SkyEye

The Oak of Charles Ⅱ

The esteemed scientist (or natural philospher) Edmund Halley (1656–1741/2) planted this tree in the middle of Argo Navis. It commemorated the tree in which Charles Ⅱ hid from Oliver Cromwell after the Battle of Worcester during the English Civil War. (It will come as no surprise that the King was Halley's patron.) The roots spread out from Miaplacidus (β Car) and the trunk extended northwards to the famous η Carinae Nebula where the tree branched out. However, the good ship Argo was already well-established as a constellation and the oak tree did not survive the nineteenth century.