Wikipedia

R.H. Allen: Star Names

Ian Ridpath: Star Tales

Astronomy Facts

Lost Constellations

SkyEye

Star Lore Felis The Cat

Felis is a now obsolete constellation in the northern hemisphere, created in 1799 by Jérôme Lalande. Between 1791 and 1801, French astronomer Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande put together a star catalogue containing 47,390 stars. As part of it, he designed four new constellations. I am very fond of cats. I will let this figure scratch on the chart. The starry sky has worried me quite enough in my life, so that now I can have my joke with it. According to R.H. Allen, these were the words with which Lalande introduced the fourth of his creations, Felis, the cat. It was first shown in 1801 by Johann Elert Bode in his Uranographia and described in detail by Lalande in 1802 in his Bibliographie Astronomique. Felis in Urania's Mirror Felis in Uranographia Source: Astronomy Facts Lalande selected five faint stars in the southern part of the constellation Hydra with 156 G. Hydrae in the center. Considering Lalande's quote above, he was probably not too serious about this constellation so it wasn't surprising that Felis didn't make the cut when the IAU decided on its 88 official constellations. However, 90 years later, the IAU's Working Group on Star Names returned a remnant of Lalande's constellation: In 2018, Felis' brightest star, HD 85951 was named Felis. On October 18, 1963, the cat returned to the stars in a special way. A French Véronique sounding rocket reached an altitude of 96 miles. On board was Félicette, the first cat in space. Félicette, the first cat in space Source:Animals in Space Back to Star Lore Start Page Back to Obsolete Constellations Back to Lalande's Constellations Back to Space Page Back to English Main Page Back to Start Page