Talk:Octans

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Does this word come from octa-, which is the Greek numerical prefix for 8?? 66.32.252.184 01:23, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

No, octans/octantis implies Latin, had it been Greek it would have been octas/octantis per pattern of elephas/elephant(is). Said: Rursus 19:06, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Interesting fact

In the A Celestial Atlas by Alexander Jamieson Octans wrongly named Quadrans (true Quadrans named Quadrans Muralis) Ultima Thulean (talk) 01:37, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

Proposal: add NOIRLab annotated chart of Octans (COI request)

Hello — I have a conflict of interest to disclose: I am affiliated with NSF NOIRLab and so I am not editing the article directly, but instead requesting that an uninvolved editor consider this change. I would like to suggest adding an annotated star chart of Octans to the Stars section. To be clear, this is purely additive: the existing naked-eye photograph (File:Constellation Octans.jpg) would stay exactly where it is. The annotated chart serves a different purpose — it shows the IAU boundaries, the stick figure, and labelled stars as an identification reference, whereas the existing photograph conveys the visual impression of the field. I would propose placing the annotated chart immediately above the existing naked-eye photograph, within the same Stars section, with the existing image left in place directly beneath it. The image is available on Wikimedia Commons: File:Octans-ann.tif, sourced from NOIRLab's 88 Constellations project (image page). Suggested caption:

The constellation Octans showing the IAU boundaries, the constellation stick figure, and labels for its brightest stars. Astrophotograph by Eckhard Slawik, from NOIRLab's 88 Constellations project.

The exact wikitext I would suggest inserting (immediately above the existing File:Constellation Octans.jpg line in the Stars section):

The constellation Octans showing the IAU boundaries, the constellation stick figure, and labels for its brightest stars. Astrophotograph by Eckhard Slawik, from NOIRLab's 88 Constellations project.

On the choice of placement: the Stars section is fairly text-heavy and the left-floated naked-eye image currently sits beside several paragraphs before the {{clear}}, so there is room to stack a second left-floated thumbnail above it without crowding the prose or colliding with the infobox on the right. This keeps the change minimally disruptive and leaves the existing layout intact. License note: the image is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), credited to NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, which is compatible with Commons and Wikipedia reuse. A few fallbacks, in case any of this is preferable to reviewers: The caption wording can be adjusted however editors see fit. The external link in the caption can instead be moved into a <ref> citation if an inline external link is not preferred. I am happy to withdraw the proposal entirely if the community would rather leave the article as it stands. Thanks for considering this. Marcodatadev (talk) 01:52, 30 May 2026 (UTC)

Reply 21-JUN-2026

  Edit request declined  

• The requirement that the author's name be shown in the caption in this many photographs is promotional in nature.

Regards,  Spintendo  09:54, 21 June 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Spintendo

Thank you for your feedback.

If removing the author’s name from the caption would help address the concern and make the captions non-promotional, we can certainly do that.

Please let us know if that would be an acceptable fix, and we can proceed with removing the author’s name from the captions. Marcodatadev (talk) 21:53, 24 June 2026 (UTC)