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Lupus
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Ursa major constellation illustration art. (Big Dipper) stars, space, night sky)
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Latin:
“Wolf”
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Lupus

constellation
Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Lupus, constellation in the southern sky at about 15 hours right ascension and 40° south in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Lupi, with a magnitude of 2.3. For the ancient Greeks and Romans this constellation represented either a wolf or a fox impaled on a pole held by the nearby constellation Centaurus. The definite identification of this constellation with a wolf dates from the Latin version of Ptolemy’s Almagest (12th century).

Erik Gregersen
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