CONSTELLATION (Lat. consteliatio, front corn-, together + stella, star,. Gk. dcri-hp, astfr, Skt. star, Ar. star.), 01-1G. stern°, sterro, Ger. Stern, AS., Engl. star). A group of stars. From a time earlier than authentic records can trace, the stars have been formed into artificial groups, which have received names borrowed from fancy or fable. These groups are called constellations. Though quite devoid of anything like systematic arrangement, this traditional grouping is found a sufficiently convenient classification, and still remains the basis of nomenclature for the stars among astronomer:. Before the invention of almanacs, the risings and settings of the constel lations were looked to by husbandmen, shepherds. and sea-faring men as the great landmarks of the seasons. and consequently of the weather which each season was expected to bring with it (see Job xxxviii. 31) ; and it is not surprising if the storms or calm weather that usually accompa nied such seasons were connected, in the popular imagination, with the influence of the stars themselves, or the beings with whom superstition or fable identified them. Thus, the risings and settings of Boffies with the bright star Arcturus. which took place near the equinoxes, portended great tempests. (See Vergirs Georgics, i. 204.) The great heat in July was ascribed to the rising of Canis. the dog. with its bright star Sirius. (See HELIACAI. Pasixo.) The ap pearance of the twins. Castor and Pollux, was bailed as the harbinger of fair summer weather.
Almost all nations have, from early times, ar ranged the stars into constellations. hut it is chiefly from the nomenclature of the Greeks and Romans that our own is derived. Eudoxus, contemporary of Plato. about 370 years D.C., gave a description of the face of the heavens, containing the names and characters of all the constellations recognized in his time. Though this production is lost, a poetical paraphrase of it, written about a century later by Aratte; (q.v.), is still extant. This poem describes twelve
zodiacal constellations (see Zonric). with twenty in the Northern _Hemisphere and thirteen in the Southern. The next enumeration occurs in the A/nu/gest of Ptolemy, which includes the preced ing, with three additional, one northern and two southern constellations, making in all 48. These are the ancient stellar groups. Large accessions have been made to the nomenclature in modern times, in consequence of maritime discovery hay ing made us acquainted with constellations in the Southern Hemisphere which never rose upon the world known to our ancient authors. In 1751 Lacaille went to the Cape of Good Mope for the purpose of making a eatah)gue of the southern stars, and forming Bunn into constellations—au undertaking which he prosecuted with great ardor for neatly four years, at the expense of the French Government. Even the flattery of cour tiers has contributed toward the stellar nomen clature. Upon the restoration of Charles 11., the evening before his return to London, Sir Charles Scarborough, the Court physician, was gazing upon a star in the northern heavens which shone with greater luminosity than usual, as might be expected from a loyal star on such an occasion. This, in connection with a few others, was formed into Cor Caroli, the heart of Charles II., by Hal ley, at. the doctor's recommendation. The chief constellations will be noticed under their several names. (See ARIES: URSA MAJon, etc.) The fanciful figures from which the constellations are named are depicted on celestial globes and maps of the heavens.
In the older writers upon astrology, constella tion signifies the relative positions of the planets at a given moment. See ASPECT.