hipparchus found the position of the star Spica by finding the angle between it and the moon at the time of an eclipse.

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Anonymous HxLd544
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Hugh Thurston

Early Astronomy
Springer-Verlag
1994

Precession
We now come to the discovery that made Hipparchus famous: the precession of
the equinoxes. Ptolemy took his description from Hipparchuss treatise Per tj
metabsewj tn tropikn ka shmerinn shmewn [On the precession of the
solstices and the equinoxes]. Hipparchus found the position of the star Spica by finding
the angle between it and the moon at the time of an eclipse. Spica was 6 west of
the autumn equinox. But 150 years earlier Timocharis had found Spica 8 west of the
equinox. Other stars longitudes changed at the same slow rate of not less than 1
in 100 years (the actual rate is 1 in 72 years), while the latitudes of the stars did
not change. Hipparchus concluded that the celestial sphere is rotating, relative to the
framework consisting of the equator and the ecliptic, about the poles of the ecliptic.

A Possible Origin for the Constellations


Precession plays an important part in an interesting theory proposed by E. W. Maunder 1 and investigated further by Michael Ovenden: that the Greek constellations were
devised, not as pretty pictures, but as a system of coordinates in the sky 2 . Moreover,
they were originally devised somewhere between 2000 B.C. and 3000 B.C. by people
who lived about 36 north. There are several pieces of evidence for this.
(i) Although constellations come in all shapes and sizes, quite a number are regular
enough to lie in a definite direction. In particular, as a star map shows quite clearly,
some of the constellations of the zodiac, notably Scorpio, Leo, and Taurus, do not lie
along the ecliptic but at an angle to it. Ovenden selected those constellations that were
roughly rectangular and appreciably longer than they were wide, and marked out an axis
for each. If a constellation were in a plane its axis would be the line perpendicular to the
1

[3] E. W. Maunder, The Astronomy of the Bible, New York, 1908. E. W. Maunde, when he investigated astronomy in biblical times, found evidence that the Greek constellations were no mere
pictures: Hydra, for example, is a long thin constellation made up of rather dull stars which no one,
idly imagining pictures in the sky, would be tempted to visualize as anything in particular; but it lies
just the right position to play a useful role in a system of coordinates.
[104] Michael Ovenden, The origin of the constellations, Philosophical Journal (1966), pages 1 to
18. According to Peter Doig (A Concise History of Astronomy, New York, 1951, page 7) the use of
the blank space round the south pole to estimate the date of the constellations was first suggested by
Carl Schwartz, the Swedish consul at Baku, in 1807. Doig gave no details.

A Possible Origin for the Constellations

Figure 6.12.

long sides that cuts the rectangle in half (see Figure 6.12(a)); because the constellations
lie on the celestial sphere, the axes will be the corresponding great circles (see Figure
6.12(b)). Ovenden found that these great circles all passed close to the point on the
celestial sphere where the pole was located in 2900 B.C. In particular, Hydra, which is
a long thin constellation, lies along the celestial equator of that date. This procedure is
highly subjective, so Ovenden asked a colleague to repeat it; the colleague got much
the same result. If you want to try it for yourself you will find it quite easy with a
celestial globe.
(ii) Ovenden suggested that the information in Aratuss Fainmena [Phaenomena]
dates back to the epoch of the invention of the constellations, and that some of the
criticisms that Hipparchus made of it are due to the movement of the pole between that
early date and Hipparchuss own time. In particular, at one point Aratus said that Ara
rises over against Arcturus. Hipparchus explained what this means (that the direction
of the point on the horizon where Ara rises is opposite to the direction of the point where
Arcturus sets) but denied that it was true. And, indeed, it was not true in Hipparchuss
time. But about 2200 B.C. it was true. (The conditions that one star rises over against
another is, of course, that one star is as far from the north celestial pole as the other is
from the south celestial pole 3 .)
(iii) The risings of the constellations of the zodiac act as a clock. For example, if
the sun is in Cancer (as it was at midsummer in classical times) the sun rises when
Cancer rises, and so the rising of the previous constellation (Gemini) shows that dawn
is near. But we cannot always see Gemini because of clouds, and it is therefore useful
to know what other constellations rise (or set) at the same time. Aratus gives, for each
of the twelve constellations of the zodiac, a list of simultaneous risings and settings.
For example, when Cancer rises:
3

[105] Aratus on Ara and Arcturus: Phaenomena, lines 404 405. Hipparchus thereon: In Arati et
Eudoxi Phaenomena, I 8, 14 onward.

