|
Puppis
Puppis ("poop deck, stern") is a constellation in the southern sky. It was originally part of the Former constellations, traditional constellation of Argo Navis (the ship of Jason and the Argonauts), which was divided into three parts, the other two being Carina (constellation), Carina (the keel and hull), and Vela (constellation), Vela (the sails). Puppis is the largest of the three constellations in square degrees. It is one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. History The constellation of Argo Navis is recorded in Ancient Greece, Greek texts, derived from ancient Egypt around 1000 BC. According to Plutarch, its equivalent in Egyptian astronomy was the "Boat of Osiris". As Argo Navis was roughly 28% larger than the next largest constellation, Hydra (constellation), Hydra, it was sub-divided into three sections in 1752 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, including Puppis, which he referred to as "''Argûs in puppi'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeta Puppis
Zeta Puppis (ζ Puppis, abbreviated Zeta Pup, ζ Pup), formally named Naos , is the brightest star in the constellation of Puppis. The spectral class of O4 means this is one of the hottest, and most luminous, stars visible to the naked eye. It is one of the sky's few naked-eye class O-type stars as well as one of the closest to Earth. It is a blue supergiant, one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way. Visually it is over 10,000 times brighter than the Sun, but its high temperature means that most of its radiation is in the ultraviolet and its bolometric luminosity is over 500,000 times that of the Sun. It is also the 72nd brightest star in terms of apparent magnitude from Earth. It is a runaway star, meaning it has an unusually large space velocity, probably caused by being ejected from a close binary system when its companion exploded as a supernova. Zeta Puppis is typical of O-type stars in having an extremely strong stellar wind, me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argo Navis
Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo, is one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations, now a grouping of three IAU constellations. It is formerly a single large constellation in the southern sky. The genitive is "Argus Navis", abbreviated "Arg". John Flamsteed and other early modern astronomers called it Navis (the Ship), genitive "Navis", abbreviated "Nav". The constellation proved to be of unwieldy size, as it was 28% larger than the next largest constellation and had more than 160 easily visible stars. The 1755 catalogue of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided it into the three modern constellations that occupy much of the same area: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the poop deck or stern), and Vela (the sails). Argo derived from the ship '' Argo'' in Greek mythology, sailed by Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. Some stars of Puppis and Vela can be seen from Mediterranean latitudes in winter and spring, the ship appearing to skim along the "riv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canis Major
Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog"; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion (constellation), Orion the hunter through the sky. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably Messier 41, M41. Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the "dog star". It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System and its intrinsic brightness. In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second-brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Former Constellations
Former constellations are old historical Western constellations that for various reasons are no longer widely recognised or are not officially recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Prior to 1930, many of these defunct constellations were traditional in one or more countries or cultures. Some only lasted decades but others were referred to over many centuries. All are now recognised only for having classical or historical value. Many former constellations had complex Latinised names after objects, people, or mythological or zoological creatures. Others with unwieldy names were shortened for convenience. For example, Scutum Sobiescianum was reduced to Scutum, Mons Mensae to Mensa, and Apparatus Sculptoris to Sculptor. Some of the Northern Sky's former constellations were placed in the less populated regions between the traditional brighter constellations just to fill gaps. In the Southern Sky, new constellations were often created from about the 15th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vela (constellation)
Vela is a constellation in the southern sky, which contains the Vela Supercluster. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship ''Argo Navis'', which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis. With an apparent magnitude of 1.8, its brightest star is the hot blue multiple star Gamma Velorum, one component of which is the closest and brightest Wolf-Rayet star in the sky. Delta and Kappa Velorum, together with Epsilon and Iota Carinae, form the asterism known as the False Cross. 1.95-magnitude Delta is actually a triple or quintuple star system. History Argo Navis was one of the 48 classical constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and represented the ship ''Argo'', used by Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. German cartographer Johann Bayer depicted the constellation on his '' Uranometria'' of 1603, and gave the stars B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pi Puppids
The pi Puppids are a meteor shower associated with the comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup. The meteoroid streams approach the Sun at around 37 km/s and have to overtake Earth that is orbiting the Sun at 30 km/s, resulting in atmospheric entry at a relatively slow 15 km/s. The meteor stream is viewable around April 24 but only in years around the parent comet's perihelion date, the next being in 2023. However, in 1999 the planet Jupiter perturbed the comet's perihelion to beyond Earth's orbit, and it is uncertain how strong the shower will be in the future. The pi Puppids get their name because their radiant appears to lie in the constellation Puppis, at around right ascension 112 degrees and declination −45 degrees. This made them only visible to southern observers. They were discovered in 1972 and have been observed about every 5 years - at each perihelion passage of the comet - but often at very low rates per hour. 2019 With a large error bar, the Pi Puppids may have briefly r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyxis
Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, its name is Latin for a mariner's compass (contrasting with Circinus, which represents a draftsman's compasses). Pyxis was introduced by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. The Galactic plane, plane of the Milky Way passes through Pyxis. A faint constellation, its three brightest stars—Alpha Pyxidis, Alpha, Beta Pyxidis, Beta and Gamma Pyxidis—are in a rough line. At magnitude 3.68, Alpha is the constellation's brightest star. It is a blue-white star approximately distant and around 22,000 times as luminosity, luminous as the Sun. Pyxis is located close to the stars that formed the old constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. Parts of Argo Navis were the Carina (the keel or hull), the Puppis (the stern), and the Vela (the sails). These eventually became their own constellations. In the 19th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bayer Designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek alphabet, Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive case, genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1564 stars. The brighter stars were assigned their first systematic names by the German astronomer Johann Bayer in 1603, in his star atlas ''Uranometria''. Bayer catalogued only a few stars too far south to be seen from Germany, but later astronomers (including Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille and Benjamin Apthorp Gould) supplemented Bayer's catalog with entries for southern constellations. Scheme Bayer assigned a lowercase Greek alphabet, Greek letter (alpha (α), beta (β), gamma (γ), etc.) or a Latin letter (A, b, c, etc.) to each star he catalogued, combined with the Latin name of the star's parent constellation in genitive case, genitive (possessive) form. The constellation name is frequently abbreviated to a standard three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carina (constellation)
Carina ( ) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship, and it was the southern foundation of the larger constellation of Argo Navis (the ship ''Argo'') until it was divided into three pieces, the other two being Puppis (the poop deck), and Vela (constellation), Vela (the sails of the ship). History and mythology Carina was once a part of Argo Navis, the great ship of the mythical Jason and the Argonauts who searched for the Golden Fleece. The constellation of Argo was introduced in ancient Greece. However, due to the massive size of Argo Navis and the sheer number of stars that required separate designation, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille divided Argo into three sections in 1763, including Carina (the hull or keel). In the 19th century, these three became established as separate constellations, and were formally included in the list of 88 modern IAU constellations in 1930. Lacaille kept a single set of Greek letters for the whole of Argo, and sep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavenly Waters (astronomy)
Constellation families are collections of constellations sharing some defining characteristic, such as proximity on the celestial sphere, common historical origin, or common mythological theme. In the Western tradition, most of the northern constellations stem from Ptolemy's list in the ''Almagest'' (which in turn has roots that go back to Mesopotamian astronomy), and most of the far southern constellations were introduced by sailors and astronomers who traveled to the south in the 16th to 18th centuries. Separate traditions arose in India and China. Menzel's families Donald H. Menzel, director of the Harvard Observatory, gathered several traditional groups in his popular account, ''A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets'' (1975), and adjusted and regularized them so that his handful of groups covered all 88 of the modern constellations. Of these families, one (Zodiac) straddles the ecliptic which divides the sky into north and south; one (Hercules) has nearly equal por ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monoceros (constellation)
Monoceros (Greek: , "unicorn") is a faint constellation on the celestial equator. Its definition is attributed to the 17th-century cartographer Petrus Plancius. It is bordered by Orion to the west, Gemini to the north, Canis Major to the south, and Hydra to the east. Other bordering constellations include Canis Minor, Lepus, and Puppis. Features Stars Monoceros contains only a few fourth magnitude stars, making it difficult to see with the naked eye. Alpha Monocerotis has a visual magnitude of 3.93, while for Gamma Monocerotis it is 3.98. Beta Monocerotis is a triple star system; the three stars form a fixed triangle. The visual magnitudes of the stars are 4.7, 5.2, and 6.1. William Herschel discovered it in 1781 and called it "one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens". Epsilon Monocerotis is a fixed binary, with visual magnitudes of 4.5 and 6.5. S Monocerotis, or 15 Monocerotis, is a bluish white variable star and is located at the center of NGC 2264. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pictor
Pictor is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, located between the star Canopus and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its name is Latin for painter, and is an abbreviation of the older name Equuleus Pictoris (the "painter's easel"). Normally represented as an easel, Pictor was named by Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. The constellation's brightest star is Alpha Pictoris, a white main-sequence star around 97 light-years away from Earth. Pictor also hosts RR Pictoris, a cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova, reaching apparent (visual) magnitude 1.2 in 1925 before fading into obscurity. Pictor has attracted attention because of its second-brightest star Beta Pictoris, 63.4 light-years distant from Earth, which is surrounded by an unusual dust disk rich in carbon, as well as two exoplanets (extrasolar planets). Another five stars in the constellation have been observed to have planets. Among them is HD 40307, an ora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
