Monoceros Constellation

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Monoceros Constellation [Stellarium]

Constellation Monoceros the Unicorn is a southern constellation bordering Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Hydra, Lepus, Orion, Puppis, and the obsolete constellations Argo Navis and Officina Typographica.

Monoceros was introduced by Petrus Plancius in 1613 and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It spans 46 degrees of the zodiac in the Signs of Cancer and Leo.

Abbreviation: Mon
Genitive: Monocerotis

Monoceros Constellation Stars

2000	2050	Star	Name	Sp. Class	Mag.	Orb
04♋15	04♋57	γ Mon	Tempestris	K3	3.99	1°30′
06♋16	06♋58	ε Mon		A5	4.39	1°10′
08♋18	09♋00	β Mon	Cerastes	B3	4.60	1°00′
08♋29	09♋12	13 Mon		A0	4.47	1°10′
10♋23	11♋04	S Mon		O7	4.66	1°00′
12♋08	12♋50	17 Mon		K4	4.77	1°00′
12♋47	13♋29	18 Mon		K0	4.48	1°10′
19♋33	20♋15	δ Mon	Kartajan	A2	4.15	1°20′
29♋17	29♋59	α Mon	Ctesias	K0	3.94	1°30′
02♌50	03♌32	28 Mon		K4	4.68	1°00′
05♌51	05♌51	ζ Mon		G2	4.36	1°10′

α Mon is named Ctesias. The unicorn was introduced into Greek Literature by Ctesias, a historian. ^[1]

β Mon is named Cerastes, from the Greek κεράστης (kerastēs), “having horns.” Cerastes is a creature of Greek legend, a serpent with two horns. ^[1]

δ Mon is named Kartajan, a Greek corruption of the Sanskrit Karkadann, “god of the desert,” a legendary figure with similarities to the Unicorn. ^[1]

γ Mon is named Tempestris, from the name of the winged horse of Prince Frontis (Phronits) in Greek mythology. ^[1]

Monoceros Astrology

Robson

MONOCEROS. The Unicron.
History. Added by Bartschius, 1624.
Influence. It is said to give a pioneering, persistent, enterprising, ambitious and pushing nature, together with a love of travel and change. ^[2]

Monoceros Constellation [Urania’s Mirror]

Allen

Monoceros, the Unicorn, lies in the large but comparatively vacant field between the two Dogs, Orion and the Hydra, the celestial equator passing through it lengthwise from the Belt of Orion to the tail of the animal, just below the head of Hydra. Proctor assigned to it the alternative title Cervus.

It’s 4.6‑magnitude S, or Fl. 15, marks the head of the figure, facing towards the west.

This is a modern constellation, generally supposed to have been first charted by Bartschius as Unicornu; but Olbers and Ideler say that it was of much earlier formation, the latter quoting allusions to it, in the work of 1564, as “the other Horse south of the Twins and the Crab”; and Scaliger found it on a Persian sphere.

Flammarion’s identification of it with the still earlier Neper has already been mentioned under Microscopium.

Monoceros seems to have no star individually named, but the Chinese asterisms Sze Fūh, the Four Great Canals; Kwan Kew; and Wae Choo, the Outer Kitchen, all lay within its boundaries.

It contains 66 naked-eye stars according to Argelander, — Heis says 112, — and is interesting chiefly from its many telescopic clusters, and as being located in the Milky Way.

α, the lucida, is Fl. 30, of 3.6 magnitude. ^[3]