| In 1603 the German astronomer, Johann Bayer of Augsburg, developed twelve new constellations in the southern celestial hemisphere, delineating them from observations and sketches made by the Dutch navigator Petrus Theodori. These twelve were added to the 48 ancient classical constellations and published in Uranometria, which in all listed 1709 stars. This landmark book also was the origin for the star-naming system we use today, using Greek letters together with the Latin genitive-case constellation name, e.g., Alpha Aquilae (Altair). Among the twelve Bayer constellations is Phoenix, which he named for the mythical Firebird. |
