The Greeks had a constellation called Argo Navis (the ship Argo). It was in the southern sky, and precession of the equinoxes carried it more into view from the Mediterranean as the years passed. So, it got bigger. By the time modern astronomers were formalizing constellation boundaries it was fricken HUGE, so they decided they had to divide it up. So you end up with the Sails, the Keel/Hull, and the Poop/Stern. (Some say Pyxis used to be Argo's mast.) Maybe it would have been better to name Puppis 'the Stern': the word poop deck comes from the French word for 'stern'.
It was after Johann Bayer made up the alpha-beta-gamma etc. designations for stars in constellations so Vela and Puppis don't have an 'alpha' star.
Note: I knew about Argo Navis's division, but most of the rest was learned by reading Wikipedia to confirm spellings.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-03-14 02:29 am (UTC)The Greeks had a constellation called Argo Navis (the ship Argo). It was in the southern sky, and precession of the equinoxes carried it more into view from the Mediterranean as the years passed. So, it got bigger. By the time modern astronomers were formalizing constellation boundaries it was fricken HUGE, so they decided they had to divide it up. So you end up with the Sails, the Keel/Hull, and the Poop/Stern. (Some say Pyxis used to be Argo's mast.) Maybe it would have been better to name Puppis 'the Stern': the word poop deck comes from the French word for 'stern'.
It was after Johann Bayer made up the alpha-beta-gamma etc. designations for stars in constellations so Vela and Puppis don't have an 'alpha' star.
Note: I knew about Argo Navis's division, but most of the rest was learned by reading Wikipedia to confirm spellings.