Custos Messium, the harvest-keeper:
Originally created by French astronomer Joseph Jerome le Francais
de La Lande in 1775 from dim stars found between Camelopardolis,
Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. The constellation represents a farmer harvesting
wheat. This area of the sky had previously been known as the "Wheat
Field". Another name for the constellation was Le Messier,
in honor of the comet hunter Charles Messier. The constellation
appear on several star atlases including the above image created
by German astronomer Johann Ehlert Bode, but quickly fell out of
use and is no longer recognized.
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