Quadrans Muralis

Quadrans Muralis (Latin for mural quadrant) was a constellation created by the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1795. It depicted a wall-mounted quadrant with which he and his nephew Michel Lefrançois de Lalande had charted the celestial sphere, and was named Le Mural in the French atlas.[1] It was between the constellations of Boötes and Draco, near the tail of Ursa Major,[2] containing stars between β Bootis (Nekkar) and η Ursae Majoris (Alkaid).[3]

Map of the obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis in relation to the modern constellations

Johann Elert Bode converted its name to Latin as Quadrans Muralis and shrank the constellation a little in his 1801 Uranographia star atlas, to avoid it clashing with neighboring constellations.[1]

In 1922, Quadrans Muralis was omitted when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formalised its list of officially recognized constellations.[4]

Notable features
Quadrans Muralis can be seen at the top left of this 1825 star chart from Urania's Mirror.
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References
  1. Ridpath, Ian. "Quadrans Muralis". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  2. Ridpath, Ian. "Lalande's Quadrans Muralis". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  3. Inglis, Mike; Moore, Patrick (2015). The Observer's Year: 366 Nights of the Universe: 2015 – 2020. New York, New York: Springer. p. 178. ISBN 978-3-31918-678-8.
  4. "The Constellations". International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  5. Smyth, William Henry (1844). A Cycle of Celestial Objects: For the Use of Naval, Military, and Private Astronomers. 2. London, United Kingdom: John W. Parker. p. 329.


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