Profile / Characteristics
| English translation | Latin declination and pronunciations | Size/ °² | # stars (visible) |
| the Wolf | Lupus – LOOP-us Lupi – LOOP-eye | 334 | 124 |
Main Star (brightest one):
| Designation | HIP number | name in IAU-CSN | brightness |
| α Lup | HIP 71860 | Uridim | 2.29 mag (V) |
Our (modern) Explanation
Lupus literally means Wolf in Latin, but in Greek and the earlier Babylonian uranology, it was characterized as The Beast. The Babylonian original constellation is The Mad Dog (or Rabid Dog), while the Greek variant depicts the Beast slaughtered by Centaurus who is depicted in the sky sacrificing the animal at the Altar (Ara).
Ancient Globes
Farnese Globe
Kugel Globe
Mainz Globe
Ancient Lore & Meaning
Aratus
Reference:
English translation by Douglas Kidd (1997).
Aratus: Phaenomena, Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 34
Pseudo-Eratosthenes
References:
French translation by:
Jordi Pàmias i Massana and Arnaud Zucker (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène – Catastérismes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris
English version in:
Robin Hard (2015): Eratosthenes and Hyginus Constellation Myths with Aratus’s Phaenomena, Oxford World’s Classics
Early Modern Interpretation
Contemporary
As one of their first tasks in the 1920s, the newly founded International Astronomical Union (IAU) established constellation standards. The Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte was assigned to the task to define borders of constellations parallel to lines of declination and right ascension. They were accepted by the General Assembly in 1928. The standardized names and abbreviations had already been accepted in 1922 and 1925.
