Felis (constellation)

Felis (Latin for cat) was a constellation created by French astronomer Jérôme Lalande in 1799.

He chose the name partly because, as a cat lover, he felt sorry that there was not yet a cat among the constellations (although there are two lions and a lynx).

This constellation was first depicted in the Uranographia sive Astrorum Descriptio (1801) of Johann Elert Bode.

[1] Its brightest star, HD 85951, was named Felis by the International Astronomical Union on 1 June 2018 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.

This constellation-related article is a stub.