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Dor - Dorado the Swordfish

  • Cae - Caelum the Engraver's Chisel

    IAU Constellation

    Cae - Caelum the Engraver's Chisel

    Size

    81 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    A tiny, faint constellation, located south of Orion, barely visible from 35 degrees north latitude in December and January.

  • Dor - Dorado the Swordfish

    IAU Constellation

    Dor - Dorado the Swordfish

    Size

    72 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
    Circumpolar (southern)

    Intro and Visual description

    Dorado the Swordfish is a small and obscure but very interesting constellation. It contains the Large Magellenic Cloud (LMC) and the only recent naked-eye supernova. In addition, the south ecliptic pole is located about where the "eye" of the fish would be. The Large and Small Magellenic Clouds are bright enough to be visible even in Moonlight.

  • Hor - Horologium the Pendulum Clock

    IAU Constellation

    Hor - Horologium the Pendulum Clock

    Size

    58 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
  • Hyi - Hydrus the Southern Water Snake

    IAU Constellation

    Hyi - Hydrus the Southern Water Snake

    Size

    61 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
    Circumpolar (southern)

    Intro and Visual description

    Hydrus has only three stars above the fourth magnitude.Hydrus is the Little Snake, not to be confused with Hydra, the big one.

  • Men - Mensa the Mesa or Table Mountain

    IAU Constellation

    Men - Mensa the Mesa or Table Mountain

    Size

    75 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
    Circumpolar (southern)
  • Pic - Pictor the Painter's Easel

    IAU Constellation

    Pic - Pictor the Painter's Easel

    Size

    59 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
  • Ret - Reticulum the Net

    IAU Constellation

    Ret - Reticulum the Net

    Size

    82 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
    Circumpolar (southern)
  • Vol - Volans the Flying Fish

    IAU Constellation

    Vol - Volans the Flying Fish

    Size

    76 of 88

    Astronomical Regions

    Southern
    Circumpolar (southern)
  • January 2

    Fusion image

    Fusion image caption here.

    Astrophoto source

    Large Magellanic Cloud, NASA

    Constellation

    Dor - Dorado the Swordfish

    Chet Raymo, 365 Starry Nights

    3-4
    Astronomy Picture of the Day
    StarDate
    Monthly Sky Map

    Permission

    Public domain

    Attribution

    Kerry Magruder and Brent Purkaple

  • Xiphias the Swordfish

    Asterism Visual Appearance

    Located between: Argo Navis, Mons Mensae, Nubecula Major, Pluteum Pictoris, Reticulus

    Asterism Origin and History

    This star pattern was named Xiphias by Johannes Kepler in the Rudolphine Tables (1627).

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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