Consensus ranking of constellation genitives by aesthetic merit

Establish a consensus tier list of the genitive forms of all 88 International Astronomical Union–recognized constellations ranked by their aesthetic merit, resolving the absence of an agreed-upon ranking in the astronomical literature.

Background

The paper motivates the need for a standard, community-accepted ranking of constellation genitives by noting that, despite their widespread use in astronomical naming conventions, there is no agreed-upon tier list. The author frames this as an open question at the outset and then conducts a survey to produce such a ranking.

This problem concerns establishing a methodological and consensus-based answer to a previously undocumented preference ranking in the literature, emphasizing aesthetic evaluation of constellation genitives rather than scientific properties.

References

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.

— Pegasi Ascendant: Ranking Constellation Genitives on their Aesthetic Merit  (2604.00144 - Nagarajan, 31 Mar 2026) in Abstract