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Capricornus

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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THE Goat"), in astronomy, the tenth sign of the zodiac, represented by the symbol T-2° intended to denote the crooked horns of this animal. The word is derived from Lat. caper, a goat, and cornu, a horn. It is also a constellation of the southern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th. century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.); Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe catalogued 28 stars, Hevelius gave 29. It was represented by the ancients as a creature having the forepart a goat, and the hindpart a fish, or sometimes simply as a goat. An interesting member of this constellation is a-Capricorni, a pair of stars of 3rd and 4th magnitudes, each of which has a companion of the 9th magnitude.