Constellation Musca in Johannes Hevelius' atlas (1690). In this atlas, constellations are shown as they would appear on a globe, i.e. back to front by comparison with their appearance in the sky.In Urania's Mirror (1825).
Musca Borealis (Latin for northern fly) was a constellation, now discarded, located between the constellations of Aries and Perseus.[1] It was originally called Apes (plural of Apis, Latin for bee) by Petrus Plancius when he created it in 1612. It was made up of a small group of stars, now called 33 Arietis, 35 Arietis, 39 Arietis, and 41 Arietis,[2] in the north of the constellation of Aries.
The brightest star is now known as 41 Arietis (Bharani). At magnitude 3.63, it is a blue-white main sequence star of spectral type B8V around 166 light-years distant.[3] 39 Arietis (Lilii Borea) is an orange giant star of magnitude 4.51 and spectral type K1.5III that is around 171 light-years distant.[4]
The constellation was renamed Vespa by Jakob Bartsch in 1624. The renaming by Bartsch may have been intended to avoid confusion with another constellation, created by Plancius in 1598, that was called Apis by Bayer in 1603. Plancius called this earlier constellation Muia (Greek for fly) in 1612, and it had been called Musca (Latin for fly) by Blaeu in 1602, although Bayer was evidently unaware of this.[5]
In 1679 Augustin Royer used these stars for his constellation Lilium (the Lily, representing the fleur-de-lis and in honour of his patron, King Louis XIV).[2]
It was first described as "Musca" by Hevelius in his catalogue of 1690. Subsequent astronomers renamed it into "Musca Borealis", to distinguish it from the southern fly, Musca Australis.
This constellation is no longer in use; the stars it contained are now included in Aries. The Southern Fly, Musca Australis, is now simply known as Musca.
^Nick Kanas (2012), Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography (Second ed.), Chichester, U.K., p. 121, ISBN 978-1-4614-0917-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ abRidpath.
^"* 41 Ari". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
^"* 39 Ari". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
MuscaBorealis (Latin for northern fly) was a constellation, now discarded, located between the constellations of Aries and Perseus. It was originally...
Lacaille renamed it to Musca Australis, the Southern Fly—Australis, since it counterparted the now discarded constellation of MuscaBorealis composed of a few...
Southern Aquila Apes Apium Bees (renamed to Vespa, then Lilium, then to MuscaBorealis) 1612 Petrus Plancius 33, 35 Arietis, Lilli Borea and Bharani between...
star. This star was formerly located in the obsolete constellation MuscaBorealis. van Leeuwen, Floor (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos...
Aquarius to Cancer. Also depicted are Pegasus, Triangulum Majus and Minus, MuscaBorealis, and Orion, as well as two broad gold bands spanning the ceiling, representing...
parsecs). This star was formerly located in the obsolete constellation MuscaBorealis. 39 Arietis is the star's Flamsteed designation. This star was described...
and a radius out to 42 AU. This star was located in the constellation MuscaBorealis. van Leeuwen, F. (November 2007), "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction"...
An R Coronae Borealis variable (abbreviated RCB, R CrB) is an eruptive variable star that varies in luminosity in two modes, one low amplitude pulsation...
Volans, Apus, Pavo, Grus, Phoenix, Tucana, Indus, Chamaeleon, and Musca. Bayer labeled Musca as "Apis" (the Bee), but over time it was renamed. (Bayer's twelfth...
long names that were shortened to more usable forms; e.g. Musca Australis became simply Musca. Some of the early constellations were never universally...
letters): Aps for Apus/Apodis, CrA for Corona Australis, CrB for Corona Borealis, Crv for Corvus. (Crater is abbreviated Crt to prevent confusion with CrA...
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