English Naturalist John Hill Named Spider Constellation Aranea in 1754

Summary: English naturalist John Hill introduced spider constellation Aranea in his 1754 astronomical dictionary, Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens.

The southern celestial hemisphere's Aranea the Spider neighbors closely with Virgo the Maiden, Corvus the Crow and Hydra the Sea Serpent; John Hill, Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens, vol. I (M.DCC.LIV [1754]), between first and second of five pages on Virgo: Public Domain, via Google Books Read for Free

Eighteenth-century English apothecary, naturalist and writer John Hill introduced Aranea the Spider constellation in his astronomical dictionary, Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens, published in 1754.

John Hill (1714-Nov. 21, 1775) epitheted Aranea as "A conſtellation offered to the aſtronomical world, and compoſed of a cluſter of unformed and very conſpicuous ſtars near the ſign Virgo," according to his description in Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens. In the starry cluster he recognized the outlines of "the common long-legged ſpider, which we ſee in the fields among the graſs in ſummer, and which the old writers on natural hiſtory have all described under the name of the field ſpider, and the late ones under that of the long-legged ſpider, or Acarus."

Hill discerned the location of the "little conſtellation" as a "ſpace . . . not ill provided of ſtars, and they are very happily diſpoſed to anſwer to the principal parts of the figure; it is repreſented in a poſture of walking, raiſed from the ground by its long legs, and marching from the conſtellation Virgo toward the lower part of that of Hydra."

The constellation's creator situated his arachnid with its "hinder part . . . very near to the knee of Virgo, and to the ſpike or ear of corn in the left hand." Aranea faced Corvus the Crow and Hydra the Sea Serpent, with "its head . . . directed toward that part of the body of the Hydra a little below where the raven ſits, but at ſome distance; the tail of the raven is nearly at an equal diſtance from the left legs of the ſpider." The arachnid's right legs neared Virgo but also associated with more distant neighbor Libra the Balance, as "its right legs are near a part of the robe of Virgo, and are turned toward the ſign of Libra; but this is at a conſiderable distance."

Hill tallied 13 "conſpicuous ſtars in the conſtellation Aranea." Their remoteness distinctifies the "very bright appearance" yielded by the constellation's stellar magnitudes. "Theſe are all remote enough from the neareſt of thoſe of any other conſtellation, and there is no confuſion."

Although he did not identify the new constellation's stars by their designations, Hill detailed the associated body parts represented by 10 of Aranea's starry components. "There is one placed juſt at the meeting of the forceps before the head, and one ſtar at the extremity of the body, or at the rump of the creature. The reſt are diſpoſed about the legs and feet. With reſpect to the four legs on the right ſide, there is one ſtar at the extremity or foot of each; and on the third there is alſo another ſtar about the joint of the knee. With reſpect to the four on the left ſide, the firſt leg has two ſtars almoſt cloſe together at the extremity or foot; the ſecond has one at the upper joint, and one at the foot; the third has none at the foot, but one at the middle joint; and the fourth has one at the foot, and none in another part."

John Hill's Aranea the Spider constellation (top-center) inhabits the Southern Hemisphere's third quadrant (SQ3) in between close constellatory neighbors Virgo the Virgin, Corvus the Crow and Hydra the Sea Serpent and with Bufo the Toad (lower left-center) as nearest Hill-invented constellation: Ultima Thulean, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Aranea is positioned south of Spica (α Virginis, Alpha Virginis; abbreviated α Vir, Alpha Vir), according to David Harper, once an astronomer specializing in celestial mechanics and positional astronomy but now a genome researcher, and his wife, astronomer L. (Lynne) M. Stockman, in "Aranea: The Long-Legged Spider," posted on their Obliquity website. Constellation Virgo's brightest member actually comprises a spectroscopic binary star, discernible via rhythmic alterations in wavelengths of spectral lines. Spica marks the sheaf of grain or palm leaf held by Virgo the Virgin.

Twelve of Aranea's 13 stars are depicted by Harper and Stockman in "Aranea -- The Long-Legged Spider" on their Obliquity website. All 12 reside in Virgo the Maiden: 53 Vir, 55 Vir, 57 Vir, 61 Vir, 63 Vir, 68 Vir, 69 Vir, 75 Vir, 83 Vir, 87 Vir, Gamma Vir (γ Vir) and HD (Henry Draper) 120544.

Aranea numbered among 15 constellations that John Hill "offered to the aſtronomical world." The celestial spider joined eight other invented constellatory occupants of the southern celestial hemisphere. Hill cast Anguilla the Eel, Bufo the Toad, Dentalium the Tooth Shell, Hippocampus the Sea Horse, Limax the Slug, Pinna Marina the Mussel, Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle and Testudo the Tortoise as his invented dwellers of the southern skies.

The lack of acceptance of Hill's constellations places them in the category of former constellations, also termed as defunct, extinct, forgotten or obsolete. Perhaps Hill devised them jocularly, rather than seriously, suggest English constellation history biographer Ian Ridpath (born May 1, 1947) and Obliquity's Harper and Stockman.

John Hill equated his Aranea the spider constellation with Earth's common long-legged spiders, known as Acarus, and with field spiders; depictions of seven species of Aranea genus of spiders and of two species of long-legged Acarus species, in John Hill, An History of Animals (1752), Plate 2, opposite page 30: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

The southern celestial hemisphere's Aranea the Spider neighbors closely with Virgo the Maiden, Corvus the Crow and Hydra the Sea Serpent; John Hill, Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens, vol. I (M.DCC.LIV [1754]), between first and second of five pages on Virgo: Public Domain, via Google Books Read for Free @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Urania_or_a_compleat_view_of_the_Heavens/n_ReAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1; Ultima Thulean, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aranea_Constellation.jpg

John Hill's Aranea the Spider constellation (top-center) inhabits the Southern Hemisphere's third quadrant (SQ3) in between close constellatory neighbors Virgo the Virgin, Corvus the Crow and Hydra the Sea Serpent and with Bufo the Toad (lower left-center) as nearest Hill-invented constellation: Ultima Thulean, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_Hemisphere_Hill's_Constellations.png

John Hill equated his Aranea the spider constellation with Earth's common long-legged spiders, known as Acarus, and with field spiders; depictions of seven species of Aranea genus of spiders and of two species of long-legged Acarus species, in John Hill, An History of Animals (1752), Plate 2, opposite page 30: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56071239; Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50375462592/

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