Phaeton (constellation)

Phaeton is a hypothetical constellation , which in the Middle Ages was placed in the southern circumpolar region of the celestial sphere, invisible from Europe . Positioned him at the end of the constellation Eridanus , because, according to the ancient Greek myth , Phaethon , the son of Helios , who was defeated by the perun of Zeus , was cast down from heaven into the mythical river Eridanus .

First appears in the Star Map, included in the Imperial Astronomicon ( lat. Astronomicon Caesareum ) Apiana in 1540 . The image of the constellation was used in the murals of the domes of several cathedrals of the second half of the 16th century, in particular, the Besta Palace, 1550 . Astronomers did not receive a constellation of recognition .