An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The Wolf. A constellation in the southern hemisphere, located at about 15h right ascension, 45° south declination. Abbreviation: Lup; genitive: Lupi.

L. lupus "wolf," PIE *wlqwos/*lukwos; cf. Pers. gorg, as below; Gk. lykos; Albanian ulk; O.C.S. vluku; Rus. volcica; Lith. vilkas "wolf;" P.Gmc. *wulfaz (cf. O.S. wulf, O.N. ulfr, O.Fris., Du., O.H.G., Ger., E. wolf).

Gorg "wolf," Aftari dialect varg, M.Pers. gurg, O.Pers. Varkana- "Hyrcania," district southeast of the Caspian Sea, literally "wolf-land," today Iran Gorgân; Khotanese birgga-; Sogdian wyrky; Av. vəhrka-; Skt. vrka-.

Any of the several → dark clouds lying in the direction of the constellation → Lupus between → Galactic longitudes 334° < l < 352° and → Galactic latitudes +5° < b < +25°. In terms of angular extent the whole group is one of the largest low-mass star forming complexes on the sky, and it also contains one of the richest associations of → T Tauri stars. An average distance of about 150 pc places it among the nearest star forming regions, together with those in Corona Australis, Ophiuchus, Taurus-Auriga, and Chamaeleon (Comeron, 2008, in Handbook of Star Forming Regions Vol. II, PASP, Reipurth, ed.).

→ Lupus; → dark; → cloud.

An large nonthermal radio source in the constellation → Lupus, identified as a very old supernova remnant. It is also an extended source of soft X-rays.

→ Lupus; → loop.