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04♊26 to 08♊28

The obsolete constellation Sceptrum Brandenburgicum, the Brandenburg Scepter, is a southern constellation bordering Eridanus and Lepus.

Sceptrum Brandenburgicum was introduced by Gottfried Kirch in 1688, and its stars now belong to Eridanus. It spans 4 degrees of the zodiac in the Sign of Gemini.

The constellation was named in honor of the Brandenburg province of Prussia, or more likely its ruler Frederick III, who had become Duke of Prussia that same year. ^[1]

Abbreviation: ScB
Genitive: Sceptri Brandenburgi

Sceptrum Brandenburgicum Constellation Stars

2000	2050	Star	Name	Sp. Class	Mag.	Orb
04♊26	05♊26	54 Eri		M3	4.32	1°10′
05♊12	05♊54	HD 29065		K4	5.24	1°00′
05♊16	05♊58	53 Eri	Sceptrum	K1	3.86	1°30′
05♊20	06♊03	47 Eri		M3	5.20	1°00′
05♊33	06♊15	46 Eri		B9	5.71	1°00′
05♊55	06♊37	HD 29573		A0	4.99	1°00′
07♊32	08♊14	58 Eri		G3	5.49	1°00′
08♊28	09♊10	60 Eri		K0	5.03	1°00′

Sceptrum Brandenburgicum Astrology

Robson

SCEPTRUM BRANDENBURGICUM. The Brandenburg Scepter.

History. Added by Gottfried Kirch, 1688.

Influence. It is said to give honor, wealth, eminence and power. ^[2]

Allen

Sceptrum Brandenburgicum, the Brandenburg Scepter.
was charted in 1688 by Gottfried Kirch, the first astronomer of the Prussian Royal Society of Sciences, and, more than a century thereafter, was published by Bode, who thus rescued it for a time from the oblivion into which, however, it seems to have lapsed again. It contains but four stars, of the 4th and 5th magnitudes, standing in a straight line north and south, below the first bend in the River, west from Lepus.

The Chinese here had an asterism, Kew Yew, the nine Scallops of a Pennon, but in this they included μ, ω, and b of Eridanus.

There was, in the sky, still another Sceptre held by the Hand of Justice introduced by Royer in 1679 in honor of King Louis XIV, in the place of Lacerta; but this also has been forgotten. ^[3]

References

1. Star Tales – Sceptrum Brandenburgicum.
2. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.60.
3. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889, p.360.