A Possible Origin for the Constellations


Corona sets, and so does Piscis Australis as far as its back. Half of Corona
is visible, half below the horizon. The waist of backward-facing Hercules is
visible but his upper parts are clothed in night. The rising of Cancer brings the
unfortunate Ophiuchus down from his knee to his shoulder, and Serpens as far
as its neck. Less than half of Bootes is visible: most of him is clothed in night 4 .
This means that all these constellations are on the observers horizon at the same
time. This horizon is a great circle on the celestial sphere, and the point on the sphere
90 from it is the observers zenith. Therefore Aratus, in effect, gives us twelve positions
of the observers zenith. These will lie on a circle whose radius is 90 f, where f is
the observers latitude, and whose center is the celestial pole. If we know the position
of the pole, we know the date of the observations. Ovenden, using statistical methods,
found that the latitude was probably between 34 1/2 north and 37 1/2 north, and the
date between 3400 B.C. and 1800 B.C.
(iv) From the northern hemisphere we cannot see the south celestial pole. In fact,
there is a circular region round the pole that we cannot see, and the further north we
are the bigger this region will be. To be precise, its radius will equal our latitude. If
Hipparchus lived at Rhodes (latitude 31 north) about 150 B.C., the region that he
could not see would be a circle of radius 31 whose center is the pole of that date. If
the inventors of the constellations lived at about the same latitude, the region that they
could not see would be a circle of about the same size but with a different center: the
pole at their date.
The constellation Eridanus (which represents a river), as described in Ptolemys
catalogue of stars, which is closely based on Hipparchus, flows well into the region
which could not have been seen in 2500 B.C. However, there is an interesting constellation map in the Schaubach edition of Eratostheness Katasterismo which shows the
southern reach of the river quite differently 5 . Instead of flowing into the region of invisibility, it flows along its edge. It is possible, then, that the constellation was originally
as shown in this map, but was altered at some time between then and Hipparchuss date.
This alteration would account for one of Hipparchuss criticisms of Aratus. Aratuss
description of this region of the sky is as follows:
Other small and faint stars circle between Argos rudder and Cetus and below
Lepus. They have no names, because they are not incorporated in any of the
constellations 6 .
Hipparchus commented that the unincorporated stars are between Argo and Eridanus, not between Argo and Cetus. Aratus must be referring to stars that are not
incorporated into the old Eridanus, and these do lie between Argo and Cetus. Hipparchus, however, thought that Aratus was talking about the stars not incorporated
into the new Eridanus, and these do lie between Argo and the new Eridanus. These
stars, incidentally, are no longer unincorporated; modern astronomers have formed the
constellation Columba out of them.
4
5
6

[106] Aratus on simultaneous risings: Phaenomena, lines 559 739 (the quotation is lines 569 580).
[107] Eratostheness star-map is reprinted in the Loeb edition of Aratuss Phaenomena.
[108] Aratus on stars between Argo and Cetus: lines 366 onward. Hipparchus thereon: I 8, 2.

A Possible Origin for the Constellations


We can add two more pieces of evidence. If Ovenden is correct, the very bright
star Canopus (the second brightest in the whole sky, outshone only by Sirius) was
not visible to the constellation-makers. And, indeed, Aratus did not mention Canopus.
Finally, Aratus did say that Hydra was on the equator 7 .

[109] Phaenomena, line 518.

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