Cancer Minor (Latin for "lesser crab") was a constellation composed from a few stars in Gemini adjacent to Cancer. The constellation was introduced in 1612 (or 1613) by Petrus Plancius.[1]
The 5th-magnitude stars constituting Cancer Minor were HD 59686, and 68, 74, 81 and 85 Geminorum, forming a faint natural arrow-shaped asterism.
It is only found on a few 17th-century Dutch celestial globes and in the atlas of Andreas Cellarius. It is mentioned as a recent creation in the 1627 star atlas Coelum Stellatum Christianum by Julius Schiller, where it is also called Cancellus (Latin for "little crab"), but it is not depicted.[2] It was no longer used after the 18th century.
See also
References
- ↑ atlascoelestis.com, Felice Stoppa: Le costellazioni di Petrus Plancius
- ↑ Schiller, Julius (1627). Coelum Stellatum Christianum. Augsburg: Andreas Aperger. p. 72.