Scutum

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Scutum

For the Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
shield
Shield

A shield is a protective device, meant to intercept attacks. The term often refers to a device that is held in the hand, as opposed to armour or a bullet proof vest....
, see scutum (shield)
Scutum (shield)

Scutum is the Latin word for "shield", although it has in modern times come to be specifically associated with the rectangular, semi-cylinder body shield carried by Roman legion....
;

For the zootomical
Zootomy

Zootomy is a contraction of zoological and anatomy. It refers to the dissection of animals as opposed to that of plants ...
term, see scute
Scute

A scute or scutum is a chitinous, or bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodiles, or the feet of some birds....
.

Scutum is a small constellation

Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
introduced in the seventeenth century. Its name is Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
for shield

Shield

A shield is a protective device, meant to intercept attacks. The term often refers to a device that is held in the hand, as opposed to armour or a bullet proof vest....
.

um is the only constellation that owes its name to a non-classical

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
historical figure.

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Encyclopedia

Scutum is a small constellation

Constellation

Latin

Shield

A shield is a protective device, meant to intercept attacks. The term often refers to a device that is held in the hand, as opposed to armour or a bullet proof vest....
.

History

Scutum is the only constellation that owes its name to a non-classical

Classical antiquity

Johannes Hevelius

Johannes Hevelius , also called Johannes Hewel, Johann Hewelke, Johannes H?welcke in German language, or Jan Heweliusz , , was a Protestant councillor and mayor in History of Gdansk , As an astronomer he gained the reputation of "the founder of lunar topography" and invented ten new constellations, seven of which are still r...
in 1683, who originally named it Scutum Sobiescianum (the shield of Sobieski) to commemorate the victory of the Polish forces led by King John III Sobieski

John III Sobieski

John III Sobieski was one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1674 until his death King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania....
in the Battle of Vienna

Battle of Vienna

The Battle of Vienna , Ukrainian language: ????????? ?????? took place on 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months....
, and thus refers to Sobieski's Janina Coat of Arms. Later, the name was shortened to Scutum.

Notable features

Scutum contains several open cluster

Open cluster

An open cluster is a star cluster of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud, and are still loosely gravity to each other....
s, as well as a globular cluster

Globular cluster

A globular cluster is a sphere collection of stars that orbits a Galactic Center as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes and relatively high stellar densities toward their centers....
and a planetary nebula

Planetary nebula

A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of a glowing shell of gas and Plasma formed by certain types of stars when they die. The name originated in the 18th century because of their similarity in appearance to gas giants when viewed through small optical telescopes, and is unrelated to the planets of the solar system....
. The two best known deep sky objects in Scutum are M11 (NGC 6705), the Wild Duck Cluster

Wild Duck Cluster

The Wild Duck Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Scutum. It was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1681. Charles Messier included it in his catalogue in 1764....
, a dense open cluster, and M26, another open cluster also known as NGC 6694. The globular cluster NGC 6712

NGC 6712

NGC 6712 is a globular cluster that was probably discovered by Le Gentil on July 9 1749 when investigating the Milky Way star cloud in Aquila . He described it as a "true nebula," in contrast to the open star cluster Wild Duck Cluster....
and the planetary nebula IC 1295 can be found in the eastern part of the constellation, only 24 arcminutes apart.

Scutum

History

Notable features

External links