Noctua (constellation)

{{Short description|Former constellation}}

{{for multi|the genus of moths|Noctua (moth)|the computer accessories company|Noctua (company)}}

File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Noctua, Corvus, Crater, Sextans Uraniæ, Hydra, Felis, Lupus, Centaurus, Antlia Pneumatica, Argo Navis, and Pyxis Nautica (whole card).jpg depicts Noctua the owl, perched on the tail of Hydra, the serpent.]]

Noctua (Latin: owl) was a constellation near the tail of Hydra in the southern celestial hemisphere, but is no longer recognized.{{cite book|last=Bakich|first=Michael E.|title=The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto00baki|url-access=registration|date=22 June 1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44921-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto00baki/page/45 45]–47}} It was introduced by Alexander Jamieson in his 1822 work, A Celestial Atlas, and appeared in a derived collection of illustrated cards, Urania's Mirror.{{cite book|last=Kanas|first=Nick|title=Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bae3LP4tfP4C&pg=PA128|date=5 June 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4614-0917-5|pages=185–6}} Noctua also appeared in Elijah Burritt's very popular [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Atlas_designed_to_illustrate_Burritt%27s_Geography_of_the_heavens_..._LOC_77370907-5.jpg Atlas of the Heavens] through most of the 19th century. The owl was composed of stars ranging from Brachium in southern Libra, along what is now the border of Libra and Hydra and into southern Virgo as far as 89 Virginis.{{cite book|last=O'Meara|first=Steve|title=Herschel 400 Observing Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nyh9fAC_tpIC&pg=PA192|date=14 June 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85893-9|page=192}}{{cite book|author=Ian Ridpath|title=Star Tales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFrdcTdeVaEC&pg=RA1-PA151|year=1988|publisher=James Clarke & Co.|isbn=978-0-7188-2695-6|page=151}}

The French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier had introduced a bird on Hydra's tail as the constellation Solitaire, named for the extinct flightless bird, the Rodrigues solitaire, but the image was that of a rock thrush which had been classified in the genus Turdus, giving rise to the constellation name Turdus Solitarius, the solitary thrush. It has also been depicted as a mockingbird.{{cite book|author=Ian Ridpath|title=Star Tales|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFrdcTdeVaEC&pg=RA1-PA151|year=1988|publisher=James Clarke & Co.|isbn=978-0-7188-2695-6|page=151}}