John Hill Named Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle Constellation in 1754

Summary: English naturalist John Hill named Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation in his 1754 astronomical dictionary, Urania, or, A Compleat View of the Heavens.

John Hill's Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation (center left) inhabits the southern celestial hemisphere's third quadrant (SQ3) and shares the quadrant with two other Hill-invented constellations, Aranea the Spider (upper center-right) and Bufo the Toad (center): Ultima Thulean, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

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

"A conſtellation offered to the aſtronomical world," began Hill (1714-Nov. 21, 1775) at the beginning of his dictionary entry on Patella as a follow of the standard phrase introducing his dictionary entries for each of his 14 additional invented constellations. He then proceeded with a brief description of the new constellation's celestial location: ". . . and formed of a cluſter of conſpicuous ſtars, which occupy a little ſpace in the heavens, left between the conſtellations Ophiucus, Libra, and Scorpio."

The designated stars traced for Hill the figure of the rhinoceros beetle, a species in the Scarabaeus genus of dung beetles native to Africa, Asia and Europe. "The ſpecies of Beetle, under the out-lines of whoſe form theſe are arranged, is that ſingular and beautiful one, known by the name of the Rhinoceros Beetle, and preſerved in all the cabinets of the curious."

The celestial Scarabaeus is depicted as a moving figure, according to Hill's design. The Rhinoceros Beetle ". . . is repreſented in a poſture of moving, with his back toward the leg of Ophiucus, and its horn turned up towards his thigh."

Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation neighbors with Libra the Scales, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, Scorpius the Scorpion and the Serpens Caput the Serpent's Head section of constellation Serpens the Serpent. "The Scarabaeus is ſituated but at a ſmall diſtance from any of theſe conſtellations which are about it. The whole ſpace left between the three is not equal to more than half one of the ſcales of the balance, and the little conſtellation is nearly in the middle of it, but nearer to the two others than to Ophiucus."

Serpens Caput the Serpent's Head winds above the celestial Rhinoceros Beetle's head. The Beetle's horn parallels the Serpent Bearer's left arm and points toward the Bearer's left thigh. "The Serpent is over the Beetle's head, its horn runs parallel with the arm of Ophiucus, and is pointed, as before obſerved, at his thigh." Libra's eastern scale lies under the Beetle's abdomen, while contact almost occurs between the Beetle's rump and Scorpius the Scorpion's fore legs. One ". . . of the ſcales of Libra is under the hinder part of its belly, and its rump is turned to the Scorpion, almoſt touching the extremities of two of his fore legs."

Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle outlines as a small constellation that, nevertheless, comprises generally conspicuous stars. Its creation facilitates clear identification of the space occupied by the constellation. "It is a very ſmall conſtellation, but in proportion to the extent that it occupies in the heavens, it contains a ſufficient number of ſtars, and theſe, in general, very conſpicuous: they have been uſed to be accounted among the unformed ſtars of the other conſtellations, but this is ſo uncertain, and confuſed a method of ſpeaking of them, that it is certainly better to have them, like the ſtars of thoſe conſtellations, arranged under the lines of ſome figure, and much more familiar and perſpicuous; for inſtance, to call one of them the upper or the lower ſtar in the horn of the Beetle, than by any number of the unformed ones of ſuch a conſtellation, though with the addition of a letter from Bayer."

John John Hill's Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation emerges from unformed stars in the space framed by Libra the Scales, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer and Scorpio the Scorpion; 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

Constellation Scarabaeus contains nine "conſpicous ſtars," as designed by Hill. "The conſpicous ſtars in the Beetle are nine, they ſtand in a pretty cluſter, and ſome of them are very conſpicuous."

Four stars define the celestial figure's anterior. A small star marks the horny protrusion from the head. The horn shines with two stars, "both large, and very conſpicuous, one of theſe is toward the inſertion, and not at a great diſtance from that at the root, the other is more than twice as far from that, as that is from the firſt, this is a very bright ſtar, and ſtands at the top of the horn." A fourth star brightly joins the head to the back.

A pair of stars designates the Beetle's front legs, with "one at the extremity of the firſt, and the other at the extremity of the ſecond leg." Further down, a star resides at the top of a back leg and almost parallels another star that indicates the opposite side's outline.

As a rump marker, the Beetle's ninth star nears Scorpius the Scorpion. "The ninth, or laſt ſtar in the Beetle, is at the extremity of its rump, and comes between the toes of the firſt and ſecond leg of Scorpio."

Five of Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle'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 "Scarabaeus -- The Rhinoceros Beetle," posted on their Obliquity website. All five originate in Scorpius the Scorpion: 16 Scorpii (abbreviated 16 Sco), 18 Sco, Xi Sco (ξ Sco), Chi Sco (χ Sco), Psi Sco (ψ Sco).

Scarabaeus resides in the southern celestial hemisphere's third quadrant (SQ3). The celestial Beetle shares the quadrant with two other Hill-invented constellations, Aranea the Spider, Bufo the Toad.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has not granted official status to constellation Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle. Non-recognition obsolesces Scarabaeus. Accordingly, Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle is designated as obsolete or synonymously as defunct, extinct, forgotten or former. Yet, the celestial Rhinoceros Beetle remains visible for those stargazers who look for it as an escapee from the grasp of the Scorpion's left front walking legs and an approacher toward the Serpent Bearer's left leg.

John Hill equated his Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation with a member of the Scarabaeus genus of dung beetles native to Africa, Asia and Europe; depictions (second-third rows) of The Braſs Beetle, The little Oval Beetle, the Unicorn Beetle, The Staghorned Beetle and The Rhinoceros Beetle as five examples of Scarabaeus species, in John Hill, An History of Animals (1752), Plate 9, opposite page 163: 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 Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation (center left) inhabits the southern celestial hemisphere's third quadrant (SQ3) and shares the quadrant with two other Hill-invented constellations, Aranea the Spider (upper center-right) and Bufo the Toad (center): 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's Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation emerges from unformed stars in the space framed by Libra the Scales, Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer and Scorpio the Scorpion; 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 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scarabaeus_Constellation.jpg

John Hill equated his Scarabaeus the Rhinoceros Beetle constellation with a member of the Scarabaeus genus of dung beetles native to Africa, Asia and Europe; depictions (second-third rows) of The Braſs Beetle, The little Oval Beetle, the Unicorn Beetle, The Staghorned Beetle and The Rhinoceros Beetle as five examples of Scarabaeus species, in John Hill, An History of Animals (1752), Plate 9, opposite page 163: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ via Flicker @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50375294556/; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56071180

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