Carina, Vela, Pyxis, Antlia, Pictor,
C
arina, the Keel. We now come to the main constella-
tions of the southern sky, most of which are inaccessi-
ble from the latitudes of Britain, Europe or most of the
mainland United States. The brightest part of the old Argo
is the Keel, which contains Canopus, the second brightest
star in the sky. It looks half a magnitude fainter than Sirius,
but this is only because it is so much more remote. It is
15,000 times as luminous as the Sun, and therefore well
over 500 times as luminous as Sirius. The spectral type is
F, and this means that in theory it should look slightly yel-
lowish, but to most observers it appears pure white. Its
declination is 53 degrees S. Over parts of Australia and
South Africa it sets briefly, but it is circumpolar from
Sydney, Cape Town and the whole of New Zealand.
The second brightest star in the Keel is ‚ or
Miaplacidus, of type A and 85 times as luminous as the
Sun. Âand ÈCarinae, together with Îand ‰Velorum,
make up the False Cross, which is of much the same shape
as the Southern Cross and is often confused with it, even
though it is larger and not so brilliant. As with the
Southern Cross, three of its stars are hot and bluish-
white while the fourth – in this case ÂCarinae – is red;
Âis of type K, 530 light-years from us and 6000 Sun-
power. ÈCarinae is of type F, very luminous (6800 times
more so than the Sun) and over 800 light-years away. Its
proper name is Tureis, but it has also been called
Aspidske.
ZZ Carinae is a bright Cepheid, and R Carinae is one
of the brightest of all Mira stars, rising to magnitude 3.9
at some maxima. However, the most interesting variable
is Ë, which has been described earlier. For a while during
the 19th century it outshone even Canopus; today it is just
below naked-eye visibility, but it may brighten again at
any time. The associated nebula can be seen with the
naked eye; it contains a famous dark mass nicknamed the
Keyhole. Telescopically, Ëlooks quite unlike a normal
star, and its orange hue is very pronounced. In the future –perhaps tomorrow, perhaps not for a million years – it will
explode as a supernova, and it will then provide us with a
truly magnificent spectacle.
The cluster IC2602 (C102), round ıCarinae, is very
fine; it forms a triangle with ‚and È. Also imposing is
NGC 2516, which lies in line with ‰Velorum and Â
Carinae in the False Cross; NGC2867, between ÈCarinae
and ÎVelorum, is a planetary nebula which is just within
binocular range. The whole of Carina is very rich, and
there are a great many spectacular star fields.
Vela, the Sails of Argo, are also full of interest, though
less striking than the Keel. The brightest star is Á(Regor),
which is a Wolf–Rayet star of spectral type W, and is very
hot and unstable. It is a fine, easy double, and there are
three fainter companions nearby. ‰Velorum, in the False
Cross, has a fifth-magnitude companion which is visible
in a very small telescope, and in the same binocular field
lies the open cluster NGC2391 (C85), round the 3.6-mag-
nitude star ÔVelorum. In a low-power telescope, or even
in binoculars, the cluster has a vaguely cruciform appear-
ance. Another naked-eye cluster is NGC2547, near Regor.
Pyxis(originally Pyxis Nautica, the Mariner’s Compass).
A small constellation north of Vela. The only object of
immediate interest is the recurrent nova T Pyxidis, which
is normally of about the 14th magnitude, but has flared up
to near naked-eye visibility on several occasions. It makes
a triangle with ·and Á, but in its usual state it is not at all
easy to identify.
Antlia, originally Antlia Pneumatica, was added to the sky
by Lacaille in 1752, and seems to be one of the totally
unnecessary constellations. It adjoins Vela and Pyxis, and
is entirely unremarkable.
Pictor(originally Equuleus Pictoris, the Painter’s Easel) is
another of Lacaille’s constellations. It lies near Canopus;
there are no bright stars, but ‚– which has no individual
name – has become famous because of the associated
cloud of cool material which may be planet-forming. It isATLAS OF THE UNIVERSE
This region is well south
of the equator, and most of
it is invisible from Britain or
the northern United States,
though part of Puppis can
be seen. From southern
countries such as Australia,
Canopus – the second
brightest star in the sky –
is near the zenith during
evenings around February;
it rises from Alexandria,
but not from Athens – an
early proof that the Earth
is not flat. Carina, Vela and
Puppis were once combined
as Argo Navis, the Ship
Argo; another section
formed when Argo was
dismembered was Malus
(the Mast), part of which
survives as Pyxis. The
whole region, particularly
Carina, is very rich.MagnitudesVariable starGalaxyPlanetary nebulaGaseous nebulaGlobular clusterOpen cluster–1
0 1 2 3 4 5ANTLIA
PYXIS
PUPPIS
CANIS
MAJORVELA
CRUX
VOLANS
CARINA
PICTOR
False
CrossCanopus„ÏÊÌÎÈ
ÂÁ̄ı ̆ ·ˆ
‚1· ‚Â
‰
̇·
Á‚Á ‰
·‚Ú Í 3 ̇ Û P ÙÓd
eN I
‰L^2K
U
R3201
IC2395
2547
M93
2451
2477
IC2391
2516
3372 3114
2808
Ë COLUMBA
CENTAURUS
HYDRA
qÁË ‰ÔÛ
Âh(^3572) IC2606
zz
2867
c b
app^1q^1s
vcTM46 M47
2527 2467
‰
·ı̇Ë ÂÁ·
‚11ÈGb Atl of Univ Phil'03stp 2/4/03 7:43 pm Page 254