Some constellations are conspicuous because they’re large, like the centerpiece of the winter sky, Orion. Some stand out because they have one or more bright stars, like Leo or Scorpius. Still others are neither large nor bright, but display a distinctive shape.

An example of the latter is Delphinus, the dolphin. This constellation is easy to spot because its stars form a tiny flattened diamond with a tail, or perhaps a spoon with a slightly bent handle. To find it, first locate the Summer Triangle, a bright triad of stars currently high overhead around 9 p.m. The lowest star is bluish-white Altair. Look about a fist’s width at arm’s length to the left of Altair, and just a little higher. There you’ll see Delphinus, looking like a tiny Flipper, breaching the surface for his herring reward.

Actually, when Delphinus was named — at least 24 centuries ago — the ancients who named it didn’t have the seagoing mammal in mind. Rather, they envisioned a fish of the same name, now better known as mahi-mahi to avoid confusion (especially in seafood restaurants).

Perhaps this tiny constellation’s greatest peculiarity involves the names of its two brightest stars, Sualocin and Rotanev.

Their unusual names first appeared in a star catalog by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in 1814, with no explanation of their origins. Astronomical historians speculated that the names were distortions of Arabic words, like numerous other stars, but it was some decades later before English clergyman-astronomer Thomas Webb solved the puzzle. Webb found that in reverse they spelled “Nicolaus Venator,” the Latinized form of the name of Piazzi’s assistant, Niccola Cacciatore. No one knows whether Piazzi or Cacciatore is responsible for this little joke, but in the end the latter’s name is now firmly ensconced in the starry firmament, at least for those who are in the know.

Next week: Stars keep their own time.

Chris Anderson is production specialist and observatory manager at the Faulkner Planetarium at the Herrett Center for Arts and Science at the College of Southern Idaho.