SkyEye

The Bull of Poniatowski

Marcin Odlanicki Poszobutt (1728–1810) was a Polish/Lithuanian astronomer and mathematician who sought to honour the Polish king Stanislaus Poniatowski by placing the constellation of Taurus Poniatovii in the sky just off the shoulder of Ophiuchus and standing on the tail of the snake Serpens. Like its zodiacal namesake, this bull also have a V-shaped head of stars. And like nearly all of the constellations designed to flatter the important men of the day, it vanished without a trace shortly after its creation.