Constellation Lupus (Wolf)
Properties
The constellation Lupus stands in a branch of the Milky Way ribbon, south of Libra, the claws of Scorpio and east of Centaurus. The area of the constellation is 334 square degrees and the centre culminates around midnight on May 9th. [9, 15]
| IAU Name | Lupus |
| IAU Genitive | Lupi |
| IAU Abbr. | Lup |
| English Name | Wolf |
| Culmination at local midnight | 14 May |
| Season (Latitude +46.8°) | [Not visible] |
| Right Ascension (J2000.0) | 14h 17m 48s … 16h 08m 37s |
| Declination (J2000.0) | -55° 34' 48" … -29° 50' 16" |
| Area | 334 deg2 |
| Neighbours (N↻) | Lib, Hya, Cen, Cir, Nor, Sco |
Catalogues
Mythologie und Geschichte
According to a story by Eratostenes, Lupus is the bloodthirsty King Lykaon of Arcadia. He is said to have killed almost all of his numerous sons. Zeus had a son named Arkas with Lykaon's daughter. One day Zeus was invited to dinner in the palace of the Lykaon. To check whether the guest really was the mighty Zeus, Lykaon cut up his son-in-law Arkas and served him as a meal for Zeus. However, Zeus immediately recognized the flesh of his poor son and, in a furious rage, knocked over the table, killed Lycaon's sons with a lightning bolt, and turned Lykaon himself into a wolf. Then Zeus put the parts of his son back together and handed him over to the Pleiade Maia, who raised him. The centaur Chiron now holds Lycaon, transformed into a wolf, in check for all eternity. [20]
According to [7], the Greeks and Romans saw Lupus as an unspecified wild animal that Centaurus should sacrifice to the gods. The identification with a wolf apparently only occurred in the age of the Renaissance.