Star Lore The Globes, Maps and Constellations of Petrus Plancius

Dutch-Flemish astronomer and cartographer Petrus Plancius is credited with three of the 88 Constellations the International Astronomical Union adopted in 1922. But his influence on the mapping of the night sky goes far beyond the constellations Columba, Camelopardalis and Monoceros. Petrus Plancius was one of the most prolific and most influential cartographers of his time. As one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company, he drew over 100 maps and trained the pilots of the First Dutch Fleet bound for the East Indies to make astronomical observations during their journey. Plancius designed a total of ten new constellations, three of which were adopted by the IAU in 1922. He also initiated the development of the Southern Cross as an independent constellation and was the first to put the twelve new constellations observed by Dutch navigators Keyser and de Houtman on a map. With that, Plancius is directly or indirectly responsible for sixteen of our modern constellations - a record surpassed only by Ptolemy. In 1589, Plancius worked with Dutch cartographer Floris van Langren, on the first globe that showed the Southern Cross and an independent constellation.

Petrus Plancius; Wikipedia

The globe also displayed the Magellanic Clouds (though without a lable) and a Triangulus Antarcticus, a star formation observed by Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci, but most likely put in the wrong place. In 1592, Plancius became famous as a map maker with an elaborate world map called Nova et exacta Terrarum Tabula geographica et hydrographica. As a decorative element, the map contained two planispheres of the northern and southern celestial hemispheres. In each, Plancius inserted a constellation of his own design. In the northern hemisphere, Columba, the Dove, originally called Columba Noachi, Noah's Dove, was widely accepted and was in 1922 adopted by the IAU as one of the official 88 Constellations. In the southern hemisphere, Plancius had placed Polophylax, the Guardian of the Pole near the celestial south pole. He withdrew the concept in 1597, when Keyser and de Houtman had placed three of their constellations in the location of the imaginary Guardian. In 1598, Plancius was the first to display all twelve constellations developed by the Dutch navigators on a globe. In 1603, Uranometria, the first star atlas showing the entire sky - including the new constellations - was published by German cartographer Johann Bayer. Plancius remained active as a cartographer and globe maker. In 1612 and 1613, he developed eight new constellations. They were shown in 1613 on his own globe and later, between 1624 and 1730 on several maps. With the exception of Camelopardalis and Monoceros, these constellations were largely forgotten by the 1800s, but some of them were among the most creative concepts and all of them are of historical value. Sources: Wikipedia, Ian Ridpath

Crux and Triangulus Antarcticus on the 1589 globe Source: Royal Museum Greenwitch Plancius' world map of 1594; Wikipedia Plancius' Monoceros in Urania's Mirror

Click the icons for detailed descriptions of the constellations.

Apes Bees	Camelopardalis Giraffe	Cancer Minor Lesser Crab	Columba Dove	Crux Southern Cross	Gallus Rooster
Jordanis Jordan River	Monoceros Unicorn	Polophylax Guardian of the Pole	Sagitta Australis Southern Arrow	Tigris Tigris River	Triangulus Antarcticus Antarctic Triangle

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