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Scutum
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Scutum

constellation
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Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Latin:
“Shield”
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Scutum, constellation in the southern sky at about 19 hours right ascension and 10° south in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Scuti, with a magnitude of 3.8. The star Delta Scuti is the prototype of a class of pulsating variable stars. In 1687 Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius invented this constellation and called it Scutum Sobiescanium (Latin: “Sobieski’s Shield”) to commemorate the military victories of John III Sobieski, then king of Poland.

Erik Gregersen