Sporades – Stars Not Part of Any Constellation

Sporades definition

Webster’s 1913 Edition has this funny little entry that defines sporades:

||Spor”a*des, noun plural. [L., fr. Gr. spora`des. Cf. Sporadic.] (Astron.) Stars not included in any constellation; — called also informed, or unformed, stars.

Sporades – an obsolete word

This word no longer means anything.

This word has been removed from all dictionaries.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) agreed in 1930 to include every known star within the boundaries of a constellation.

Sporades – the wild between constellations

Before that year there were wild places in between constellations where stars could exist. After 1930 all of the stars had been pinned down – like rows of dead butterflies. Every star is now “inside” a constellation boundary.

We don’t need this word sporades any more; all the stars have been captured.

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