Modern Constellations: The Complete List of All 88

Table of Contents

• TLDR
• What “Modern” Actually Means
• Who Actually Invented the Modern Constellations
• The Full List: All 88 IAU Constellations
• How the Boundaries Got Drawn: 1922 to 1930
• Constellations by Hemisphere
• Why This Distinction Still Matters Under a Real Sky

TLDR

There are 88 modern constellations, officially fixed by the International Astronomical Union in 1922 and given precise borders in 1930. Forty-seven come straight from Ptolemy’s 2nd-century catalog. Three more (Carina, Puppis, Vela) are pieces of a single ancient constellation, Argo Navis, that got cut apart because it was too unwieldy. The other 38 are genuinely modern: 12 added by Johann Bayer in 1603 from southern-sky observations by Pieter Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, 7 by Johannes Hevelius in 1687, 14 by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 1750s, and 5 more from a handful of other 16th- and 17th-century mapmakers. The full list, with hemisphere and origin, is below.

What “Modern” Actually Means

“Modern constellation” sounds like it should mean something invented recently. It doesn’t. It means one of the 88 star patterns the International Astronomical Union officially recognizes today, as opposed to the 48 constellations Claudius Ptolemy wrote down around 150 CE in the Almagest. Those 48 are the “ancient” set — Orion, the zodiac, Hercules, the two bears, the whole cast of Greek myth stapled to the sky.

The gap between 48 and 88 is 40 constellations, and that number gets muddied because one ancient constellation didn’t survive the transition intact. Argo Navis, Ptolemy’s ship of the Argonauts, was enormous — bigger than any other constellation in the sky and awkward to map. In the 1750s, Lacaille split it into three: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the stern), and Vela (the sails). Argo Navis itself stopped being a constellation. So the honest count is 47 constellations carried over unchanged from Ptolemy, plus 3 new ones made from cutting up his 48th, plus 38 constellations nobody in antiquity ever mapped. Add those together and you get the 88 the IAU still uses.

Nearly all 38 genuinely new constellations live in the southern sky, for a simple reason: Ptolemy worked from Alexandria, at roughly 31° north latitude. He never saw the far southern stars. Nobody in the Mediterranean world did. Those gaps didn’t get filled in until European sailors started crossing the equator regularly, three centuries later.

Who Actually Invented the Modern Constellations

Most “88 constellations” pages either bury this in a wall of Latin names or skip it entirely. It breaks down into five clean groups, and each one tells you something about who was looking at the sky and why.

Ptolemy’s 47 (c. 150 CE). The core of Greek astronomy, inherited from earlier Babylonian and Greek observers and formalized in the Almagest. Andromeda, Orion, Ursa Major, the zodiac signs — this is the mythology most people already half-know.

Argo Navis, split into three (Lacaille, 1750s). Not new constellations in the sense of new sky regions, but a practical fix: Carina, Puppis, and Vela replaced one constellation that had gotten too large to be useful on a star chart.

The Southern Dozen (Keyser and de Houtman, published by Bayer in 1603). Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser was the chief navigator on the first Dutch trading voyage to the East Indies, trained in astronomy by the cartographer Petrus Plancius specifically so he could chart the southern sky during the trip. Keyser and his colleague Frederick de Houtman measured southern stars from Madagascar and the East Indies between 1595 and 1597. German astronomer Johann Bayer put their work into print in his 1603 atlas Uranometria, and the twelve constellations stuck: Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Pavo, Phoenix, Triangulum Australe, Tucana, and Volans. Several are named for animals European sailors had just encountered for the first time — a bird of paradise, a chameleon, a toucan.

Hevelius’s Seven (1687). Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius filled leftover gaps between existing northern constellations with smaller, dimmer figures: Canes Venatici, Lacerta, Leo Minor, Lynx, Scutum, Sextans, and Vulpecula. None of these are bright enough to notice unless you already know where to look.

Lacaille’s Fourteen (1750s). The most systematic of the additions. French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille spent two years at the Cape of Good Hope cataloging roughly 10,000 southern stars, then filled the remaining blank sky with constellations named after scientific instruments rather than myths: a telescope, a microscope, a furnace, a pendulum clock. Antlia, Caelum, Circinus, Fornax, Horologium, Mensa, Microscopium, Norma, Octans, Pictor, Pyxis, Reticulum, Sculptor, and Telescopium all come from this one expedition.

