Quadrans Muralis
Quadrans Muralis (Latin for mural quadrant) was a constellation created by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1795. It depicted a wall-mounted quadrant with which he and his nephew Michel Lefrançois de Lalande had charted the celestial sphere, and was named Le Mural in the French atlas.[1] It was between the constellations of Boötes and Draco, near the tail of Ursa Major,[2] containing stars between β Bootis (Nekkar) and η Ursae Majoris (Alkaid).[3]
Johann Elert Bode converted its name to Latin as Quadrans Muralis and shrank the constellation a little in his 1801 Uranographia star atlas, to avoid it clashing with neighboring constellations.[1]
In 1922, Quadrans Muralis was omitted when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formalized its list of officially recognized constellations.[4]
Notable features
- 44 Boötis was the brightest star of Lalande's version of the constellation.[1] It was named Quadrans by the IAU Working Group on Star Names in 2025.[5]
- CL Draconis was the brightest star of Bode's version of the constellation.[1]
- The variable star BP Boötis was a member of the constellation.
- 39 Boötis is a double star that was transferred by Lalande into Quadrans.[6]
- The Quadrantid meteor shower is still named after the obsolete constellation.
References
- ^ a b c d Ridpath, Ian. "Quadrans Muralis". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ^ Ridpath, Ian. "Lalande's Quadrans Muralis". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
- ^ Inglis, Mike; Moore, Patrick (2015). The Observer's Year: 366 Nights of the Universe: 2015 – 2020. New York, New York: Springer. p. 178. ISBN 978-3-31918-678-8.
- ^ "The Constellations". International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
- ^ "IAU Catalog of Star Names". Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ Smyth, William Henry (1844). A Cycle of Celestial Objects: For the Use of Naval, Military, and Private Astronomers. Vol. 2. London, United Kingdom: John W. Parker. p. 329.