While it\u2019s true that the southern hemisphere constellations include such technological relics as an air pump, a chemical furnace and a pendulum clock, there are also exotic animals such as a peacock, a bird of paradise and a dorado chasing a flying fish.<\/p>\n
Not to mention the oak tree that was planted by Edmond Halley to commemorate King Charles II, only to be later felled by a Frenchman.<\/p>\n
Read our astronomy guide to the Southern Hemisphere<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Before the first European seafarers ventured around the tip of Africa to open trade routes to India and the Far East, the sky around the south celestial pole was a blank slate for Western astronomers.<\/span><\/p>\n The 48 Greek constellations in Ptolemy<\/a>\u2019s book the Almagest<\/i> of 150 AD went only as far south as Centaurus and Argo Navis.<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond that lay the celestial equivalent of terra incognita, beneath the horizon for European observers.<\/span><\/p>\n One man was determined to fill in this blank area of sky: the Dutch cartographer and theologian Petrus Plancius (1552\u20131622).<\/p>\n When the first Dutch trading expedition to the East Indies, the Eerste Schipvaart, set sail in April 1595, Plancius instructed several members of the ships\u2019 crews to make positional observations of the southern stars.<\/p>\n Foremost among these trusted observers was Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser (c1540\u201396), chief navigator on the Hollandia, joint-largest of the four ships in the fleet.<\/p>\n The Dutch fleet arrived at Madagascar, latitude 23\u02da south, in September 1595 where they remained for several months to resupply and recover from scurvy and malnutrition.<\/p>\n It was during this stopover that Keyser made most of his observations, measuring star positions from the crow\u2019s nest of his ship, probably using an astrolabe<\/a> given to him by Plancius.<\/span><\/p>\n Resuming their voyage, the expedition eventually reached the island of Sumatra in June 1596 before moving on to their final destination of Bantam (now Banten) in Java, where Keyser died.<\/p>\n According to a contemporary account, he died while observing from the crow\u2019s nest, although the cause is not stated.<\/p>\n Fortunately, his legacy did not die with him. When the depleted fleet returned to the Netherlands in August 1597 with its precious cargo of spices from the East, they carried with them another, more lasting treasure: Keyser\u2019s observations of the southern stars.<\/p>\n These were duly delivered to Plancius.<\/p>\n Keyser\u2019s stars, divided into 12 new constellations, first appeared on a celestial globe made by Plancius in 1598, and again two years later on a globe by his colleague Jodocus Hondius (1563\u20131612).<\/span><\/p>\n These constellations were the first significant additions to the sky since Ptolemy\u2019s time. <\/span><\/p>\n There were 122 stars in the 12 constellations, plus five more stars that formed a southern extension of Eridanus, and 12 \u2018unformed\u2019 stars that were not part of any constellation.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether Keyser observed more stars than this we do not know, because his original records are long lost.<\/span><\/p>\n Who actually invented these 12 new southern figures?<\/span><\/p>\n It was probably not Keyser, since he would not have had a chance to do so before his untimely death.<\/span><\/p>\n Some historians believe they were invented by Plancius after receiving Keyser\u2019s observations.<\/span><\/p>\n But there is another candidate: Frederick de Houtman (1571\u20131627), younger brother of the commander of the Dutch fleet, Cornelis de Houtman (1565\u201399).<\/span><\/p>\n Frederick was also a crew member of the Eerste Schipvaart and made celestial observations of his own, independently of Keyser.<\/span><\/p>\n After Keyser died, Frederick would have had access to his records.<\/p>\n We can imagine him whiling away the time on the long voyage home by collating the joint observations and grouping them into constellations representing the wondrous things they had seen.<\/p>\n It seems fair to assign credit for the invention of these new Southern Dozen constellations jointly to Keyser and de Houtman, and their mentor Plancius.<\/p>\n The new southern constellations made their first appearance in print, as distinct from on a globe, in the great star atlas Uranometria<\/i> in 1603 by the German astronomer Johann Bayer.<\/p>\n Bayer devoted one plate to each of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations, but in addition he gave the new Southern Dozen a separate 49th chart of their own, creating the first all-sky star atlas.<\/p>\n For European astronomers at the start of the 17th century, Bayer\u2019s chart of this hitherto invisible area of sky must have been as much of a revelation as the first photographs of the far side of the Moon were in more recent times.<\/p>\n Since globes were expensive, few people ever saw them. By contrast, Bayer\u2019s atlas was widely circulated.<\/span><\/p>\n His Chart 49 was the first time that most astronomers found out about the new constellations, and as a result he was often wrongly credited as their inventor.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, Bayer\u2019s southern chart showed the two Magellanic Clouds, labelled Nubecula Major and Nubecula Minor, as well as the first record of 30 Doradus (the Tarantula Nebula<\/a>) and the globular cluster<\/a> 47 Tucanae.<\/p>\n Seven months after their return from the Eerste Schipvaart, the de Houtman brothers set off again to the East Indies.<\/p>\n In 1599 they reached Aceh in northern Sumatra.<\/p>\n There Cornelis was killed in a dispute fomented by rival Portuguese traders and Frederick was imprisoned for two years by the Sultan of Aceh until a ransom was paid for his release.<\/p>\n During his time in captivity, de Houtman studied the local Malay language and added to the southern stars he and Keyser had observed on the first voyage.<\/p>\n On his return to Holland in 1603, he published his observations as an appendix to a Malay and Madagascan dictionary that he had compiled, surely one of the most unlikely pieces of astronomical publishing in history.<\/p>\n De Houtman\u2019s catalogue lists 304 stars, of which 111 lay in the new Southern Dozen constellations.<\/p>\n The remainder had either already been listed by Ptolemy or were additions to the Ptolemaic constellations, notably Argo Navis and Centaurus.<\/p>\n![\""1856\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/06\/southern-hemisphere-constellations-9d51151.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C696"\" "\\"\"1856\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>26 southern hemisphere constellations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Constellations introduced by Keyser, de Houtman and Plancius in 1596\u20131603<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Constellations introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1754<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Exploring the southern sky<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-590649943-8c4057a.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""'Plancius\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-588384237-82a6949.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C464"\" "\\"\"'Plancius\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Keyser\u2019s 12 southern hemisphere constellations<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""Frederik\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/06\/FrederikHoutmanSK-A-2727-351bf90-e1687256979231.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C691"\" "\\"\"Frederik\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Bayer\u2019s southern star chart<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""Illustration\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-90770559-5af11a8.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C466"\" "\\"\"Illustration\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""SMC\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/02\/37872786976_c9d7eac8c1_k-b8079f9-e1687256744700.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C620"\" "\\"\"Globular\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>De Houtman\u2019s star catalogue<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\""Netherlands\/\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2023\/06\/GettyImages-1354427197-9e55c85.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C453"\" "\\"\"Netherlands\/\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>