The remaining five came from other 16th- and 17th-century mapmakers filling smaller gaps: Coma Berenices (credited to Tycho Brahe and later formalized by Petrus Plancius, 1602), Crux — the Southern Cross — separated from Centaurus by French astronomer Augustin Royer in 1679, and Camelopardalis, Columba, and Monoceros, all introduced by Plancius or the German astronomer Jakob Bartsch in the early 1600s.

The Full List: All 88 IAU Constellations

Alphabetical, with each constellation’s three-letter IAU abbreviation, the hemisphere it’s best seen from, and who’s responsible for putting it on the map. “Both” means the constellation straddles the celestial equator and is visible, at least partially, from both hemispheres.

Constellation	Abbr.	Hemisphere	Origin
Andromeda	And	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Antlia	Ant	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Apus	Aps	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Aquarius	Aqr	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Aquila	Aql	Both	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Ara	Ara	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Aries	Ari	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Auriga	Aur	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Boötes	Boo	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Caelum	Cae	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Camelopardalis	Cam	North	Plancius / Bartsch (1613)
Cancer	Cnc	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Canes Venatici	CVn	North	Hevelius (1687)
Canis Major	CMa	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Canis Minor	CMi	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Capricornus	Cap	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Carina	Car	South	Lacaille, ex-Argo Navis (1750s)
Cassiopeia	Cas	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Centaurus	Cen	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Cepheus	Cep	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Cetus	Cet	Both	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Chamaeleon	Cha	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Circinus	Cir	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Columba	Col	South	Plancius (1592)
Coma Berenices	Com	North	Brahe / Plancius (1602)
Corona Australis	CrA	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Corona Borealis	CrB	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Corvus	Crv	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Crater	Crt	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Crux	Cru	South	Royer (1679)
Cygnus	Cyg	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Delphinus	Del	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Dorado	Dor	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Draco	Dra	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Equuleus	Equ	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Eridanus	Eri	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Fornax	For	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Gemini	Gem	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Grus	Gru	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Hercules	Her	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Horologium	Hor	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Hydra	Hya	Both	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Hydrus	Hyi	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Indus	Ind	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Lacerta	Lac	North	Hevelius (1687)
Leo	Leo	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Leo Minor	LMi	North	Hevelius (1687)
Lepus	Lep	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Libra	Lib	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Lupus	Lup	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Lynx	Lyn	North	Hevelius (1687)
Lyra	Lyr	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Mensa	Men	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Microscopium	Mic	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Monoceros	Mon	Both	Plancius / Bartsch (1613)
Musca	Mus	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Norma	Nor	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Octans	Oct	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Ophiuchus	Oph	Both	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Orion	Ori	Both	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Pavo	Pav	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Pegasus	Peg	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Perseus	Per	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Phoenix	Phe	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Pictor	Pic	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Pisces	Psc	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Piscis Austrinus	PsA	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Puppis	Pup	South	Lacaille, ex-Argo Navis (1750s)
Pyxis	Pyx	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Reticulum	Ret	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Sagitta	Sge	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Sagittarius	Sgr	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Scorpius	Sco	South	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Sculptor	Scl	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Scutum	Sct	South	Hevelius (1687)
Serpens	Ser	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Sextans	Sex	Both	Hevelius (1687)
Taurus	Tau	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Telescopium	Tel	South	Lacaille (1750s)
Triangulum	Tri	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Triangulum Australe	TrA	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Tucana	Tuc	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Ursa Major	UMa	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Ursa Minor	UMi	North	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Vela	Vel	South	Lacaille, ex-Argo Navis (1750s)
Virgo	Vir	Both	Ptolemy (c. 150 CE)
Volans	Vol	South	Keyser & de Houtman / Bayer (1603)
Vulpecula	Vul	North	Hevelius (1687)

How the Boundaries Got Drawn: 1922 to 1930

Naming 88 constellations is one problem. Deciding exactly where each one ends and the next one starts is a different one, and nobody solved it properly until the 20th century.

