StarDate

Delphinus


Listen Later

Astronomers generally don’t play many official practical jokes. But an Italian astronomer played one more than two centuries ago. And the joke is still there for everyone to see. It’s in Delphinus, the dolphin.

The constellation is small and fairly dim. But five of its stars form an outline that really does resemble a dolphin, making it easy to find. It’s a third of the way up the eastern sky at nightfall, with the dolphin’s tail on the right and its snout on the left.

The brightest members of the outline are Beta and Alpha Delphini. Beta is a binary – two stars bound by their mutual gravitational pull. Both are bigger, brighter, and heavier than the Sun. Alpha consists of three stars. All of them are more impressive than the Sun, with the main star almost four times the mass of the Sun.

The stars also have proper names. Beta is known as Rotanev; Alpha is called Sualocin. And that’s where the joke comes in.

The names first appeared in 1814, in an atlas published by the director of the Palermo Observatory. The names caught on, but their origin was a mystery. It was solved by a British astronomer 45 years later.

He realized that the observatory’s assistant director at the time was Niccolo Cacciatori. In English, the name would be Nicholas Hunter; in Latin, Nicolaus Venator. Spell the Latin names backwards, and you come up with Sualocin and Rotanev – a little joke among the stars of the dolphin.

Script by Damond Benningfield

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

StarDateBy Billy Henry

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

251 ratings


More shows like StarDate

View all
Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,183 Listeners

BirdNote Daily by BirdNote

BirdNote Daily

1,186 Listeners

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science by The Planetary Society

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

1,331 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,814 Listeners

Astronomy Cast by Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay

Astronomy Cast

2,849 Listeners

The 365 Days of Astronomy by 365DaysOfAstronomy.org

The 365 Days of Astronomy

349 Listeners

Universe Today Podcast by Fraser Cain

Universe Today Podcast

543 Listeners

Ask a Spaceman! by Paul M. Sutter

Ask a Spaceman!

804 Listeners

Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries by Professor Fred Watson and Andrew Dunkley

Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries

225 Listeners

SpaceTime: Your Guide to Space & Astronomy by Stuart Gary

SpaceTime: Your Guide to Space & Astronomy

296 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,211 Listeners

The Supermassive Podcast by The Royal Astronomical Society

The Supermassive Podcast

280 Listeners

NASA's Curious Universe by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

NASA's Curious Universe

840 Listeners

Why This Universe? by Dan Hooper, Shalma Wegsman

Why This Universe?

363 Listeners

Crash Course Pods: The Universe by Crash Course Pods, Complexly

Crash Course Pods: The Universe

504 Listeners