Naturalist John Hill Named Patella the Limpet Constellation in 1754

Summary: English Naturalist John Hill named Patella the Limpet constellation in his 1754 astronomical dictionary, Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens.

John Hill's Patella the Limpet constellation (lower right) inhabits the northern hemisphere's third quadrant (NQ3) as the quadrant's only Hill-invented constellation: Ultima Thulean, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

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

"A conſtellation offered to the aſtronomical world," stated Hill (1714-Nov. 21, 1775) at the beginning of his dictionary entry on Patella as a repeat of the standard introductory phrase in his dictionary entries for each of his 14 additional invented constellations. He then finished the sentence with a brief description of the new constellation's celestial location: ". . . and compoſed of a little cluſter of very conſpicuous unformed ſtars, near the right ſhoulder of Ophiucus."

The particular starry cluster appeared to Hill as a depiction of a common limpet, one of the species in the Patella genus of true limpets. "The creature, under the out-lines of whoſe figure theſe are diſpoſed, is the common Limpet, a ſhell-fiſh, frequent about our rocks, and very familiarly known to all who have at all conſidered that part of the animal creation."

Patella the Limpet resides in the neighborhood of Aquila the Eagle, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer and the Serpens Cauda the Serpent's Tail section of Serpens the Serpent. Yet, the Serpent Bearer qualifies as Patella's only near neighbor, according to Hill's design. "The conſtellations, between which it is ſituated, are Ophiucus, the Serpent, and the Eagle; but it is more diſtant from the two latter, and its ſituation is ſufficiently aſcertained with reſpect to the former only." Patella nears the Serpent Bearer's right shoulder, with "its opening, or broad part, oppoſite to the ſhoulder of Ophiucus."

The Limpet exudes smallness, with its occupancy of small space and with a small number of resident stars. "The Patella is a ſmall conſtellation, and contains only a few ſtars," described Hill.

Hill identified four conspicuous stars in Patella the Limpet constellation. A line of three stars shape the bottom of the celestial Limpet, while one star shines at the top of Patella. "The ſtars of which it is compoſed are eaſily counted, for, they are only four, but they are all large and beautiful ones; three of theſe which are diſpoſed almoſt in a line, mark the bottom of the ſhell, and one which ſtands ſingle over them, the top."

All four of Patella the Limpet's stars are identified by 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 "Patella -- The Limpet," posted on their Obliquity website. The quartet, which shines in Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, comprises 66 Ophiuchi (abbreviated Oph), 67 Oph and 68 Oph as markers of the figure's bottom and 70 Oph as indicator of the top.

Manis resides in the northern celestial hemisphere's third quadrant (NQ3). The celestial Limpet qualifies as the only one of Hill's six northern hemisphere constellations that inhabits this quadrant.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has not accorded official status to Patella the Limpet. The celestial gastropod mollusc, therefore, is absent from the list of 88 IAU-approved constellations. Thus, the Limpet is relegated to the status of an obsolete constellation that also may be referenced synonymously as defunct, extinct, forgotten or former. Despite its unofficial status, Patella the Limpet still offers visibility to those stargazers who focus on the starry quartet near the right shoulder of Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

John Hill equated his Patella the Limpet constellation with Earth's common limpet; depictions (top row) of Striated Limpet, Starry Limpet and Beaked Limpet as examples of three species of limpets in the Patella genus, in John Hill, An History of Animals (1752), Plate 7, opposite page 139: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

John Hill's Patella the Limpet constellation (lower right) inhabits the northern hemisphere's third quadrant (NQ3) as the quadrant's only Hill-invented constellation: Ultima Thulean, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Hemisphere_Hill's_Constellations.png

John Hill equated his Patella the Limpet constellation with Earth's common limpet; depictions (top row) of Striated Limpet, Starry Limpet and Beaked Limpet as examples of three species of limpets in the Patella genus, in John Hill, An History of Animals (1752), Plate 7, opposite page 139: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ via Flicker @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50374595528/; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56071345

For further information:

Forde, Tanya C. "Cygnus Constellation Guide -- The Graceful, Night-Sky Swan." Love the Night Sky > Astronomy.
Available @ https://lovethenightsky.com/cygnus-constellation-guide/

Harper, David; and L. (Lynne) M. Stockman. "Patella -- The Limpet. Unofficial Abbreviation: Pat. Genitive: Patellae. Origin: John Hill." Obliquity > Sky Eye > The Constellations > Extinct Constellations.
Available @ https://www.obliquity.com/skyeye/88const/Man.html

Hill, John. An History of Animals: Containing Descriptions of the Birds, Beasts, Fishes, and Insects, of the Several Parts of the World; and Including Accounts of the Several Classes of Animalcules, Visible Only by the Assistance of Microscopes. London: Printed for Thomas Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, M.DCCLII [1752].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56071277

Hill, John. "Patella." Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens, Containing the Antient and Modern Astronomy, in Form of a Dictionary. London: T. Gardner, M.DCC.LIV [1754].
Available via Google Books @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/lzigAAAAMAAJ?hl=en
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lzigAAAAMAAJ/page/n414/mode/1up

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Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56071277#page/143/mode/1up

Hill, John. "Shell Fish Series 1: Patellae Limpets: The Striated Limpet, The Starry Limpet, The Beaked Limpet." Plate 7, opposite page 139. An History of Animals: Containing Descriptions of the Birds, Beasts, Fishes, and Insects, of the Several Parts of the World; and Including Accounts of the Several Classes of Animalcules, Visible Only by the Assistance of Microscopes. London: Printed for Thomas Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, M.DCCLII [1752].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56071345
Available via Flicker @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50374595528/

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