Star atlases before then drew constellations as pictures — a bear, a hunter, a ship — with fuzzy, inconsistent edges depending on which artist drew the chart. A star near a border might belong to Eridanus on one atlas and Cetus on another. That’s unworkable once you’re trying to catalog variable stars, novae, or anything that needs an unambiguous location.

The fix came in two stages. At the IAU’s first General Assembly in Rome in 1922, American astronomer Henry Norris Russell proposed the standardized list of 88 constellations and the three-letter abbreviations still used today — Ori for Orion, UMa for Ursa Major, and so on. That settled the names. It didn’t settle the borders.

That job went to Eugène Delporte, a Belgian astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Brussels. Starting from proposals presented at the IAU’s 1925 Cambridge assembly, Delporte drew borders along straight lines of right ascension and declination — the sky’s equivalent of longitude and latitude — rather than following the old pictorial outlines. The result: every point in the sky belongs to exactly one constellation, with no gaps and no overlaps. The IAU adopted Delporte’s boundaries at its 1928 Leiden assembly, and he published the final maps in 1930 in Délimitation Scientifique des Constellations. Those are still the official boundaries. Nothing has changed since.

Constellations by Hemisphere

The 88 constellations aren’t evenly split. More lie principally in the southern sky than the north, which tracks with the history above — Ptolemy’s ancient 48 were already weighted toward what he could see from the Mediterranean, and nearly everything added later filled in the deep south that Europeans hadn’t charted yet.

A few patterns worth knowing if you’re planning what to look for — especially if you want to spot the famous constellations that are easiest to find:

• Circumpolar northern constellations — Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco — never set below the horizon for most of the northern hemisphere. You can find them any clear night, any season.
• Circumpolar southern constellations — Octans (which contains the south celestial pole), Crux, Carina, Chamaeleon, Musca — play the same role for southern observers and are invisible for most of the northern hemisphere.
• Equatorial constellations — Orion, Aquila, Ophiuchus, Hydra, Cetus, Monoceros, Sextans, Virgo — straddle the celestial equator closely enough that most of the world can see them at some point in the year, though the best viewing window shifts by hemisphere.
• Deep-southern constellations — most of Lacaille’s fourteen, plus the Bayer/Keyser-de Houtman dozen — never clear the horizon from mid-northern latitudes like most of the US, Europe, or Japan. Crux, the Southern Cross, is the most famous example: invisible from anywhere north of about 25° north latitude.

Why This Distinction Still Matters Under a Real Sky

Knowing which constellations are ancient and which are modern isn’t trivia. It changes what you can actually plan to see.

The ancient 48 are mostly northern or equatorial because that’s what was visible to the civilizations that named them. If you live in the northern hemisphere, the constellations that feel most “classic” — Orion, the Big Dipper’s Ursa Major, the zodiac — are also the ones you’ll see most easily, because they were named by people looking at roughly the same sky.

The modern additions flip that. If you’re chasing Crux, Carina, or Tucana from anywhere in the continental US, you’re out of luck no matter the season — they simply don’t rise. That’s not a viewing-conditions problem; it’s geometry. You’d need to travel south of the equator, or at least well into the tropics, to get them above the horizon at all. Conversely, someone in Australia or South Africa never gets a good look at Ursa Minor and Polaris, the north celestial pole star everyone north of the equator uses to find due north.

The instrument-named constellations — Telescopium, Microscopium, Horologium, Antlia — also mark something real: the moment the Age of Exploration turned stargazing from myth-making into measurement. Sailors on the Dutch East India Company’s early voyages to the East Indies charted the southern sky specifically as a navigation tool, not as storytelling — they needed reliable star positions to fix a ship’s location on an ocean with no other landmarks. Lacaille’s later, more systematic survey from the Cape of Good Hope continued that same practical tradition, just with better instruments and no ship rocking underneath him.

So the ancient-versus-modern line isn’t academic trivia to memorize once and forget. It’s the difference between “this constellation is myth” and “this constellation is a coordinate system,” and it directly predicts whether you’ll ever see it from your own backyard.

Sources: International Astronomical Union — The Constellations, NASA StarChild — 88 Officially Recognized Constellations.