Maximilian Hell, the Hungarian-born
director of the Vienna observatory, introduced this
constellation in 1789 from stars beneath the feet of Taurus. He
showed it under the name Psalterium Georgianum on a chart published in
1789 in the annual Ephemerides astronomicae for 1790 (a psaltery is an ancient form of harp). The
constellation honours King George III of England, patron of
William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus. Both Herschel and
King George were of German extraction. Bode, another German,
changed the name to Harpa Georgii on his Uranographia atlas of
1801.
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Harpa Georgii in the Uranographia of Johann Bode.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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