Cancer Minor (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "lesser crab") was a constellation composed from a few stars in

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...

adjacent to

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. The constellation was introduced in 1612 (or 1613) by

Petrus Plancius Petrus Plancius (; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he ...

.atlascoelestis.com, Felice Stoppa: Le costellazioni di Petrus Plancius
/ref> The 5th-magnitude stars constituting Cancer Minor were HIP 36616, and 68, 74, 81 and 85 Geminorum, forming a faint natural arrow-shaped asterism. Cancer Minor 1681

It is only found on a few 17th-century Dutch

celestial globe Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky. They omit the Sun, Moon, and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated. Th ...

s and in the atlas of Andreas Cellarius. It was no longer used after the 18th century.

References

Former constellations Constellations listed by Petrus Plancius Dutch celestial cartography in the Age of Discovery Astronomy in the Dutch Republic 1610s in the Dutch Republic {{former-constellation-stub

See also

References