Christmas Eve is the "big night" to all those who celebrate Christmas around the globe. Most traditions pick Dec. 24. With visions of Santa and his sleigh being pulled by eight (nine by Walt Disney’s count) reindeer, we usually picture a nice moon and stars above, or else possibly snowflakes. Did you know there actually was a constellation of stars known as the Reindeer?

Its stars are faint, situated between the well known M-shaped constellation Cassiopeia, and the North Star in the northern sky. The Reindeer, unfortunately, is not plotted on modern star maps.

The French astronomer Pierre Charles Le Monnier created the constellation in 1736, to commemorate the expedition of Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis to Lapland. This was a scientific trek to the arctic to prove that the Earth is oblate.  I don’t know about you, but I risk becoming oblate by eating too many ChristmRANGIFERas cookies. What that means is the planet, because of its rate of spin, is wider at the equator than between the poles - so the planet is slightly squat and not a perfect sphere.

Use that as an explanation next time someone talks about oblateness and cookies. If it works, pass me the cookies. Lep Kuchen are especially tasty this time of year.

Back to the Reindeer. Le Monnier connected several stars in the northern sky and called it Rangifer. He could have used Comet or Vixen or Cupid, but no, he decided Rangifer would be just right. Another name was used for the constellation, Tarandus. Santa knew not of that name either. Both words mean "reindeer" in Latin. "Rangifer" is the generic name of the reindeer, and "tarandus" is the specific name.

The constellation, which never quite caught on, was created among dim stars between the constellations of Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis. The former is the well-known "M" shaped (or "W" depending on when you look) constellation, and is a mythological queen. Camelopardalis represents a giraffe, created around 1612. Cassiopeia is an ancient constellation. Both of these were accepted among the 88 official constellations we know today. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), in 1922, established the list, abandoning numerous lesser-known groups proposed over the centuries.


I haven’t checked if any of the Reindeer’s stars are red… then we’d have to rename the constellation Rudolph ...

Full Moon is on December 22; last quarter phase is on December 29. Have a great Holiday. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a belated Happy Hanukkah!

Keep looking up!