Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Triangulum
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==History and mythology== In the [[Babylonian star catalogues]], Triangulum, together with [[Gamma Andromedae]], formed the constellation known as {{Transliteration|sux|<sup>MUL</sup>APIN}} ({{lang|sux|{{cuneiform|8|𒀯𒀳}}}}) "The Plough". It is notable as the first constellation presented on (and giving its name to) a pair of tablets containing canonical star lists that were compiled around 1000 BC, the [[MUL.APIN]]. The Plough was the first constellation of the "Way of [[Enlil]]"—that is, the northernmost quarter of the Sun's path, which corresponds to the 45 days on either side of [[summer solstice]]. Its first appearance in the pre-dawn sky ([[heliacal rising]]) in February marked the time to begin spring ploughing in [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{cite journal| author=Rogers, John H. |title= Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian Traditions |journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association |volume=108 |date=1998|pages= 9–28|bibcode = 1998JBAA..108....9R }}</ref> The Ancient Greeks called Triangulum ''Deltoton'' (Δελτωτόν), as the constellation resembled an upper-case Greek letter delta (Δ). It was transliterated by Roman writers, then later [[Latin]]ised as Deltotum.<ref name=allen>{{cite book | last=Allen | first=Richard Hinckley | date=1963 | orig-year=1899 | author-link=Richard Hinckley Allen | title=[[Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning]] | edition=Reprint | publisher=Dover Publications Inc. | location=New York, New York | isbn=((0-486-21079-0)) | pages=[https://archive.org/details/starnamestheirlo00alle/page/414 414–15] }}</ref> [[Eratosthenes]] linked it with the [[Nile Delta]], while the Roman writer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] associated it with the triangular island of [[Sicily]], formerly known as Trinacria due to its shape.<ref name=ridpathtri>{{cite web| url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/triangulum.html | title=Triangulum |author=Ian Ridpath |author-link=Ian Ridpath|publisher=self-published | access-date= August 29, 2013}}</ref><!-- cites two previous sentences --> It was also called ''Sicilia'', because the Romans believed [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]], patron goddess of Sicily, begged [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] to place the island in the heavens.<ref name=allen /> Greek astronomers such as Hipparchos and Ptolemy called it ''Trigonon'' (Τρίγωνον), and later, it was Romanized as Trigonum. Other names referring to its shape include Tricuspis and Triquetrum.<ref name=allen /> [[Alpha Trianguli|Alpha]] and [[Beta Trianguli]] were called ''Al Mīzān'', which is [[Arabic language|Arabic]] for "The Scale Beam".<ref name=garfinckle1997/> In Chinese astronomy, Gamma Andromedae and neighbouring stars including Beta, Gamma and Delta Trianguli were called ''[[Teen Ta Tseang Keun]]'' (天大将军, "Heaven's great general"), representing honour in astrology and a great general in mythology.<ref name=ridpathtri/><ref>{{cite book | last = Olcott | first = William Tyler | date = 2004 | orig-year = 1911|pages=22–23 | title = Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts | publisher = Courier Dover Publications|location=Mineola, New York | isbn = 978-0-486-43581-7}}</ref> Later, the 17th-century German celestial cartographer [[Johann Bayer]] called the constellation Triplicitas and Orbis terrarum tripertitus, for the three regions Europe, Asia, and Africa. Triangulus Septentrionalis was a name used to distinguish it from [[Triangulum Australe]], the Southern Triangle.<ref name=allen /> Polish astronomer [[Johannes Hevelius]] excised three faint stars—[[Iota Trianguli|ι]], [[10 Trianguli|10]] and [[12 Trianguli]]—to form the new constellation of [[Triangulum Minus]] in his 1690 ''Firmamentum Sobiescianum'', renaming the original as Triangulum Majus.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/triangulumminus.html | title=Triangulum Minus |author=Ian Ridpath |author-link=Ian Ridpath|publisher=self-published | access-date= August 29, 2013}}</ref> The smaller constellation was not recognised by the [[International Astronomical Union]] (IAU) when the constellations were [[Constellation#IAU constellations|established in the 1920s]].<ref name=garfinckle1997>{{cite book | first1=Robert A. | last1=Garfinkle | title=Star-Hopping: Your Visa to Viewing the Universe | publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |date=1997 | isbn=0-521-59889-3 | page=238 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40JzBYGREL0C&pg=PA238 }}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)