Saturday, September 19, 2015

Carpe Diem #822 Octans (Octant)


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I had a very busy day, so I will keep this episode short (I hope). We are on a space odyssey and we are encountering another not so well known constellation. Today I hope to inspire you with Octans (Octant).
Octans is a faint constellation located in the deep southern sky. Its name is Latin for the eighth part of a circle, but it is named after the octant, a navigational instrument. Octans was one of 14 constellations created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, and was originally named "l’Octans de Reflexion", French for “the reflecting octant”. It was part of his catalogue of the southern sky, the Coelum Australe Stelliferum, which was published posthumously in 1763. In Europe, it became more widely known as "Octans Hadleianus", in honor of English mathematician John Hadley, who invented the octant in 1730. There is no real mythology related to Octans, partially due to its faintness and relative recentness, but mostly because of its extreme southerly latitude.

Credits: Octans
eyes wide open
navigating on the stars
a lone sailer


© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions. I will try to publish our new episode, Ophiuchus (Serpent bearer), later on.


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