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Microscopium: Difference between revisions
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The stars that now comprise Microscopium may formerly have belonged to the hind feet of [[Sagittarius]]. However, this is uncertain as, while its stars seem to be referred to by Al-Sufi as having been seen by Ptolemy, Al-Sufi does not specify their exact positions. | The stars that now comprise Microscopium may formerly have belonged to the hind feet of [[Sagittarius]]. However, this is uncertain as, while its stars seem to be referred to by Al-Sufi as having been seen by Ptolemy, Al-Sufi does not specify their exact positions. | ||
Its name is Latin for microscope; it was invented by Lacaille to commemorate the compound microscope. Its stars are very faint and hardly visible from most of the non-tropical northern hemisphere.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscopium Microscpium]</ref> | Its name is Latin for microscope; it was invented by Lacaille to commemorate the compound microscope. Its stars are very faint and hardly visible from most of the non-tropical northern hemisphere.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microscopium Microscpium]</ref> | ||
==Etymology== | |||
The words micro- and macro- are used in pairs as in microcosm and macrocosm. Hermes Trismegistus's axiom 'As above, so below', meaning that all that is in the Cosmos is mirrored in man the small universe, reflects the macro/micro correspondence [1]. Macro- comes from the Indo-European root *mák- 'Long, thin'. Derivatives: meager (from Latin macer, thin), macro-, macron (mark indicating long sound), amphimacer(three syllables with second unstressed, from Greek makros, long, large), emaciate (to make or become extremely thin, from Latin maciare), mecopteran (insect with beaky structure on head), paramecium (a single-celled microscopic aquatic organism", from Greek mekos, length. [Pokorny mak- 699. Watkins] Macedonia. The Greeks seem to have used the word mikros in the same way as we use the words 'small' and 'little'. <ref>[http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Microscopium.htm Constellations of Words]</ref> | |||