For thousands of years people have watched the sky and its phenomena. They "invented" the first constellations in ancient times. However, to the question of how many constellations exist, there was no single answer until the 20th century. Let’s answer it, but at the same time we’ll talk about one of them.
How many constellations in the world?
People have long noticed that some groups of stars form various patterns and geometric shapes in the night sky. To distinguish them from each other, they began to be given names, choosing, as a rule, familiar objects or the names of famous heroes. These were the constellations.
In different parts of the world their number was different. In addition, their clear boundaries were not defined, the same star could be present in different constellations. The development of technology made it possible to see the sky even more clearly, observing objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Many fainter stars were revealed to us, and the edges of some "heavenly drawings" became completely inaudible.
To remove all the confusion, they decided to divide the celestial sphere into specific areas. In 1922, the International Astronomical Union approved 88 constellations, between which clear boundaries were indicated on the map. Of these, 48 are ancient, they were known even before our era. Others are considered new, for example, the constellation Pigeon.
The official list of the Union of Astronomers did not include the constellations Cerberus, Turtle, Jordan River, Water, Keny, Lonely Thrush, Karla Oak, Zeus the Thunderer and others. Some of them can be seen on medieval atlases.
Description of the constellation Pigeon
The science of astronomy developed mainly in the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth. Therefore, the first atlases were devoted to the objects of that part of the sky that is visible precisely above it. Heavenly maps were often used for orientation, and after the first circumnavigation of the globe there was a need for atlases of the Southern Hemisphere. So, in the XVI century there were constellations: Fly, Native American, Peacock, Bird of Paradise , Toucan , etc.
In 1592, the constellation Dove appeared. It was proposed by Peter Plantius. But he is often associated with Augustine Roye, who introduced him into widespread use by publishing his cards.
The Pigeon constellation is clearly visible throughout the Southern Hemisphere to a latitude of 90 degrees, in the Northern Hemisphere it is visible only to 47 degrees. In the sky, it occupies 270 square degrees. In winter (December, January) it can be observed in Crimea, Odessa, Chisinau, in the European south of Russia. He is surrounded by Big Dog, Painter, Hare, Feed, Cutter.
Myths and legends
The names of the constellations are often tied to legendary personalities or events. Many of them have their own story. Peter Plantsius was a theologian, therefore a biblical myth is associated with the constellation Dove. It is assumed that he originally called it Columba Noachi, or "Dove of Noah."
After the Flood, Noah repeatedly released this bird in the hope that it would find land. Once she returned with a sprig of olive, the next time she did not return at all. This meant that the water receded, and it was possible to re-populate the Earth.
There is another legend about the constellation Dove, associated with the story of the Argonauts. Sailing into the Black Sea, Jason and his team could encounter the wandering cliffs of the Simplegades. They swam in sea waters and in a collision they smashed ships to smithereens. The Argonauts released a dove, which flew between the rocks, showing them the right path.
Dove Stars
In cloudless weather, about forty stars can be distinguished in the constellation Pigeon. But none of them in brightness does not exceed 3 magnitude (the smaller the number, the brighter). The most striking is Alpha Dove, or Fact. This is a binary system, the main star of which is the gray-blue subgiant. The rapid rotation creates a gas disk around its equator, due to which it is referred to as shell. Gradually, it moves more and more south, and in a few thousand years it will become a southern polar star.
The second brightest star is called Vazn or Vesn. She is an orange giant with an apparent magnitude of 3.12. Its radius is twelve times larger than the sun, but the mass is almost equal to our luminary. Beta Dove is approximately 86 light years from Earth.
Mu Pigeon is also interesting. She is called a "runaway", the same as AE Auriga. It is assumed that once they were one star system and were thrown out of it after flying past Nair al Saif Orion (Iota Orion).
Interesting objects
There are no meteor showers in the constellation Dove, but there are two galaxies and a globular cluster. Galaxy NGC 1808 resembles ours. It is spiral and has a jumper. Hydrogen emanates from its disk-shaped core. The brightness of the galaxy is 9.9 m.
You can see it if you draw a diagonal to the right and down from O Dove. Just below it is the galaxy NGC 1792, also spiral. Its brightness is 10.2 m, and it is rather difficult to consider it on amateur optics.
The galaxy was discovered by James Dunpole in 1826 along with the globular cluster NGC 1851 (C 73). Pictures from the Hubble telescope showed that the cluster contains stars of two generations - two branches of subgiants. In the pictures taken, scientists were able to distinguish about 170 stars, although their number may be much larger.