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Pegasi Ascendant: Ranking Constellation Genitives on their Aesthetic Merit

Pranav Nagarajan

Abstract

Despite their ubiquity in the astronomical literature, there is no consensus tier list of the genitive forms of the 88 constellations officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. To address this pressing open question, I conduct an anonymous pair comparison survey of 74 professional astronomers to rank these constellation genitives on their aesthetic merit. After each survey response, I use active sampling to select a new set of pair comparisons that maximizes expected information gain, and update overall scores based on a fully Bayesian framework. I find that Pegasi is the most aesthetically pleasing constellation genitive overall, narrowly edging out Centauri and Andromedae. While most astronomers self-report Orionis to be their top choice before taking the survey, this well-recognized constellation genitive only places seventh in the final ranking. Gruis, meanwhile, receives the dubious honor of last place. When breaking down the ranking by career stage, I find tentative evidence for generational differences in aesthetic taste. A larger sample of faculty members is needed to confirm this result. Finally, I offer unsolicited commentary on the phonetic appeal and cultural significance of the genitives ranked in the top and bottom five.

Pegasi Ascendant: Ranking Constellation Genitives on their Aesthetic Merit

Abstract

Despite their ubiquity in the astronomical literature, there is no consensus tier list of the genitive forms of the 88 constellations officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. To address this pressing open question, I conduct an anonymous pair comparison survey of 74 professional astronomers to rank these constellation genitives on their aesthetic merit. After each survey response, I use active sampling to select a new set of pair comparisons that maximizes expected information gain, and update overall scores based on a fully Bayesian framework. I find that Pegasi is the most aesthetically pleasing constellation genitive overall, narrowly edging out Centauri and Andromedae. While most astronomers self-report Orionis to be their top choice before taking the survey, this well-recognized constellation genitive only places seventh in the final ranking. Gruis, meanwhile, receives the dubious honor of last place. When breaking down the ranking by career stage, I find tentative evidence for generational differences in aesthetic taste. A larger sample of faculty members is needed to confirm this result. Finally, I offer unsolicited commentary on the phonetic appeal and cultural significance of the genitives ranked in the top and bottom five.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 10 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Methods
  3. Results
  4. Discussion
  5. Speculations on Aesthetic Merit
  6. Top 5
  7. Bottom 5
  8. Personal Favorites
  9. Conclusion
  10. Full Ranking of Constellation Genitives

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Scores of top-ranked constellation genitives, broken down by career stage. Each bar shows the score and $1\sigma$ uncertainty for genitives that appeared in at least one of the top 10 lists for students, postdocs, or faculty members.
  • Figure 2: Favorite constellation genitives, as optionally self-reported by survey respondents. The most frequent favorite was Orionis, which was only ranked seventh in the overall rankings.