The Bayer system

Constellation

This table shows all 88 constellations along with there size and abbreviations.

Name	Genitive	Abbreviations	Area (square deg)	Order of size
Aguarius	Aquarii	Agr	980	10
Andromeda	Andromedae	And	722	19
Antlia	Antliae	Ant	722	62
Apus	Apodis	Aps	206	67
Aguila	Aguilae	Aql	652	22
Are	Arae	Ara	237	63
Aries	Arietis	Ari	441	39
Auriga	Aurigae	Aur	657	21
BoÖts	BoÖtis	Boo	907	13
Caelum	Gaeli	Cae	125	81
Camelopardalis	Camelopardalis	Cam	757	18
Capricornus	Capricorni	Cap	414	40
Carina	Carinae	Car	494	34
Cassiopeia	Cassiopeiae	Cas	598	25
Centaurus	Centauri	Cen	1060	9
Cepheus	Cephei	Cep	588	27
Cetus	Ceti	Cet	1231	4
Chamaeleon	Chamaeleontis	Cha	132	79
Circinus	Circini	Cir	93	85
Canis Major	Canis-Majoris	CMa	380	43
Canis-Minor	Canis-Minoris	CMi	183	71
Cancer	Cancri	Cnc	506	31
Columba	Columbae	Col	270	54
Coma-Berenices	Comae-Berenices	Com	386	42
Corona-Australis	Coronae-Australis	CrA	128	80
Corona-Borealis	Coronae-Borealis	CrB	179	73
Crater	Crateris	Crt	282	53
Crux	Crucis	Cru	68	88
Corvus	Corvi	Crv	184	70
Canes-Venatici	Canum-Venaticorum	CVn	465	38
Cygnus	Cygni	Cyg	804	16
Delphinus	Delphini	Del	189	69
Dorado	Doradus	Dor	179	72
Draco	Draconis	Dra	1083	8
Equules	Equulei	Equ	72	87
Eridanus	Eridani	Eri	1138	6
Fornax	Fornacis	For	398	41
Gemini	Geminorum	Gem	514	30
Grus	Gruis	Gru	366	45
Hercules	Herculis	Her	1225	5
Horologium	Horologii	Hor	249	58
Hydra	Hydrae	Hya	1303	1
Hydrus	Hydri	Hyi	243	61
Indus	Indi	Ind	294	49
Lacerta	Lacertae	Lac	201	68
Leo	Leonis	Leo	947	12
Lepus	Leporis	Lep	290	51
Libra	Librae	Lib	538	29
Leo-Minor	Leonis-minoris	LMi	232	64
Lupus	Lupi	Lup	334	46
Lynx	Lyncis	Lyn	545	28
Lyra	Lyrae	Lyr	286	52
Mensa	Mensae	Men	153	75
Microscopium	Microscopii	Mic	210	66
Monoceros	Monocerotis	Mon	482	35
Musca	Muscae	Mus	138	77
Norma	Normae	Nor	165	74
Octans	Octantis	Oct	291	50
Ophiuchus	Ophiuchi	Oph	948	11
Orion	Orionis	Ori	594	26
Pavo	Pavonis	Pav	378	44
Pegasus	Pegasi	Peg	1121	7
Perseus	Persef	Per	615	24
Phoenix	Phoenicis	Phe	469	37
Pictor	Pfctoris	Pic	247	59
Piscis-Austrinus	Piscis-Austrini	PsA	245	60
Pisces	Piscium	Psc	889	14
Puppis	Puppis	Pup	673	20
Pyxis	Pyxidis	Pyx	221	65
Reticulum	Reticuli	Ret	114	82
Sculptor	Scuptoris	Scl	475	36
Scorpius	Slorpii	Sco	497	33
Scutum	Scuti	Sct	109	84
Serpens	Serpentis	Ser	637	23
Sextans	Sextantis	Sex	314	47
Sagitta	Sagittae	Sge	80	86
Sagittarius	Sagittarii	Sgr	867	15
Taurus	Tauri	Tau	797	17
Telescopium	Telescopii	Tel	252	57
Triagulum-Australe	Trianguli-Australis	TrA	110	83
Triangulum	Trianguli	Tri	132	78
Tucana	Tucanae	Tuc	295	48
Ursa-Major	Ursae-Majoris	UMa	1280	3
Ursa-Minor	Ursae-Mfnoris	UMi	256	56
Vela	Velorum	Vel	500	32
Virgo	Virginis	Vir	1294	2
Volans	Volantis	Vol	141	76
Vulpecula	Vulpeculae	Vul	268	55

There are a total of 88 constellations generally accepted today. They are regarded as fixed areas of sky today and not star patterns as originally envisaged. The constellations we know today originated from a list of 48 constellations published in AD 150 by the Greek astronomer Ptolmey. At that time they were regarded as star patterns with no fixed boundaries. The Babylonians sometime before 2000 BC invented many of these star patterns, piratically the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Ptolmey's list remained almost unchanged until the end of the sixteenth century when two Dutch navigators, Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, added 12 new constellations to the South polar region of the sky. The Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius added, a century later seven new constellations to the Northern sky. In the eighteenth century the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille added fourteen more constellations to the Southern hemisphere.

The modern list of 88 constellations was adopted in 1922 by the newly formed International Astronomical Union. But they still did not have boundary lines. Eugène Delporte drew up constellation boundaries along arcs of right ascension and declination for the year 1875. This date was chosen because the American astronomer B.A. Gould had already devised boundaries for the southern constellations for this epoch. Delporte's boundaries were published in 1930. They are fixed with relation to the stars, ignoring the star's proper motions. The effect of precession means they are gradually moving from the lines of right ascension and declination along which they were originally drawn.

When the International Astronomical Union drew up the list of 88 constellations they gave each constellation a three-letter abbreviation. The genitive case of a constellation name is used when referring to a star within it, for example Alpha Ursae Majoris.