Volans is a

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the earliest constellation ...

in the southern sky. It represents a

flying fish The Exocoetidae are a family of marine fish in the order Beloniformes class Actinopterygii, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven to nine genera. While they cannot fly in the same way a bird d ...

; its name is a shortened form of its original name, Piscis Volans. Volans was one of twelve constellations created by

Petrus Plancius Petrus Plancius (; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he ...

from the observations of

Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser (occasionally Petrus Theodorus; – 11 September 1596) was a Dutch navigator and celestial cartographer who mapped several constellations on the southern celestial hemisphere. Voyages and star observation Little i ...

and

Frederick de Houtman Frederick de Houtman ( – 21 October 1627) was a Dutch explorer, navigator, and colonial governor who sailed on the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies from 1595 until 1597, during which time he made observations of the southern ce ...

and it first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 (or 1598) in Amsterdam by Plancius with

Jodocus Hondius Jodocus Hondius (Latinized version of his Dutch name: ''Joost de Hondt'') (17 October 1563 – 12 February 1612) was a Flemish and Dutch engraver and cartographer. He is sometimes called Jodocus Hondius the Elder to distinguish him from hi ...

. The first depiction of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in

Johann Bayer Johann Bayer (1572 – 7 March 1625) was a German lawyer and uranographer (celestial cartographer). He was born in Rain, Lower Bavaria, in 1572. At twenty, in 1592 he began his study of philosophy and law at the University of Ingolstadt, ...

's ''

Uranometria ''Uranometria'' is a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer. It was published in Augsburg in 1603 by Christoph Mangle (''Christophorus Mangus'') under the full title ''Uranometria: omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, a ...

'' of 1603.

History

Volans is one of the 12 constellations that were introduced by the Dutch navigators

and

in the late 16th century. It was first depicted on

’ globe in 1598. Plancius called the constellation ''Vliegendenvis'' (flying fish). In 1603,

included the constellation in his star atlas ''Uranometria'' under the name Piscis Volans, the flying fish.

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wo ...

proposed shrinking the name to one word in 1844, noting that

Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Good ...

himself had abbreviated his constellations thus on occasion. This was universally adopted. Volans represents a type of tropical fish that can jump out of the water and glide through the air on wings. In early celestial maps, the flying fish was often depicted as accompanying the ship

Argo Navis Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo, is one of the 48 Ptolemy's 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". ...

, and being chased by the predatory fish represented by the adjoining constellation

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

Features

Stars

There are two

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a bi ...

s within the constellation which can be observed using a small

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to obse ...

Gamma Volantis Gamma Volantis, Latinized from γ Volantis, is a wide binary star system in the southern constellation of Volans. Based upon parallax measurements, it is approximately 133 light years from Earth. It is bright enough to be seen with the ...

and

Epsilon Volantis Epsilon Volantis, Latinized from ε Volantis, is a quadruple star system in the southern constellation Volans. This star is at the center of the constellation of Volans and connects the "wings" of the constellation. Based upon parallax ...

, along with two

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

which may be more difficult to see clearly,

NGC 2442 In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 (21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is li ...

and NGC 2434. The magnitudes of the Gamma Volantis stars are 3.8 and 5.6, and of Epsilon Volantis 4.4 and 7.3. The

Astronomical Society of Southern Africa The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA), formed in 1922, is a widespread body consisting of both amateur and professional astronomers. There are eight autonomous centres throughout Southern Africa. History The Cape Astronomical Associ ...

in 2003 reported that observations of the variable stars R and S Volantis in Volans were very urgently needed as data on their light curves was incomplete. HD 76700 is a sunlike star some 195 light-years distant that has been found to have a planet.

Deep-sky objects

Volans has several deep-sky objects within its borders. The Lindsay-Shapley ring, also categorized as AM0644-741, is a

ring galaxy A ring galaxy is a galaxy with a circle-like appearance. Hoag's Object, discovered by Art Hoag in 1950, is an example of a ring galaxy. The ring contains many massive, relatively young blue stars, which are extremely bright. The central region ...

located 300 million light-years from Earth. Named for its discoverers, the Lindsay-Shapley ring was found near the

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...

in 1960. Like the Cartwheel Galaxy in

Sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, the unusual shape of this galaxy results from a

collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...

many millions of years ago. The blue ring, 150,000 light-years in diameter, was formed when a

shock wave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...

from the collision created a ring of hot blue stars; the yellow core is an amalgamation of the progenitors' cores.

, an intermediate-spiral galaxy, is also located in this constellation, with a distance of 50 million light-years from Earth. Graham's Object, aka Das Rheingold or Nibelungen Ring is a ring shaped galaxy at R.A. 6h 41.4m / Decl. -74° 19' (2000.0) in Volans ''Sky Catalogue 2000.0, Volume 2: Double Stars, Variable Stars and Nonstellar Objects'' (edited by Alan Hirshfeld and Roger W. Sinnott, 1985)

References

Sources

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External links

The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Volans

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volans Southern constellations Constellations listed by Petrus Plancius Dutch celestial cartography in the Age of Discovery Astronomy in the Dutch Republic 1590s in the Dutch Republic