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CMa - Canis Major the Big Dog

  • CMa - Canis Major the Big Dog

    IAU Constellation

    CMa - Canis Major the Big Dog

    Size

    43 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    South of Orion in the Winter Hexagon, near the horizon.

  • Col - Columba the Dove

    IAU Constellation

    Col - Columba the Dove

    Size

    54 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    Below Orion in the far south, Columba is tiny, with few bright stars. Barely visible in December from 35 degrees north latitude.

  • Lep - Lepus the Hare

    IAU Constellation

    Lep - Lepus the Hare

    Size

    51 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
  • Mon - Monoceros the Unicorn

    IAU Constellation

    Mon - Monoceros the Unicorn

    Size

    35 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Equatorial
    Southern
    Northern

    Intro and Visual description

    The Unicorn is running up behind Orion, who has not heard it coming (a sign of its magical nature).

  • Pup - Puppis the Stern of Argo Navis

    IAU Constellation

    Pup - Puppis the Stern of Argo Navis

    Size

    20 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
  • Urania's Mirror (1825) card: Canis Major

    Image

    UM-1825-CanisMajor-Lepus

    Urania's Mirror (1825) card: Canis Major, Lepus

  • Urania's Mirror (1825) figure: Canis Major

    Image

    UM-1825-CanisMajor
  • M41

    Object image

    M41, Atlas Image courtesy of 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

    Object image source

    Atlas Image courtesy of 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF

    Permission

    Public domain
  • Gallus the Cock

    Asterism Visual Appearance

    Located between: Argo Navis, Canis Major, Puppis.

    Asterism Origin and History

    Named by Jakob Bartsch in 1624. 

  • Officina Typographica the Printing Press

    Asterism Visual Appearance

    Located between: Argo Navis, Canis Major, Monoceros, Pyxis Nautica.

    East of Sirius, in Canis Major.

Pagination

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IAU Constellation Main Page

Tau - Taurus the Bull

IAU Constellation

Tau - Taurus the Bull

Size

17 of 88

Astronomical Regions

Zodiac
Northern
Equatorial

Intro and Visual description

Taurus the Bull is easily spotted. Its head is the Hyades, a V-shaped cluster of stars. His horns point outward from the V. Aldebaran is the red eye of the Bull as he charges down upon us.

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Kerry Magruder, Brent Purkaple, and Aja Tolman, editors, "The Sky Tonight: Cultural Archaeology of the Stars" (December 21, 2019 - ongoing), skytonight.org.


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