This constellation was formed by the Dutch
theologian Petrus Plancius and first appeared on his celestial
globe of 1612. The German astronomer Jacob Bartsch, who was
keen to find Biblical references for all constellations, said
in his book Usus Astronomicus of 1624 that it represented the cockerel
that crowed after Peter had denied Jesus thrice. Whether this
was actually Plancius’s intention we cannot tell, for
Plancius left no surviving records. Bartsch did not even know
that Plancius was the inventor. He first saw Gallus on a globe
of 1621 made by his countryman Isaac Habrecht and mistakenly
attributed it to him.
Gallus lay in the Milky Way, south of the
celestial equator in the northern part of what is now Puppis.
Although a number of astronomers adopted Gallus, it was not
shown on the influential charts of Johann Bode.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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