It's on these cold, cloudless nights that I can best see the constellations and recognize the few that I know well enough to identify. But it occurs to me that what I recognize are only the Egyptio-Greco-Roman constellations (Orion, Taurus, Usras, etc.).

So a few questions have come to mind: How far back does the concept of a constellation go? Do eastern (Sino-Japanese and Australasian) and western (Inca, Maya, and Aztec) constellations correlate with the Mediterranean constellations (Aside from Polaris and the circumpolars)? Are there star maps for non-Mediterranean constellations? And who came up with the southern constellation map (Magellan? Vasco da Gama?)?

> It's on these cold, cloudless nights that I can best see the constellations
> and recognize the few that I know well enough to identify. But it occurs to
> me that what I recognize are only the Egyptio-Greco-Roman constellations
> (Orion, Taurus, Usras, etc.).
>
> So a few questions have come to mind: How far back does the concept of a
> constellation go? Do eastern (Sino-Japanese and Australasian) and western
> (Inca, Maya, and Aztec) constellations correlate with the Mediterranean
> constellations (Aside from Polaris and the circumpolars)? Are there star maps
> for non-Mediterranean constellations? And who came up with the southern
> constellation map (Magellan? Vasco da Gama?)?
>
Every culture in the world recognized their own patterns in the sky based on natural phenomena. Ussually images ofb irds and animals in their imediated surroundings.Fore instence the Pre-conquest Inca saw Ya-cana the Llama,the fox A'-toq,Yutu the bird.
The origins of some constellations are lost in history but some date back to prehistory like the Great Bear (the brightest part of the Big Dipper) Cave bears were worshiped in cave man days.And this was carried over from europe through siberia to north america since the last ice age ( about 10 to 20 thousand years)
The Southern constellations were only named a few centuries ago during the time of exploration 1500s to 1600s.Any that got included in the prestigous Bayer Uranometria star atlas (1603)retained legitamacy.The core of modern day constellations probably originated in prehistoric Summeria.The Babylonians documented constellation lists on tablets and invented the Zodiac around the sixth century B.C.
The Chinese constellations (28 luna mansions and 300 star groupings)differ from conventional eroupean in that they incorporated much fainter stars.

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I Refuse to hold myself responsible for any of my actions.

si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes

And who came up with the southern
> constellation map (Magellan? Vasco da Gama?)?
>

Wasn't it Magellan named Magellan after Magellan...!?!

Ferdinand Magellan

oups

Thanks for the education, Flashdrive! I didn't know about the Bayer Uranometria, but by the date I'd guess that it came well after Magellan.

I knew that the circumpolar star group was recognized by every nothern hemisphere civilization, as well as Mercury-Saturn. I recall that the Chinese thought of Polaris as the gateway to the Temple of the Gods (Funny thought that Polaris was closest to zenith in our lifetimes than ever before in recorded history, but I digress tangentially...). The origin of the zodiac hadn't ocurred to me.

You don't happen to know if those maps are available anywhere, do you?

Anyway, Petit Soleil, the answer is "oui". The straights of Magellan were named after Magellan (for sailing it and who knows how), and after Magellan (word of its discovery arrived well after Magellan's death). I still can't think of anyone else who sailed the southern world so early other than Magellan and Vasco da Gama...