Taurus Poniatovii (

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 ''Poniatowski's bull'') was a constellation created by the former rector of

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt ( lt, Martynas Počobutas; 30 October 1728 near Grodno – 7 February 1810 in Daugavpils) was a Polish–Lithuanian Jesuit, astronomer and mathematician. He was professor of Vilnius University for over 50 year ...

, in 1777 to honor

Stanislaus Poniatowski Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

, King of Poland and

Grand Duke of Lithuania The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Kingdom of Lithuania, Lithuania, which was established as an Absolute monarchy, absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three Duke, ducal D ...

. It consisted of stars that are today considered part of

Ophiuchus Ophiuchus () is a large constellation straddling the celestial equator. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek (), meaning "serpent-bearer", and it is commonly represented as a man grasping a snake. The serpent is represented by the constella ...

and Aquila. It is no longer in use. It was wedged in between Ophiuchus, Aquila and

Serpens Cauda Serpens ( grc, , , the Serpent) is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. One of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, it remains one of the 88 modern constellations designated by the Internationa ...

. A depiction of the constellation can be found on the wall of the

Vilnius University Astronomical Observatory Vilnius University Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory of Vilnius University. It was founded in 1753 by initiative of Thomas Zebrowski. The observatory is the fourth oldest observatory in the Europe. While the observatory is n ...

The stars

The stars were picked for the resemblance of their arrangement to the

Hyades Hyades may refer to: * Hyades (band) *Hyades (mythology) *Hyades (star cluster) The Hyades (; Greek Ὑάδες, also known as Caldwell 41, Collinder 50, or Melotte 25) is the nearest open cluster and one of the best-studied star clusters. Loca ...

group which form the "head" of

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus * '' Bos tauru ...

. Before the definition of Taurus Poniatovii, some of these had been part of the obsolete constellation

River Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

. The brightest of these stars is 72 Oph (3.7 magnitude) in the "horn" of Taurus Poniatovii. The "face" of Taurus Poniatovii is formed by 67 Oph (4.0), 68 Oph (4.4) and 70 Oph (4.0). The five brightest stars belong to loose

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, an ...

Collinder 359 or Melotte 186.

Barnard's star Barnard's Star is a red dwarf about six light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus. It is the fourth-nearest-known individual star to the Sun after the three components of the Alpha Centauri system, and the closest star in t ...

is also inside the boundaries of this former constellation. Some minor stars (5th and 6th magnitude) now in Aquila formed the "rear" of Taurus Poniatovii.

References

External links

* http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/horvatin/Astronomy_Facts/obsolete_pages/taurus_poniatovii.htm * http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/poniatowski.htm {{navconstel-historic Former constellations Ophiuchus (constellation) Cattle in culture

The stars

See also

References

External links