Abbreviation: | Mac |
Genitive: | Machinae Electricae |
Origin: | Johann Elert Bode, 1801 |
German astronomer Johann Elert Bode (1747–1826) is best known today for Bode's Law and naming the newly discovered planet Uranus. But he also was director of the Berlin Observatory for many years and published the celebrated celestial atlas Uranographia in 1801. He also proposed several new constellations, none of which are now recognised. In keeping with the trend at the time, Bode suggested a constellation celebrating one of the mechanical wonders of the age, in this case, the Machina Electrica. It is composed of very faint stars in the area currently occupied by Fornax and Sculptor. It failed to electrify the rest of the astronomical community, however, and no longer exists.